AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN NEW HAMPSHIRE 13 



These data have been used by dairy transportation committees in 

 Colebrook, Lancaster, and Grafton county (Middle-Connecticut Valley 

 milk shed) in formulating reorganization plans for transportation of milk. 

 The reorganization in these three milk sheds eliminates approximately 

 1000 miles of truck travel daily. (This includes some mileage saved on 

 the \'ermont side of the Connecticut River.) 



The total mileage in New Hampshire for transportation of wholesale 

 milk from 2691 farms to receiving stations was 12,606 miles daily. An 

 average of 544,666 pounds of milk were transported daily. It is estimated 

 that 680,000 pounds were hauled each day during the period of peak 

 production. 



Due to the scattered location of producers, but more especially to the 

 duplication of routes and cross hauling, the mileage per farm was 4.68 

 miles. Only 43 pounds of milk were collected per mile of travel. 



The dairy industry committee in Grafton County formulated a plan 

 which indicates a saving of approximately 200 miles of travel daily. This 

 committee was instructed by ODT not to disturb producer-processor re- 

 lationship, and so cross hauling could not be eliminated. An analysis was 

 made of the possible savings in transportation if areas were zoned for each 

 plant and cross hauling largely eliminated. It was found that 700 addi- 

 tional miles could be saved daily. 



The data indicate that the present pattern of milk transportation in 

 central and southern New Hampshire is very complicated, and that reor- 

 ganization of routes to obtain highest efficiency would require zoning of 

 producer areas and shifting of present producer-distributor relationships. 



The Colebrook Plan of Reorganization has been administered for 

 over a year, and observations have been made from time to time as to the 

 results. Under the plan at Colebrook, the area was zoned for trucking 

 purposes. It has been observed that under this system, which gives a 

 temporary monopoly to a trucker to fransport the milk from a definite 

 area, the relationships between producers and truckers have been under a 

 strain in a few instances. 



Under the old competitive system, truckers often rendered extra serv- 

 ices to individual farmers. There has been a tendency for some of the 

 truckers under the new plan to cut services to a minimum. There have 

 been a few problem cases of inadequate services and failure to maintain 

 goodwill. Because of aging equipment and shortage of labor, the truckers 

 have had occasional difficulties in meeting their schedules. 



The transportation of milk under the new plan was faced with a 25 

 per cent increase over previous years in milk produced in the flush pasture 

 season, and the capacities of both processing and trucking facilities were 

 taxed to the limit. There was often some delay in picking up loads due to 

 labor shortage on farms, and there was difficulty in unolading at the pro- 

 cessing plant. As a result, many of the truckers could not unload by 10 

 o'clock in compliance with the rules of the Boston Board of Health. This 

 has always been a problem in the Colel^-ook area. The greater-than-usual 

 difficulty this year was due mostly to the large increase in supply of milk 

 during the flush pasture season. 



H. C. WooDwoRTH. T- C. Holmes 



