TRACTORS AND HORSES IN THE WINTER WHEAT BELT. pas 
in the northern area with less than 240 acres in crops, 24 considered 
that they needed 4 head and one considered that he needed only 2, 
but only 13 of the 37 were keeping 4 head or less. Of 46 men with 
240 to 319 crop acres 36 considered that they needed 6 head or less, 
but only 18 were keeping 6 head or less. | 
Table 28 shows the exact number of surplus work stock on the 
different farms. In all, 158 tractor owners, about 45 per cent, con- 
sidered that they needed all the work stock they were keeping. One 
hundred and eighty-one, about 50 per cent, were keeping more than 
they considered necessary, and the remaining 15 were keeping less 
than they considered necessary. <A little over 20 per cent were 
keeping at least four head of surplus horses. 
TABLE 28.—Number of surplus work stock on different farms. 
| Southern} Western |Northern All 
| area, area. area. farms. 
Number of tractor owners who were keeping— | | 
4 head less work stock than needed......................--- | 1 hoe a eS / i 
aeAG LESS WOEK SLOCK than Needed. + 2.2 2 2 ee eh occ [ec cen etek te ene | 1 1 
2 head less work stock than needed................-.--..--- Pe 1 | 1 4 
1 head less work stock than needed..............-...----..- 2 3 4 9 
Sa GHITELE DCL ASITICRG CUS a2 5 oe oe Se Ba She ose cs ie ernie 49 43 66 | 158 
Number of tractor owners who were keeping— 
1 head more work stock than needed ..............--..----- 14 10 22 46 
2 head more work stock than needed. ............-..------.| 16. 4 19 39 
3 head more work stock than needed..............--.------ 10 6 5 2) 
4 head more work stock than needed...........-..-.-.--.-- 10 13 7 30 
5 head more work stock than needed..............--------- a Oilie 2 es ee 9 
6 head more work stock than needed ................-.-.--. 3 6 | 1 10 
7 head more work stock than needed............--..------- 5 3 1 9 
Sheadimore work stock than needed). =: ... 0....2-----2..-|ie- 2 eee 3 | ees eee 3 
9 head more work stock than needed...-.-.......---------- 2 | 3) eSsseeraeee 5 
10 head more work stock than needed. ............-...----- : 2 | Dra ere Wea CAS 4 
More than 10 more work stock than needed.-..-.-.......--.- Pe res cere pl eee eee ee 5 
The surplus work stock on these farms was largely responsible for 
the low number of hours of work per head. (See Table 23.) No 
record was obtained as to the number of hours which the surplus 
work stock were used during the year or whether some of these men 
used horses on work which they would have done with tractors if the 
surplus work stock had not been available, but on a large proportion 
of the farms the work done by the horses and tractors would not have 
been changed if the surplus work stock had not been available. If 
the surplus work stock had been sold and no change made in the 
amount of work done with horses there would have been an average 
of about 625 hours of horse labor per head in the southern area; 
510 hours in the western area, 645 hours in the northern area, and 
595 hours for all farms. This is 84 hours per head less in the southern 
area 55 hours less in the western area, and 35 hours more in the 
northern area than was done by work stock on the farms on which 
tractors were not owned. (See Table 61.) 
The low prices of horses had kept many farmers from disposing 
of their surplus work stock and although in general the cost per hea 
of keeping work stock on the farms where they did a small number of 
hours of work per year was somewhat lower than on farms where the 
work stock were utilized more fully (see Table 35), in most cases the 
total annual cost of power for operating the farm would have been 
reduced if the surplus work stock had been sold. 
