FARM PRACTICE IN PRODUCTION OF HAY 
15 
Table XVIII. — Cost of man and horse labor, repairs, interest, and depreciation on 
machinery for haying operations. 
52 farms in Steuben County, N. Y. 
37 farms 
in Washington County, 
Pa. 
Operation. 
Farms 
report- 
ing each 
opera- 
tion. 
Cost. 
Farms 
report- 
ing each 
opera- 
tion. 
Cost. 
Per 
day. 
Per 
acre. 
Per 
ton. 
Per 
day. 
Per 
acre. 
Per 
ton. 
Seeding with hand seeder 
Seeding with wheelbarrow seeder. 
Average for seeding 
17 
13 
30 
52 
29 
52 
52 
$2. 052 
2.958 
2.553 
5.170 
4. 225 
4.397 
8.290 
24. 635 
$0. 041 
.091 
.065 
.578 
.349 
.253 
1.038 
2.283 
SO. 027 
.060 
.042 
.385 
.233 
.168 
.692 
1.520 
11 
$2.26 
SO. 048 
$0. 031 
11 
37 
21 
37 
37 
2.26 
5.920 
5.261 
4.623 
8.980 
27. 024 
.048 
.563 
.414 
.294 
1.495 
2.814 
.031 
.360 
Tedding 
.266 
.188 
Loading, hauling, and putting 
.959 
1.804 
Table XIX. — Actual cost of producing 4,047 tons of hay on 52 farms in Steuben County, 
N. Y., and 2,201 tons on 37 farms in Washington County, Pa. 
Cost of man and horse labor, repairs, interest, 
and depreciation on machinery. 
Item of cost. 
52 farms in Steuben 
County, N. Y. 
37 farms in Washington 
County, Pa. 
Per acre. 
Per ton. 
Per acre. 
Per ton. 
Seeding 
SO. 031 
.578 
.181 
.253 
1.038 
.012 
$0. 021 
.385 
.121 
.168 
.692 
.008 
SO. 035 
.563 
.270 
.294 
1. 495 
SO. 022 
.360 
Tedding 
.173 
.188 
.959 
Repairs, interest, and depreciation on hay loaders 
Seed 
2.093 
.620 
4.801 
1.395 
.430 
3.204 
2.657 
.533 
6.324 
1.702 
.343 
4. 055 
Total 
7. 514 5. 002 
9. 516* 
6.100 
COST OF BALING HAY. 
Only a small per cent of the hay producers in the areas surveyed 
own their own hay presses. Most of the market hay is baled by the 
country buyer and shipper, or else by custom balers. The customary 
price for baling is $1.50 per ton, and often the hay grower is expected 
to furnish one or two pitchers and board the press crew of three or 
four men. With the ordinary crew this brings the cost of pressing 
up to about $2 per ton. 1 
COST OF HAULING TO MARKET. 
It is almost impossible to determine the average cost of hauling 
hay to market without making special time studies, since hay is 
marketed in quantities varying from a ton to a carload. This opera- 
tion is usually performed by farm man labor and horse labor, and 
not by those making a business of hauling, as is the case in the 
Middle West, where hay is grown on a more extensive scale. The 
1 Considerable information secured in this study on the management of baling crews and the cost of 
baling will be published in other bulletins. 
