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



On the faiTns with small output, there were periods when the operator 

 could not use his time to advantage in production. 



A study of the time put upon enterprises and practices throws light 

 on how some operators obtained high output per man. The daily 

 amount of time used in doing chores was estimated periodically and 

 from this the total time used was calculated on an annual basis.* 

 The average time used on chores per cow in the first, second and third 

 groups was 123, 130 and 144 hours, respectively. (Table 9). This is 

 not a large difference, yet on a 40-cow fami, the difference between 

 Groups 1 and 3 would account for 84 ten-hour days. 



In the time required to produce the roughage for the stock, the dif- 

 ference between the groups does not seem to be significant. On this 

 phase there were used 26, 23 and 27 hours per cow, respectively, by 

 Groups 1, 2 and 3. When time on livestock and roughage production 

 is combined — thus roughly representing the labor directly on milk and 

 stock production — there is a difference of only four hours per cow be- 

 tween Groups 1 and 2, but 22 hours per cow between the first and 

 tliird groups. Through better barn arrangement, better methods and 

 better organization, the first two groups are able to care for stock and 

 produce roughage for the stock in two days less labor per cow. 



Since time per cow does not actually measure accomplishments, and 

 there is a difference in intensity of care, the time used on livestock 

 and roughage was determined on a basis of hours per 1,000 pounds of 

 milk. This may discriminate against the high testing breeds, yet the 

 variation in total chore hours per cow was equally great in the high 

 and low testing breeds. When this basis was used to measure the 

 total hours spent on chores, it was found that the average in the first, 

 second and third groups was 21, 28 and 40 hours, respectively. The 

 average on roughage production for livestock was 4.4, 4.9 and 7 hours. 

 When chores and time on roughage are combined, the labor require- 

 ments averaged 25.7, 32.9 and 46.5, respectively, for the first, second 

 and third groups. 



Since an average of 132 hours per cow was used on livestock and 

 only 25 hours per cow in producing roughage, the importance of mak- 

 ing a detailed study of chores is evident. 



Barn Chores 



The time si)ent daily on barn chores on the 38 farms ranged from 

 5.2 to 21.2 man hours. The average was 11.8 man hours per fann. 

 This is approximately 45 per cent of the total work hours available 

 and 60 per cent of the time actually de^'oted to operating the farms. 

 Altliough using such a large share of the operator s energy and time, 

 chores liave usually been taken for granted and only a few have defi- 

 nitely ami systematically striven to reduce the time required. 



If chores can be done with dispatch, the operator has more free time 

 for field operations; otherwise horses, tractors, equipment and hired 

 labor are not used to the best advantage and productive work is 

 greatly limited. 



*The co-operatoi-s estimated the time required to do the individual operations 

 that make up the daily chores. 



