ANNUAL REPORT, 1932 35 



The Cost of Silage Production in Massachusetts with Special Reference 

 to the Use of Machinery. (C. I. Gunness, J. A. Foord, and J. E. Thigpen. 

 Cooperative with the Bureau of Agricultural Engineering, U.S.D.A., and the 

 Departments of Farm Management and Agricultural Engineering of the Exper- 

 iment Station.) The analysis of the data from a field study of silage-production 

 methods made in October and November, 1931, shows definite relationship be- 

 tween man-labor inputs and acreage of silage corn, stoniness of the soil, and types 

 of machinery used. The difference in amounts of labor required with and with- 

 out certain machines can be used as measures of probable labor savings, assuming 

 that other causes of variation in labor are averaged out. 



Other basic data resulting from the study are farmers' estimates of annual 

 repairs and probable life of different machines. These data are used in estimating 

 average annual costs of such machinery. The annual costs can then be balanced 

 against the estimated value of labor savings in case the purchase of a new machine 

 Is under consideration. 



Economical Silage Production on Dairy Farms - Labor and Machinery 

 Costs. (R. L. Mighell and R. H. Barrett.) This study developed from the pre- 

 ceding one, as one of the most practical and at the same time most inexpensive 

 pieces of labor-saving equipment in silo filling was found to be the low-rack 

 wagon. Only four farms among the 64 studied used such wagons, but their aver- 

 age time for filling silo was only 1.6 hours per ton as contrasted with an average 

 of 2.0 hours per ton for all the farms. 



To test these results experimentally, an inexpensive low-rack wagon was built 

 in the college engineering shop in September 1932, with a discarded automobile 

 rear end for the rear wheels and axle and front running gear from an ordinary 

 farm wagon. This wagon was tested under actual silo-filling conditions on the 

 college farm and on four farms near Amherst. On three farms complete time 

 records were taken on all operations. As a typical instance the time required to 

 load silage corn on the low wagon was 23.6 man minutes per ton in comparison 

 with 35.1 man minutes per ton with a wagon 41 inches high. (Average of 16 loads 

 apiece). The low wagon is 22 inches high as compared with 38 inches to 50 inches 

 for wagons in common use. With a low wagon, the corn can all be loaded from 

 the ground without the necessity for anyone on the load. Recent studies in New 

 Hampshire and Connecticut on this type of wagon are in line with these results. 



Labor-Saving Methods and Technique on Vegetable Farms. (R. L. 



Mighell, R. H. Barrett.) This study is one of the first attempts tc apply time 

 and motion study methods to the operations on vegetable farms. Analyses of the 

 motion pictures and time records secured in the 1931 season were continued this 

 year, and further field study was directed particularly to asparagus, beets and 

 carrots. As a result of the study of harvesting and packing operations on bunch 

 beets and carrots a new and improved technique has been developed for these 

 tasks. Typical tests of the new method of bunching and tying show that the time 

 has been reduced from 5.3 man minutes per box with a common method now in 

 use to 2.9 minutes per box with the new method. 



With asparagus a new system of sorting and packing is being developed from 

 ideas originally thought out by one grower. Preliminary tests indicate that the 

 new system as adapted to fit different conditions will effect a reduction of one- 

 fourth to one-third in the man labor needed on this job. Many minor changes 

 such as rearranging labor crews, subdividing the work differently, providing con- 

 venient sorting tables and more desirable field boxes and so on, have been suggested 



