The Problem of Farm Size 



Table 1, showing the number of cows and farms in the State, implies 

 that the majority of the cows are in herds of more than 10 cows while there 

 i« a larger number of producers with smaller herds. If, then, producers can 

 be classified as potential users of farm tanks at present production levels 

 or herd size, thii will throw some light on the assembly problem. 



Assume that the minimum advisable utilization is 60 percent capacity of 

 a 60-gallon tank or 310 pounds of milk daily, as advocated by manufacturers 

 of tanks. At 20 pounds production per day per cow, this would limit tanks 

 to herds of 15 or more milking cows which would include only 20 to 25 

 percent of the dairy herds in the State. 



Further evidence of the size limits in New Hampshire herds is provided 

 by the average daily production of producers delivering to four represent- 

 ative dealers. Two of the dealers had producers with average daily deliveries 

 below the assumed minimum for a farm tank and two only just above, during 

 the peak production month of June. Production in November reduced the 

 average of all producers below the minimum. 



Table 5. Average Size and Range of Dai'y Production of Producers' Delivery to Four 

 Dea'ers in New Hampshire in June and November 1952 



Dealer Average Daily Deliveries by Producers Percent 



June November November/June 



1 323 lbs. 214 lbs. 66.2 



2 304 lbs. 230 lbs. 72.4 



3 226 lbs. 167 lbs. 73.9 



4 321 lbs. 222 lbs. 69.2 



In addition each of the dealers studied had a small proportion of his 



producers whose daily deliveries exceeded 310 lbs., although it is true that 



these producers delivered the major supply of milk as shown in Table 6. 



Table 6. Proportion of Tota! Mi'k Supp'ied by Producers Whose Average Daily Deliveries 



Exceeded 310 lbs. in 1952 



Dealer Percent of Producers Percent of Supply 



1 32.5 60.2 



2 41.7 72.5 



3 35.3 70.8 



Where 32 percent of the producers provide 60 percent of the milk, this 

 also means that 68 percent of the producers deliver only 40 percent of the 

 milk. Each dealer buys milk from a large number of such small producers, 

 and each of the small producers relies on the dealer for his market. This is 

 further accentuated in the case of producer-owned cooperative plants. 



Milk Per Mile of Assembly 



Evidence of the general nature of the size problem in relation to assem- 

 bly by tank is provided by estimates of the amount of milk picked up by 

 trucks per mile of travel in the State. A sample of assembly routes showed an 

 average pickup of .78 per hundredweight or about .9 of a 40-quart can 

 per mile.* When this is compared with the three and four cans per mile of 



*In 1942 the per hundredweight of milk assembled per mile of travel was .51 on 

 routes and .31 for self-haulers. 



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