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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
In Cooperation with the 
Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1271 
en, D. C. 
December 12, 1924 
A STUDY OF FARM ORGANIZATION IN SOUTHWESTERN MINNESOTA 
By George A. Pond, Assistant Agriculturist, Agricultural Experiment Station, 
University of Minnesota, and Jesse W. Tapp, Assistant Agricultural Econo- 
mist, Bureau of Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Description and history of agriculture of the 
area 2 
Purpose of historical study 4 
Settlement and agricultural development.. 5 
Changes in acreages of the important crops. 6 
Changes in the numbers and kinds of live- 
stock 8 
Study of present-day agriculture in Cot- 
tonwood and Jackson Counties 11 
Unit requirements of labor and materials for 
crops 13 
Seed-bed preparation 14 
Corn 17 
Oats 24 
Barley 29 
Rye 32 
Flax 35 
Tame hay 36 
WOd hay 39 
Alfalfa 41 
Use of unit requirement and labor distri- 
bution data in planning a cropping sys- 
tem ._ 44 
Page 
Unit requirements of labor and materials for 
livestock 45 
Work horses 46 
Colts 48 
Dairy cows 50 
Young dairy cattle 53 
Mixed cattle 56 
Hogs 58 
Sheep 62 
Poultry 64 
MisceUaneous labor requirements and their 
relation to the crop and livestock labor 66 
Manure hauling 66 
Miscellaneous crop labor 67 
Miscellaneous livestock labor 70 
Maintenance labor 70 
The place of the crop,livestock, and miscel- 
laneous labor in the labor program of the 
farm 70 
Day-to-day management of labor 76 
Exchange labor. 79 
The principles of the choice and adjustment of 
crop and livestock enterprises 80 
Factors affecting choice and adjustment of 
enterprises 80 
General plan of application of the principles 
of choice and adjustment of enterprises . . 83 
Summary 99 
Farmers are constantly making changes — some at one point, some at 
another — all endeavoring to benefit by their own experiences and the 
experiences of others in so far as these come to their knowledge and 
are satisfactorily proven. The differences in the organization and 
management of farms are the results of these changes. These differ- 
ences are sometimes striking; but generally they are so moderate, so 
numerous, and so variable in their effects on final results as to obscure 
the relationships of the factors of the problem of which they are only 
parts. 
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