Dairy Herd Replacements in 

 Southern New Hampshire 



By II. C. Grinnell 



The purpose of this study was to procure information on the practices 

 in southern New Hampshire witli respect to dairy herd replacements. 

 Survey blanks during the spring of 1933 were filled out by personal 

 visits to 212 farms located in the five southern counties of Cheshire, 

 Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham and Strafford. ^ The records 

 thus acquired were for the year ending April 30, 1933. Of the 212 

 records taken, exactly 200 were tabulated, the remaining 12 being elim- 

 inated for various reasons. 



Description of Farms Studied 



H^ Size of Farms. Only farms of six or more cows were selected for this 

 survey, and records were not taken in the general farming areas of lit- 

 tle or no commercial importance. The farms, therefore, are of larger 

 than average size, but probably well represent the commercial farms 

 of southern New Hampshire. These farms had an average total area 

 of 186 acres per farm, and 53 acres of crops. The average number of 

 cattle units per farm was 22.5, 17.4 of which were cows. The average 

 total investment in land and buildings was $9114 and the cash income 

 per farm was $4292. 



Sources of Income. Seventy-six per cent of the average cash income 

 of these farmers was from the sale of dairy products and six per cent 

 from livestock sales. One-half of the farmers received an average of 

 $618 per farm for poultry and eggs, and one-half received an average 

 of $430 for fruits and vegetables. Sixty-four farmers received income 

 from outside sources amounting to $545 per farm. Fifty-four farmers 

 retailed milk, or milk and cream, compared with 141 who sold their 

 milk or cream at wholesale. Five were making butter for regular near- 

 by customers. 



Land Use. Only 29 per cent of the total acres operated was in crops 

 in 1933, compared with 50 per cent in pasture and 19 per cent in woods 

 not pastured. Five of the 200 farms had no pasture. The remain- 

 ing 195 farms had 95 acres per farm, 81 per cent of which was perma- 

 nent and non-tillable. Sixty per cent of the farmers were using an 

 average of 26 acres per farm of tillable land as permanent pasture. 

 Twenty operators follow the practice of using crop land for pasture, 

 rotating the same in a regular cropping system. The average amount of 

 land used for pasture on the 200 farms was 92 acres which amounted 



. to 5.3 acres per cow or 4.1 acres per cow equivalent (cattle unit) of all 

 livestock. When wooded pasture was reduced to its equivalent of 



: open pasture there were only 1.5 acres of open pasture per cattle unit. 



^ For details of type of farming in these counties, see New Hampshire 

 Experiment Station Circular 53. 



