A STUDY OF FARM ORGANIZATION IN CENTRAL KANSAS 57 
MAINTENANCE LABOR 
A considerable portion of the time of the farmers in this area is 
spent in doing work of a general upkeep or maintenance character. 
Such work is not directly connected with particular enterprises, 
but must be considered when any attempt is made to plan the 
labor program of the farm. This type of labor may usually be 
ignored when one is concerned only with choice of enterprises, since 
the amount of this work is affected only slightly by moderate changes 
in the importance of the different crop or livestock enterprises. 
Other factors than the effect of the change upon the amount of 
miscellaneous labor are usually more important. This labor con- 
stituted from 4.7 to 24.1 per cent of the total labor on the farms 
included in this study in 1922. The amount of time spent by men 
and horses at such work is shown in Tables 29 and 30. The pro- 
portion of the total labor on the farm that may be classed as mis- 
cellaneous or maintenance is very high on some farms, because 
considerable time that would otherwise go unused is spent on mis- 
cellaneous tasks. 
MANAGEMENT OF THE LABOR PROGRAM 
In choosing farm enterprises, attention must be given by the 
farmers of central Kansas to the problem of providing productive 
employment for their labor and equipment as nearly throughout 
the year as possible. More attention is given to this phase of the 
problem of planning the labor program under "Principles governing 
choice of farm enterprises." Once the farmer has decided upon the 
enterprises to be included in his organization, his viewpoint is some- 
what changed and he is concerned primarily in getting the farm 
work done with a minimum of conflict between the various tasks. 
The labor program on the farms of this area is made up of a variety 
of tasks. Some of these tasks must be done regularly, or at certain 
fairly definite; fixed times of the year, if the best results are to be 
obtained. The feeding and care of livestock, seeding and harvesting 
of grain, and similar tasks are of this character, and at the optimum 
time for their performance take preference over most of the other 
usual tasks to be done on the farm. Other tasks, such as repairing 
buildings and fences, cutting wood, hauling straw, and the like 
may be performed at times when there is no work of an urgent sea- 
sonal character to be done. 
The farmer must decide from day to day the most important 
tasks demanding his attention. When weather or soil conditions 
interfere with the performance of these more important tasks, his 
efforts should be directed to getting such work done as might 
interfere with more urgent tasks once conditions are again favor- 
able for their performance. The various kinds of work commonly 
done on the farms of this area are classified in the following tables 
with a view to providing a basis for a more systematic day-to-day 
management of the labor program. 
The classification of farm tasks in Table 31 is based on the seasonal 
character of the different tasks. Where there is a conflict between 
the tasks listed in the first column and those in the second, the tasks 
listed in the first column should be given first attention. In the 
case of a conflict between two tasks listed in the same column, the 
more urgent task should be performed. 
