6 BULLETIN 548, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



SEVEN SUCCESSFUL DAIRY FARMS ANALYZED AND COMPARED. 



FARM NO. 1. 



Size of farm acres. . 400 



Number of cows 75 



Number of other animal units ' 37 



Total capital 2 $50, 097 



Working capital 3 7, 874 



Total receipts 11, 824 



Receipts from dairy ' 7, 416 



Expenses 4 7, 854 



Farm income 5 3, 970 



Labor income 6 1, 466 



This is the largest farm of the ten in question and is valued at $125 

 per acre. It is well situated near a market point. While it is some- 

 what rolling, the soil is of good quality and about all of it tillable. 

 If properly organized, this farm should have made the largest labor 

 income of the group. Instead, it is among the lowest, those which 

 were only fairly successful. In the first place, the dairy business 

 shows up poor in quality, receipts per cow being low as compared 

 with those of the more successful farms. The operator has 75 cows,, 

 about as many as he can give proper attention to. Half his acreage 

 easily could be made to support this herd. Thus, this area of land 

 (400 acres) might be supporting two successful dairy farms instead 

 of one (see farm No. 4). If there were an additional farm superin- 

 tendent, however, the farm might be so organized that the dairy 

 business could be conducted as one department, while the greater 

 part of the land could be cropped in accordance with the best practice 

 in the section. With a higher degree of diversity and by handling 

 other live stock, the gross income of this farm, even with its present 

 management, should be increased considerably without much more 

 expense. The average expenses of the ten farms are about 45 

 per cent of receipts, while on this farm they are about 75 per cent, 

 showing that the business was too expensive for the income received. 

 This farmer housed his cows in a $7,000 dairy barn, an invest- 

 ment of nearly $100 per cow, while his nearest competitor, one of 

 the most successful farmers of the group, had but one-third of this 

 amount invested. Although this was a large farm and showed a 

 relatively small proportion of its receipts from other sources than 

 dairying, it failed to produce as much feed for dairy stock as the 

 average farm ($18) and expended for purchased feeds $20 per- cow. 



'See footnote, p. 4. 



2 Total capital includes investment in land, buildings, machinery, live stock, feed, supplies, and cash 

 to run the business. , 



8 Working capital includes all items of capital except land, buildings, and other improvements usually- 

 included in real estate. 



* Expenses include a charge for unpaid family labor, depreciation, and 5 per cent interest on total capital 

 besides money actually paid out in conducting the farm business. 



D Farm income is the total receipts less expenses. 



6 Labor income is farm income less 5 per cent interest on invested capital. 



