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



more than five hours per ton to harvest hay and of these, three hauled 

 hay a considerable distance, four did a lot of unnecessaiy hand work 

 in fussing with hay, two failed to organize the haying crew to best 

 advantage and two were handicapped by lack of equipment. The seven 

 men ^vith less than three man hours per ton in harvesting the first crop, 

 had good crew organization, good eciuipment, sufficient power and they 

 pushed the haying when the weather pennitted. 



The use of large amounts of labor in curing and fussing with hay 

 is a hangover from the methods in use a half centuiy ago and has 

 disappeared on most fanns. 



In a few instances the operator, though physically able himself, per- 

 mitted a less capable hired man to take key positions in -setting the 

 pace for all other workers. 



Silage Production. Twenty-one farms produced silage. The labor 

 requirements varied from 1.6 houfs to seven man hours per ton of 

 silage. Those operators with low labor requirements secured good 

 jields per acre, had easily worked fields, had adequate equipment and 

 good organization of the help at silo filling time. Poor yields and lack 

 of push at harvest time account for the high labor costs per ton on 

 the other farms. 



Manure 



The time used in hauling and spreading manure, when estimated on 

 the basis of six tons per animal unit, varied from 0.4 to 2.3 hours 

 per ton. The farm operators who hauled the manure to the fields in 

 spreaders every day used a small amount of time per ton since the 

 dressing was loaded directly from the carriers. Twenty-five hauled 

 from the storage pit and spread on the fields. Some of the operators 

 hauled manure in the winter, making large piles in the more distant 

 fields and spreading these in the spring with a spreader. While this 

 practice may take more time per ton, the added labor in the winter 

 comes at a time when it is available. Two operators followed the 

 practice of making small piles of manure at equal distances on the 

 fields and si)reading these piles by hand in the spring. In both cases 

 the time requirement was higher than the average, and the practice is 

 questionable since the manure leaches badly and cannot be distri- 

 buted evenly. 



The ])roblem of distributing the manure to the fields efficientlj' and 

 with little loss in fertilizing value should be given careful considera- 

 tion on each dairy farm. In addition to time-consuming handling and 

 sju-cading, leaching of the manure is so bad on some farms that no 

 doubt from one-third to one-half its fertilizing value is lost. 



Thus far we have discussed the time requirements for individual 

 tasks. This gives some indication of why it is possible for some men 

 to accomplish so much. The man who can do each task quickly and 

 well is in a position to accomplish a great deal, but the time on each 

 task does not show how well he uses his total available time for 

 l)roductive purposes. 



Some of the men did the chores quickly in order to have more time 

 for other farm work in which they were interested. A few hustled 



