UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



JtLW&mTU 



BULLETIN No. 931 



Contribution frcm the Bureau of Public Roads, THOS. H. ''VsY 

 MacDON ALD, Chief, in cooperation with the Office of Farm ^2sl_ 

 Management and Farm Economics, H. C. TAYLOR, Chief. ,^S^*^^V« 



Washington, D. C. 



February 25, 1921 



CORN-BELT FARMERS' EXPERIENCE WITH MOTOR 



TRUCKS. 



A study of 831 Reports from Farmers Who Own Motor Trucks. 



By H. R. Tolley, Agricultural Engineer, and L.-M. Church, Assistant in 



Farm Accounting. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Summary 1 



Method of study 3 



Location and size of farms 4 



Distance to market 4 



Size of trucks 6 



Age of trucks 6 



Are these trucks profitable invest- 

 ments? 6 



The best size 7 



Advantages and disadvantages 8 



Road hauling with trucks 10 



Road hauling for which trucks are 



not used 14 



Hauling on the farm with trucks__ 14 



Custom hauling 16 



Page. 

 Effect of different kinds of roads on 



use of trucks 17 



Change of market 19 



Annual use of trucks 20 



Life and depreciation of trucks 21 



Repairs 22 



Gasoline and oil 24 



Tires 24 



Reliability 26 



Cost of operation 29 



Cost of hauling with trucks 30 



Saving of hired help 30 



Displacement of horses 31 



Farms on which tractors are owned_ 32 



SUMMARY. 



This bulletin summarizes the experience with motor trucks of 831 

 grain and live-stock farmers in the corn belt who have motor trucks 

 for use on their own farms. 



The average size of their farms is 347 acres. This is considerably 

 greater than the average size of all farms in the corn belt. 



Only 14 per cent of these farms are less than 5 miles from market 

 and 20 per cent of them are 15 miles or more. The average distance 

 from market is 8 miles, while the average distance from market of 

 all farms in the corn belt is probably not over 4 miles. 



A little over one-fourth of these men have changed their markets, 

 for at least a part of their produce, since purchasing trucks. For 

 those who have changed market, the average distance to the old 

 market was 7 miles and to the new market is 18 miles. 



19133°— 21 1 



