production. Also an analysis was made of the various costs of the con- 

 tract grower and how these costs vary with changes in income. 



Third, estimates were made of prohahle incomes and expenditures for 

 several model farms. This was done hy applying the physical input-out- 

 put relationships developed in the first step to conditions uncovered 

 among the factors studied in the second step. The models were com- 

 pared on the hasis of change in net income. This was followed by a 

 determination of capital accumulation potential of the various model 

 grower units. 



Sources of Data For The Study 



Data on feed conversion, mortality rate, flock size, age of broilers at 

 time of sale, breed, and date of sale on a flock basis were collected from 

 two integrators producing broilers primarily in Maine, New Hampshire, 

 and Massachusetts. The larger firm furnished records for the 3-year 

 period, 1956-1958 on 678 flocks consisting of approximately 6.6 million 

 broilers. The second integrator furnished records for an 18-month period 

 during 1957-1958 on 213 flocks consisting of 1.7 million broilers. In addi- 

 tion to these physical data, both firms furnished cost data. 



Records of 14 other large integrators operating in northern New Eng- 

 land were used to determine location of supply areas, decision making 

 power concerning broiler production, and types of contracts used in con- 

 tract broiler production. 3 



Farm records of a sample of 50 contract growers were collected in 1958 

 and from these estimates were made of labor utilization, construction 

 and maintenance costs of broiler housing and equipment, and other fixed 

 investment costs. These records were used to derive the contract grower's 

 fixed costs, and also any size economies that may exist in broiler produc- 

 tion with respect to labor. These farm records were collected in southern 

 Maine, southeastern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts. 



Physical Production Relationships In Broiler Growing 



The integrator, in developing a schedule of payments to growers, con- 

 siders a number of factors. The two most important productivity indi- 

 cies commonly used in contract production to determine grower returns 

 are feed conversion ratio — pounds of food consumed divided by pounds 

 of meat produced — and rate of weight gain or weight at time of pro- 

 cessing. 



The purposes of this section are twofold. First the records of several 

 large integrated broiler growing operations provide a basis for the de- 

 velopment of physical coefficients for use in the economic analysis of 

 this study. 



Second, there are indications that such factors as breed, flock size, and 

 age at time of sale influence both of the important producer income 

 determinants — feed conversion and weight. This section analyzes the 

 effects of these factors. 



3 These records were collected by G. B. Rogers and E. T. Bardwell of the New 

 Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station in connection with other studies, and 

 were made available for use in this study. 



