6 N. H. Agr. Experiment Station [Bulletin 275 



For the year ending March 31, 1930, the price of dairy products 

 was favorable to the producer and the receipts for milk averaged 

 $3,917 per farm. 



Two years later the return from the same source was only $2,506, 

 or 36 per cent lower, the largest drop occurring between the 1931* 

 and 1932* financial statements. Total reccii^ts went down in about 

 the same proportion, or from $5,821 in 1930* to $3,756 in 1932, a 

 decline of 35.5 per cent. 



Expenses as a whole dechned less than receipts. The total per farm 

 dropped from $4,155 in 1930 to $2,898 in 1932, or 31.8 per cent. The 

 sharpest reductions occurred in livestock and feed purchases each of 

 which were reduced more than 48 per cent, due partly to price declines 

 and partly to lighter feeding. The price paid for dairy feed in 1930 

 averaged $50 per ton compared with $32 in 1932. Other expenses such 

 as taxes, insurance, repairs and depreciation on buildings and equip- 

 ment did not go down much. These items kept total expenses from 

 falling proportionally as much as total receipts. 



The sharp reduction in receipts and a smaller proportional reduction 

 in expenses caused a drop in the average net farm income from $1,666 

 in 1930 to $858 in 1932, a drop of nearly 52 per cent. Five per cent 

 interest on the total capital was subtracted from the net farm income 

 on each farm in order roughly to estimate the return for labor and 

 management and to put large and small farms on a more nearly com- 

 parable basis. The remainder is called "family labor income." It 

 differs from "labor income" in that family labor has not been included 

 in the expenses. On these farms a comparatively small amount of 

 family labor is used and its value is difficult to detemiine. A fair 

 estimate would be $15 per farm. Naturally the family labor income 

 dropped to almost nothing in 1932 in view of the many nearly constant 

 items of expense subtracted from rapidly falling receipts. Only $282 

 remained as family income in 1932 comj^ared with $1093 in 1930. 



While interest on the capital investment has been considered in cal- 

 culating family labor income, this item is an out-of-pocket expense only 

 where there is indebtedness. It is to be noted that the operator has 

 the use of a house and consumes fann products. The amounts of dairy 

 and poultry products, meats, vegetables, potatoes and wood used were 

 api)roximately the same for each of the three years. Due to the 

 changes in values, however, the average total worth of farm products 

 used in the home was $432 in 1930, $305 in 1931 and $239 in 1932. 



Feeding practices were changed to some extent, apparently as a re- 

 sult of the drop in milk prices from $3.07 i)er 100 pounds in 1930 to 

 $1.91 in 1932. During this period the average annual amount of grain 

 fed per cow decreased from 1,772 pounds to 1,197 pounds. (Table 1). 



VARIATIONS IN MILK PRICES 



The highest yearly average price per 100 pounds of milk received 

 by any one of the 38 farmers was $2.42; the lowest, $1.37. (Table 2.) 

 In each of these extremes the buttcrfat test was the same, yet the 

 difference in price was $1.05 per hundred. On a farm selling 150,000 



*1930, 1931, 1932 refer to years ending March 31, 1930, 1931 and 1932, respectively. 



