FACTORS FOR SUCCESS IN DAIRY FARMING 269 



in most of the dairy regions of the United States. The aver- 

 age size of farms among subscribers to Hoard's Dairyman 

 was reported to be 167 acres. In some of the rich irrigated 

 valLys the pastures and alfalfa 'are so productive that a 

 considerably smaller area provides an equally large business. 

 In some very fertile regions like Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 

 vania, where very intensive crops are combined with dairying, 

 a fai m of 60 to 80 acres represents as large a business as two 

 or tiiree times this area in some regions. 



Kot every dairyman has money enough to buy a farm of 

 the best size, but there are other ways of obtaining land. 

 The usual steps in becoming a farm owner are : first, to work 

 as a hired man ; then to become a tenant ; then own a mort- 

 gag< d farm ; and finally pay off the mortgage. Only 36 per 

 cent of the farmers in the United States own free from mort- 

 gage all the land that they operate. If one who has too 

 small .a farm knows how to farm and how to live economically, 

 he will often find it profitable to go in debt to buy more 

 land. A mortgage is not necessarily a bad thing. The im- 

 portant point to consider is the use to which the borrowed 

 money is put. It may not be wise to mortgage a farm for 

 the purpose of buying an automobile, but it may be good 

 business to mortgage it to buy additional cows or land 

 that is needed. Another way of enlarging the farm is to 

 rent additional land. There are half a million farmers in 

 the United States who own part of the land that they operate, 

 and who rent additional land. 



RETURNS PER Cow 



231. Reasons for Poor Returns. No single factor is 

 more important than the returns per cow (see Table 41). 

 Low returns may be due to not having a good market for 



