28 N. H. Agricultural Experiment Station [Sta. Bull. 314 



It is important to both the dairy industry and the consuming public 

 that the agricultural plant capacity be maintained at about present 

 levels. Therefore it is essential that effects of the soil-building pro- 

 gram on dairy production be carefully weighed and studied. In the 

 light of present tendencies to accumulate large national surpluses of 

 farm products, a conservation program which tends to stimulate greater 

 production should be examined carefully. A check on the problem at 

 this time must, of course, be arrived at by a process of general esti- 

 mates but even these may serve to give some idea of the situation. 



In this estimate of the effect of the program we assume present trends 

 in the management of land, fully realizing that changes in prices or 

 shifts in other opportunities will tend to modify present management 

 practices. 



Taking the 12 towns as a sample: The 227 active commercial dairy 

 farms had 14,714 acres of tillage land and 4,162 cows — this is 3.5 acres 

 per cow — and the 232 less active had 9,287 acres of tillage and 2,051 

 cows; that is, 4.5 acres of tillage per cow. These two groups com- 

 prised 459 farms and had 6,213 cows, or over 85 per cent of the total on 

 all farms in the survey in New Hampshire. 



It may be estimated roughly that 90 per cent of the 227 active com- 

 mercial dairy farms may follow soil conservation and soil-building prac- 

 tices under the conservation program and in the next 20 years may in- 

 crease roughage by .4 ton per acre on 80 per cent of the tillage land. 

 This would amount to 4,194 tons increase in hay on this acreage. 



The remaining 20 per cent of tillage because of slope, rocks and 

 rock outcrop, and wet or poor soil would more logically be diverted to 

 permanent pasture. It may be estimated that these 2,943 acres are now 

 producing about 2,000 tons of hay. 



It is thought that 10 per cent of the farms through changes in owner- 

 ship and unfavorable location or soil would not follow the program very 

 efficiently and present or declining yields would continue. 



Actually some of these farms will cease to be operated as dairy farms 

 but a few other farms now inactive will be brought into active dairying 

 by change of ownership. The net gain on active commercial farms would 

 therefore be about 2,100 tons of roughage and 2,943 acres of pasture. 



Likewise, it may be estimated that 60 per cent of the 232 less active 

 commercial dairy farms will follow soil conservation practices and that 

 these might increase yields by .4 ton per acre on 80 per cent of the till- 

 age land. This would result in an increase of 1,783 tons of hay. The 

 1,857 acres of rough, wet, and rocky land that would revert to perma- 

 nent pasture is probably now yielding about 1,000 tons of hay. The 

 net gain on 60 per cent of the farms would be 783 tons of hay and 1,857 

 acres of pasture. 



However, on both the active and less active farms the permanent 

 pastures have been declining for many years and probably many acres 

 will be lost in the next 20 years. The amount of acreage that it is 

 economical and practical to redeem and keep up is very limited. It is 

 estimated that most farms will need to pasture some of the regular till- 

 age fields in the rotation. This would decrease the harvest of hay to 

 some extent. The estimated increase of 2,883 tons of hay on the 90 



