FARM MANAGEMENT IN THE OZARKS. 



29 



Profits which may be expected from the various classes of live 

 stock vary from year to year, as prices and local conditions vary. 

 In 1917 operators who were successful in raising hogs almost uni- 

 formly showed a satisfactory farm income. There was a ready 

 demand at high prices for all hogs offered for sale, an unusually 

 heavy acorn and mast crop was produced in the woods, the feed 

 cost was low for the majority of the hogs raised, and there was no 

 general epidemic of hog cholera in the region. On the other hand, 

 those operators who raised colts found little demand for them, and 

 sales were made with difficulty and at a low price. The margin of 

 farm profit contributed from year to year by the various enter- 

 prises varies according to conditions governing production and mar- 

 keting. An analysis of the receipts shows that cattle and hogs were 

 the live stock which contributed the largest return on these farms. 



Fig. 11. — Type of dairy herds kept for production of cream. 



The profitable production of cattle in this region depends upon 

 grazing to furnish the bulk of feed required during the summer, 

 with sufficient grain and hay raised on the farm to maintain them 

 during the winter. The bulk of the cattle sales are in the late sum- 

 mer directly off the pastures, though an occasional farmer produces 

 sufficient corn for feeding out a bunch of cattle during the winter. 

 Cream is also being sold from this country in increasing volume. 

 (See fig. 11.) 



CREAM PRODUCTION. 



This territory is well provided with a market for cream, creameries 

 being located at a number of the more important railway stations, 

 and a few operating at interior points. Practically every little 

 village has one or more cream-receiving stations. It is difficult to 

 overstate the help this has been to many farmers, particularly to 

 those operators of only moderate-sized farms to whom the steady 



