Chapter II. Capital on Dairy Farms 



THE purposes of this chapter are: (1) to describe and analyze the kind 

 and amount of capital on the farms surveyed and (2) to provide a 

 foundation for the representative farms through which capital accumulation 

 is studied in Chapter III. 



The information providing the basis for this chapter was obtained from 

 the dairy farms in four New Hampshire towns. The valuing of the current 

 physical capital of each dairy farm was done individually on the farmer's 

 estimate of current purchase value of the item; that is, what he would 

 have to pay if he were to buy it in its present condition. For purposes of 

 this study it was important to keep values between farms consistent, but 

 the value levels secured are probably not consistent with present actual 

 costs. The study farms were predominantly wholesale dairy farms. As far 

 as possible, capital items and labor attributable to non-dairy enterprises 

 or to retail dairying were eliminated when relevant to a particular prob- 

 lem. Since farms varied in the proportion of young stock to milking cows, 

 herd size is expressed as "animal units" — one cow, one bull, or two 

 head of young stock counting as one animal unit. 



HERD SIZE AND TOTAL CAPITAL, SURVEY FARMS 

 Figure I. (Farmers' itemized estimates totaled) 



1 — I — \ — \ — \ — \ — \ — \ — i — \ — \ — \ — I \ \ \ r 



130 

 120 



no 



100 

 90 



80 



o 



O 70 

 o 



1*60 



o 



i 50 



o 

 o 



_40 

 o 



o 



•- 30 



20 

 10 



III I I I I I I I I I L 



5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100 



Animal Units 



