256 



FARM MANAGEMENT 



are not included with horses. The figures are for horses 

 old enough to work. The farms of less than 30 acres 

 average 1.4 horses per farm. Three or four horses are the 

 smallest number that can be used efficiently with modern 

 machinery. The farms of 151 to 200 acres are the smallest 

 ones that have an average of four horses per farm. 



TABLE 46. SIZE OF FARM RELATED TO HORSES. 

 OPERATED BY OWNERS 



586 FARMS 



.The figures of acres per horse are still more striking. 

 The small farms have not enough horses to make efficient 

 teams, and yet they are over-supplied with horses compared 

 with their area. On these farms there are only 15 acres 

 per horse. On the largest farms one horse farms three 

 times this area, with no resulting decrease in crop yields. 

 When we consider the cost of keeping a horse, we see what 

 a great advantage the larger farms have. 



In Livingston County, on the 31- to 50-acre farms, a 

 horse farms 18 acres, but on the 151- to 200-acre farms, a 

 horse farms 27 acres. Yet the crop yields are just as good 

 on the larger farms. The cost of horse labor to produce a 

 given amount of crop on the larger farms is little over half 

 that for the smaller farms. 



