(Table 17). ^ In eithej case, substitution of custom machinery would relieve 

 the farm operator of a capital investment of about S7,240 for cropping ma- 

 chinery on the basis of 1949 prices for new equipment. If capital reserve or 

 credit were a problem in reorganizing farm A or getting started in farming 

 under similar conditions, substitution of custom equipment might be ad- 

 visable even though more costly on an annual basis. 



Alternative 4 — Partly Owned and Partly Hired 



Where, as on farm A, annual use of some machines is limited to a few 

 hours, it is often less expensive to obtain the use of these machines on a 

 custom basis than to own them. On farm A, if there were no alternative use 

 for labor so that there would be no value placed on the labor freed by cus- 



6 If hired labor freed by the hiring of custom services could be released, it would 

 cost $92 less to custom-hire all crop work than to do it with owned machinery. The 

 cost of producing 100 pounds of milk would be reduced by $0.07. Net farm income 

 on this farm would remain the same whether or not the labor was used on the farm or 

 released. 



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