June, 1939] The Agricultural Conservation Program in N. H. 29 



per cent of the active and 60 per cent of the less active farms would be 

 reduced to about 2,000 tons to allow for some pasturing. Thus an in- 

 crease in roughage would be available for about 700 cows. 



On the other hand many of the less active farms are declining in 

 yields and due to location, type of soil, roughness and size of fields, few 

 operators will follow conservation programs in soil building. They 

 were not enrolled in the 1937 program and are not in a position to use 

 the conservation practices effectively. Most of these not enrolling will 

 probably , pass out of the picture as commercial dairy farms in the next 

 20 years and their tillage land will gradually revert to forest. This 

 change would mean the loss of about 2,786 acres of tillage which, can now 

 support about 600 cows. 



In addition, the decline in pastures and hay acreages and hay yields 

 on non-commercial farms and the abandonment of other farms will ac- 

 count for the loss of at least 100 cows. 



Many dairy farmers are now harvesting hay on nearby semi-aban- 

 doned farms and it is recognized by the operators that the hay on such 

 places will gradually diminish under present management. The ex- 

 tent of this practice is not known quantitatively and it varies greatly 

 from year to year depending upon supplies of hay. In years of hay 

 abundance and low prices, many of the fields are not harvested. But 

 many cows are now carried on roughage which has been harvested 

 from semi-abandoned fields that will be classed as brush land in a few 

 years. 



The census of 1935 indicates 78,086 cows in New Hampshire ; and if 

 the data of these 12 towns as a sample are applied to the state, the re- 

 sults would be approximately this: An increase of 7,000 cows on the 

 better farms following conservation practices would be offset by a de- 

 crease of about the same number on farms not enrolling in the program. 



Thus the conservation program in the next two decades would re- 

 sult in the building of yields and cow numbers on the best farms in good 

 locations and the decline of yields and cow numbers on farms where 

 opportunities are meager. Thus in this state there would result a 

 shift in location of production rather than a change in total production. 

 Fewer farmers would be producing the state's milk supply on fewer 

 farms. 



Granted that increased production on good farms would be offset by 

 abandonment of other farms, the New Hampshire dairyman is con- 

 fronted with the situation in New England as a whole. Faced by lack 

 of data, one can only state in general terms that the dairy industry will 

 tend to shift to areas where conservation practices result in lower rela- 

 tive costs. This may result in shifts in location within the state as well 

 as from one state to another, probably to places where larger areas of 

 tillage and pasture can be combined in individual farms. 



The conservation practices, in addition to increasing yields, should 

 have a marked effect on the quality of hay produced. Experience in- 

 dicates that within limitations good quality hay can be substituted for 

 grain in the feeding of dairy animals. Thus the increase in total hay 

 tonnage on many farms might well result in changes in grain feeding 

 rather than in total milk production. 



