N. H. Agr. Experiment Station 



[Bulletin 272 



The 65 farms included in this survey were operated with two exceptions 

 by the owners. Of these 65, 20 were father-and-son, 2 mother-and-son, and 

 2 brother partnerships. Two farms were operated by hired men. 



The amount of land in these farms averaged 135 acres and varied from 

 2 to 550 acres. The hayland per farm averaged 32 acres and ranged from 

 none to 96 acres. An average of 1.5 acres of silage corn was grown per 

 farm, with the acreage ranging from none to 8 acres. A small area — 2.3 

 acres per farm — consisted of sw^eet corn, oats, millet, potatoes, and other 

 miscellaneous crops. 



The number of dairy animals averaged 17 head per farm and ranged 

 from 2 to 54 head ; milch cows averaged 9 head and ranged from 1 to 26 in 

 number; dry cows average 2.7 head and heifers 5.8 head per farm. Forty- 

 one of these herds were of mixed breeds, 11 were Guernsey, 8 Holstein, 2 

 Jersey, 1 Ayrshire, and 1 Shorthorn. The average production of the 589 

 cows was 8.64 quarts daily. 



Prices Received: 



The price received by producers for milk varied greatly for the same 

 type of sale, the greatest variation occurring in retail sales, with lesser 

 amounts in store, hotel, restaurant and dealer sales. The summer business 

 of this period averaged a trifle higher than the winter sales. See Table 2. 



Numerous factors cause price to vary when milk is retailed from house 

 to house. The 54 producer-distributors are in direct competition with each 

 other in salesmanship, quality of milk, reputation, number of relatives and 

 friends among their customers, and in length of time each has been retail- 

 ing, and not all of them have these factors developed to the same degree. 



When a producer-distributor loses one customer he may obtain another 

 who will pay the same price as the one he lost, or he may have to underbid 

 another distributor in order to dispose of his milk. This sort of shifting is 

 continuous and tends to keep the market in a demoralized condition. 



Table 2 



*Average price per quart of milk and price range for different ways of 

 selling regardless of buttcrfat claimed 



* Simple average. 



