208 FARM MANAGEMENT 



the hay crop is short, he must either sell some of his 

 animals or buy hay. In such years stock is not likely to 

 sell well and hay is certain to be high in price. 



If hay is worth $15 a ton at the railroad station, it is 

 usually not worth more than $12.50 on the farm, because 

 the cost of baling and hauling to the station must be 

 deducted. Live-stock need only return $12.50 for hay 

 to make it pay to feed rather than sell. But the farmer 

 who buys hay, particularly in the year of a poor crop, 

 usually has to pay more than the market price, and often 

 hauls it besides. In the spring of 1912 in some regions 

 in the Eastern States, farmers had to pay much more than 

 the price of hay in New York City, because hay had to be 

 shipped to the farming regions. Manj^ farmers in the 

 Middle West paid more than the Chicago price. 



One of the most profitable types of farming in the 

 east is dairying combined with hay and other cash crops. 

 Of the 23 dairy farms included in the 49 most profitable 

 farms out of 2743, all but three sold some cash crops. 

 (Page 134.) On six of these, hay was a very important 

 cash crop. On most of the others, some hay was sold. 

 Several of these farms that sold little or no hay had to 

 buy hay in the spring of 1912, and lost heavily on that 

 year's business. 



It is very much safer, and usually pays better, for the 

 dairyman in these sections to keep no more stock than he 

 can raise hay and corn silage for in a rather poor year. 

 Usually he will have some hay to sell. 



The same point applies to pasture. Governor Hoard 

 has humorously expressed the point by saying that " If a 

 man has pasture enough for 10 cows, he should keep 20. 

 He will get almost as much milk and have more cows." 



If, after one is started in farming, he finds that live- 



