1921.] 



The Cost of Horse Labour. 



815 



On Farm I, a small and well-managed farm of 86 acres. 45 

 of which are arable, two working horses are kept, or 4.5 

 horses per 100 acres of arable land. Each horse worked 255 

 days or 88 per cent, of the total possible. The yearly cost of 

 upkeep per horse was £'51 Os. 6d., and the average cost of horse 

 labour was 4s. per working day. The grass-land on this farm 

 had been limed, slagged and generally improved, and earned 

 the equivalent of 1 horse to 1.12 acres. All the foods consumed 

 were home-grown — good crops produced cheaply — and the total 

 food bill amounted only to £82 5s. 6d. per head. The low cost 

 of upkeep and the high percentage of days on which the horses 

 were fully employed, resulted in cheap horse labour on this farm. 



On Farm G the cost of horse labour per working day amounted 

 to 9s. 7d. Here the grass-land had been badly neglected and 

 carried the equivalent of one horse to 3.7 acres at a cost ot 

 £8 lis. 6d. The horses were well fed, each horse consuming, in 

 addition to its grazing, 6 cwt. of roots, 35 cwt. of seeds hay. 

 15 cwt. of oat straw. 11 qr. of home-grown oats and 5 cwt. of 

 purchased corn. The total food bill per horse amounted to 

 £56 13s. lOd. The horses were bought at a high price, with a 

 correspondingly high yearly depreciation, and the average yearly 

 cost of upkeep per horse amounted to £S9 15s. 2d. Four working 

 horses and one tractor were kept on the farm which could not 

 keep more than two teams busy, with the consequence that each 

 horse was only employed on 187 days or 66 per cent, of the total 

 possible. This resulted in dear horse labour; the farm was over- 

 stocked with horses : the grass-land was not carrying the stock 

 it could have done under good management : and the horses 

 were not kept fully employed and were being heavily fed while 

 doing little work. 



It is surprising to find how frequently the rations of farm horses 

 fail in bein? adjusted to the work they are doing. On one farm 

 where the horses were only working 1.2 days per week during 

 July last they were receiving more than 101b. of oats per head per 

 day in addition to their grazing, and with a weekly cost of upkeep 

 of 17s. 6d. per head the horse labour was costing during that 

 month 14s Id. per working day. Every farmer realises in a 

 general way the importance of keeping his horses busy, but not 

 all fully realise how largely the cost of horse labour influences 

 the costs of cultivation and the costs of production of farm crops. 



On Farm I where the horses worked 255 days last year, or 

 88 per cent, of the total number possible, at a cost of 4s. per 

 working day, the cost of ploughing during the whole year 



