Summary and Comiparison of the Alternatives in Terms 



of Changes in Number of Cows. Net Returns, 



Investment and Labor Requirements 



How to get more forage and expand the herd size of a particular North- 

 east dairy farm is investigated from the standpoint of several different pro- 

 duction possibilities in this report. The partial budgets indicate that adding' 

 irrigation may be profitable but that other alternatives may also be profit- 

 able. This is what the farmer finds when he weighs the merits of the several 

 alternatives in terms of their effects upon net income. In addition, he will 

 want to look at the capital and labor requirements needed to make the 

 changes. A summary type comparison for this purpose is shown in Table 15. 



In doing the partial budgeting it was assumed that sufficient capital and 

 labor could be obtained to make any of the changes under consideration. 

 Nevertheless, the farmer might prefer a less profitable production change 

 to a more profitable one if the capital and labor requirements of the less 

 profitable one are decidedly lower. Furthermore, in many realistic situations 

 limitations on the availability of capital and labor play an important part 

 on farmers' choices of production practices. 



This farmer would probably take note of the comparatively high capital 

 investment and labor requirements needed to make the change to irrigation. 

 Also, the income prospects for irrigation are not as great as some of the 

 other alternatives. From the income standpoint, the "high fertilizer" and 

 "rent land" alternatives look good. Part of the reason for favorable returns 



Table 15. Changes in Number of Cows, Net Returns, Investment and 

 Labor Requirements by Alternatives. 



18 



