piece of equipment. Hence, labor and machinery hours were the same. 

 The requirements were based on an acre of land where the independent 

 variable was yield per acre. The base unit of account for input-output 

 coefficients was 1 acre. Coefficients varied with yield per acre. 



Labor was available each day in fixed amounts for all harvesting. 

 No labor in addition to the regular work force was hired. 



With the exception of the flail system, the data used to determine 

 the labor and machinery requirements on the farm, presented in Fig- 

 ures 7 and 8, were obtained from 1 source, i" The coefficients for the 

 flail system were developed from data from many sources, i*' 



The hours of labor and machinery inputs per acre of cropland were 

 determined as yield varies for each of the 6 harvesting systems from 

 Figures 7 and 8. For example, solving the formula in Figure 7 indicates 

 that if the yield is 3 tons per acre, 3.4 hours of labor and machinery are 

 required to mow, harvest, and store the forage from 1 acre of cropland 

 using the system "field-cured baled", and 4.1 hours are required for the 

 systems "crushed barn dried without heat" and "crushed field cured". 



Equipment Capacities 



For each harvesting system a maximum number of acres and tons 

 of forage that could be mowed in a day were specified. These limits 

 were the capacities of the systems that could change as the limiting 

 factor was eliminated. For example, the limiting factor in the wagon- 

 dried system was the capacity of the drier, but after the initial moisture 

 fell below some percentage, the drier was not used and the ton limit 

 was consequently increased. 



The number of acres that could be mowed and harvested per day 

 by each system depended upon the yield per acre. The assumption that a 

 total of 16 hours of labor were available per day limited the number of 

 acres that could be mowed and harvested per day. From this assumption 

 and the labor requirements developed previously, maximum acreages 

 that could be mowed and harvested per day were established. Since 

 yield varies, the relation was developed in fvinctional form for use in 

 the model. These functions are shown in Figures 9, 10, and 11. The 

 maximum number of acres that could be mowed, harvested, and stored 

 in 1 day for any system is 6 — the physical capacity of the resources 

 due to time required to travel over the land, independent of yield. 



The maximum tons that a system could handle per day also depend- 

 ed upon the capacity of the slowest part of the operation. For example, 

 the capacity of the heat drying unit for the "crushed, wagon dried with 

 heat" system limited the system capacity to 8 tons per day when the 

 drier was used.^^ Therefore, the series of functions in Figures 9, 10, 



I'i^ Agricultural Planning Data for the Northeastern United States, Pennsylvania 

 State University, A. E. and R. S. 51, July 1965. 



1^ Two examples are: Wheeler, W. C, et. al., Hay Conditioners in the North- 

 eastern United States, W. Va. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 449, 1960, and Phillips, Ross A., 

 and Elliot, Kendall C, Using Flail Forage Harvesters, W. Va. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 

 474, 1962. 



19 Hay Drying, Farm Department of Central Vermont Public Service Corporation 

 and New Hampshire Farm Electric Utilization Council, Spring, 1963. 



19 



