22 BULLETIN 341, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AUKICULTURE. 



type of dairying in this region, which leaves no skim milk for the 

 young stock. Farmers have felt that they could buy cows more 

 cheaply than they could be raised on the high-priced milk available. 

 In general this has been true until quite recently, but in recent years 

 the prices Chester County farmers have had to pay for cows have 

 risen, until at the present time raising has become at least as cheap 

 as buying. Since this survey was made (1911-12) many more calves 

 have been saved by these farmers than formerly, and the proportion 

 of cows bought is now less than it was a few years ago. This has an 

 important bearing on the question of herd improvement. It is a very 

 difficult matter to buy cows of high quality, and high productive 

 capacity on the part of the dairy cow, as will later be shown, is one 

 of the most important problems confronting Chester County farmers. 



The horses kept on Chester County farms are mainly work animals. 

 Less than one farm in three raises colts. Horse raising is thus not 

 an important feature of the local farming, and the practice of buy- 

 ing western horses to feed for sale, which is common in some Cen- 

 tral Western States, is here practically unknown. 



Excepting dairy cattle and horses, poultry are the most important 

 farm animals. The average number of hens per farm is almost 

 exactly 100, or 1 ^animal unit. The status of poultry as a farm 

 enterprise in this region will be considered in detail later. Nearly 

 every farm keeps some poultry, but there are very few real poultry 

 farms. 



A few hogs are kept on most farms, but the absence of skim milk, 

 together with high local prices for grain, makes the hog a relatively 

 unimportant enterprise here. Hogs are kept mainly for home sup- 

 plies, though some farmers realize considerable cash income from 

 this source. 



Beef cattle and sheep were found on only a few farms each. Most 

 of these were farms where labor was scarce and difficult to obtain. 



Table VI shows the acres per animal unit for each of the size 

 groups. Taking the live stock as a whole, there is about the same 

 intensity of stocking in each group, the average acres of crops per 

 animal unit being 3.47 and the acres of pasture 1.18. The average 

 area of crops per dairy cow is 4.89 acres. The area of pasture per 

 animal unit increases quite markedly with increase in size of farm. 

 This is to be expected, since the larger the farm the less intensive the 

 farming must be for satisfactory results. 



The heaviest stocking with dairy cows is found in the 41 to 60 

 acre group and in the 101 to 120 acre group. The reason for this will 

 be brought out later. The two largest groups have relatively fewest 

 cows per given area of crops, or, what is the same thing, relatively 

 the largest acreage of crops per cow. 



