TAXATION OF DAIRY FARMS 9 



Table 6. — Frequency Distribution of Valuation per Acre of 

 1197 Parcels of Land Listed to 397 Farms. 



Valuation Number of Valuation Number of Valuation Number of 



per Acre Parcels per Acre Parcels per Acre Parcels 



The schedule reflects the basic difficulty in property valuation; the conflict 

 which inevitably develops between trying to follow the letter of the law and trying 

 to be reasonable about it. The emergence of so niany common values suggests 

 either a measure of realism among assessors or an attitude of resignation. 



The valuation of farm land for tax purposes is not a simple matter. With 

 dair)' farms especially, the land even on the home place is seldom uniform. Land 

 is a very general, all-inclusive designation in the first place for the various soil 

 types that exist on a farm and then for the uses to which those soils are put. Add 

 to these the modifying effects of location and management and the process be- 

 comes increasingly difficult. 



Some measure of rationalization is inevitable. Although the available data 

 do not permit town comparisons, it is likelj' that within towns this is taking place, 

 otherwise Table 5 would not show nearly 40 percent of the farm parcels valued 

 at rounded amounts. The proposition then becomes one of encouraging uni- 

 formity among towns in the valuation of farm lands and devising methods which 

 will facilitate its attainment. 



Barn Valuations 



Usable records were available for 385 barns. \'aluations ranged from $100 to 

 $12,000. On the basis of cows and two-year-olds sheltered, the barn valuation 

 per animal unit ranged from $12.79 to $90.09 with an average of $50.57. 



Probably the most significant relationship disclosed by the data is the associa- 

 tion of barn value per animal unit with number of cows per farm. As the listed 

 barn valuation increased, the number of cows per barn also increased. But the 

 two did not move together at the same pace. Barn valuation increased at a more 

 rapid rate up to the $2500-$2999 class. Beyond that class there were insufficient 

 data from which to draw conclusions. The tendency, however, seemed to be one 

 of an increasing number of cows with barn value per animal unit leveling off. 



Table 7. — Frequency Distribution of Dairy Barn Valuations. 



