ANNUAL REPORT, 1945-46 5 



or a breakdown on a different basis. The figures obtained from one farm in an 

 eastern county present this problem of variation rather dramatically. On this 

 farm, one parcel of land is valued at $13,000 per acre, and another at $8 per acre! 

 In addition to the above, results indicate the following. There is an inverse 

 relationship between real estate tax dollars per acre and the size of the farm by 

 county averages. (However, this correlation does not take into consideration 

 variations in types of land, said data being unavailable.) The average real 

 estate tax for the whole sample is $211.54 with extremes of $26 and $1128. There 

 is a very marked positive skew to the farm size data distribution. One half of 

 all the farms have 84 acres or less, while the range in size for the whole sample is 

 from 7 acres to 885 acres. An inverse relation was found between value per 

 acre and farm size by county averages. Value per acre was $24 for the whole 

 sample with a range from $2 to $382; the range for county averages was from 

 $16 to $41. As far as could be determined from the data available, there is no 

 relation, inverse or otherwise, between valuation and tax rate. The modal 

 class for house valuations was $1000 through $1499, while one half of all the 

 farms had houses valued from $200 through $1617. The range in house valua- 

 tion for the whole sample was $15,800. Cow units equal 78 percent of total 

 livestock units, while cow valuation represents 85 percent of total livestock val- 

 uation. There is a high modal concentration in the $50 to $64 value-per-grade- 

 cow group with the wide range in value per cow of $110. Real estate taxation 

 and personal propert}' taxation tend to move together; the average tax paid on 

 personal property was 34 percent of the tax paid on real estate. 



Production Efficiency on Dairy Farms in Massachusetts. (C. R. Creek.) 

 According to farm management records, labor efficiency increased almost 20 

 percent in the ten years from 1934 to 1944 for the same 50 dairy farms, on the 

 basis of productive work units per man. On these identical farms the milking 

 herd increased from 20 to 26 cows, cropland increased by 8 acres and pasture by 

 15 acres, while the total labor force remained the same at 30 months of hired, 

 family, and operator labor per farm. The most important factor in this greater 

 efficiency of labor was the increase in labor-saving machinery on these farms. 

 The number of farms with milking machines increased from 23 to 43 in these 

 ten years and those with electrical milk coolers from 20 to 45. The farm work 

 was mechanized with tractors on 40 farms in 1944 compared to 19 ten years 

 earlier. Trucks were listed on 40 farms compared to 30 farms in 1934. The num- 

 ber of ensilage cutters on farms increased from 26 to 35, side delivery rakes from 

 6 to 21, and hay loaders from 6 to 23. 



Milk production was also more efficient in 1944, with 365 more pounds of 

 milk produced per cow on slightly less grain, hay, and silage. Milk production 

 increased from 2.6 to 2.8 pounds for each pound of grain fed in these two years. 



In the period of low prices in 1933-34 the cash farm cost of producing milk 

 was about $1.39 per hundredweight, the price received was $2.27 per hundred- 

 weight, and net farm income was $687 per farm. In the high price period of 

 1943-44 the cash farm cost of production was about $2.34 per hundredweight, 

 the price received was $4.09 without the feed subsidy, and net farm income was 

 $2524 per farm for the same 50 farms. The margin of prices received over prices 

 paid was greater in the period of higher costs of production. The relationship 

 between prices was the important factor in higher returns rather than the absolute 

 prices or costs. 



Loan Performance on Low Income Farms in Massachusetts. (C. R. Creek.) 

 Another year of high prices and generally high crop yields enabled nine of sixteen 

 active borrowers from the Farm Security Administration in the Connecticut 



