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



VARIATIONS IN CASH EXPENSES 



The wide variations in cash expenses on the 38 farms at least in- 

 dicate great diversity of management. On some of the small semi- 

 self-sufficing farms the cash expenses were small and the gross income 

 low. Cash expenses tend to be. high on the more intensively worked 

 fanns and on the farms where the management is more aggressive, for 

 the good manager is ^\alling to buy feed, fertilizer, and seed as long as 

 an additional unit will definitely raise his net income. His expenses 

 are thus higher but his net income is also greater. 



In order to place each farm on a more comparable basis as to size, 

 the expenses per $100 of gross income were estimated for each fanii. 

 The cash expenses (Table 10) ranged from $26.76 to $93.83 per $100 

 of gross income, feed expense from $2.93 to $36.44. The operator who 

 purchased the low amount of grain would have been ahead if he had 

 bought more. The one who spent over one-third of the gross receipts 

 for grain may not have purchased more feed than was economic 

 under his conditions. 



Except in extreme cases it is difficult to determine from a study of 

 expenses whether too little or too much grain has been fed. A closer 

 scrutiny of the detailed feeding on some farms, as shown by the field 

 man's records and observations, disclosed opportunities for certain 

 fumiers to save expenses by a more intelligent purchase and use of 

 grain. Often a high cost ration was being fed to dry cows and heifers 

 when a lower cost fitting ration would have been adequate. 



Fifteen of the 38 farms had less than $10 hired labor expense per 

 $100 gross income. Hired labor cost one operator $38 for each $100 

 of gross income. He employed more labor than his organization would 

 justify and he would be better off had he reduced to a one-man farm 

 and done nearly all the work alone. 



Taxes took from $1.52 to $18.84 for each $100 in gross income. 

 These differences are due in part to differences in tax rate, but more 

 largely to intensity of operation. One town has a very low tax rate. 

 As would be expected, the aggressive manager had greater sales from 

 the farm and the taxes per $100 in income were lower. 



COMBINATION OF FACTORS ON INDIVIDUAL FARMS 



After studying these individual factors it may be profitable to note 

 the combination of factors on individual farms for the vear ending 

 April 1, 1932. 



The 38 farms are listed in Table 11 according to famil}' labor in- 

 come and a tabulation for each farm gives the number of cows, pro- 

 duction Y>(iY cow, price of milk, farm and crop acreage, quality of hay, 

 miscellaneous income, expenses, and other factors which have definite 

 effects on net returns. A study of these reveals a variety of ways by 

 which individual, farmers secured incomes in this particular year. 

 Some obtained low net returns in spite of ranking well in a few of 

 the above factors. 



The operator with the highest income had poor pastures, low amount 

 of protein hay per cow, and large cash exi:)enses, but had a large herd, 

 good production per cow, relatively high milk price, good returns from 

 livestock sales and ^•ery high output per man. The operator with the 



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