UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 931 
Contribution frcm the Bureau of Public Roads, THOS. H. *SJffV 
MacDONALD, Chief, in cooperation with the Office of Farm 
Management and Farm Economics, H. C. TAYLOR, Chief. j^>»jy«. 
Washington, D. C. 
February 25, 1921 
CORN-BELT FARMERS' EXPERIENCE WITH MOTOR 
TRUCKS. 
A study of 831 Reports from Farmers Who Own Motor Trucks. 
By H. R. Tolley, Agricultural Engineer, and L. M. Church, Assistant in 
Farm Accounting. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Summary 1 
Method of study 3 
Location and size of farms 4 
Distance to market 4 
Size of trucks 6 
Age of trucks 6 
Are these trucks profitable invest- 
ments?: 6 
The best size 7 
Advantages and disadvantages 8 
Road hauling with trucks 10 
Road hauling for which trucks are 
not used 14 
Hauling on the farm with trucks__ 14 
Custom hauling 16 
Page. 
J^ffect of different kinds of roads on 
use of trucks 17 
Change of market 19 
Annual use of trucks 20 
Life and depreciation of trucks 21 
Repairs 22 
Gasoline and oil 24 
Tires 24 
Reliability 26 
Cost of operation '. 29 
Cost of hauling with trucks 30 
Saving of hired help 30 
Displacement of horses 31 
Farms on which tractors are owned- 32 
SUMMARY. 
This bulletin summarizes the experience with motor trucks of 831 
grain and live-stock farmers in the corn belt who have motor trucks 
for use on their own farms. 
The average size of their farms is 347 acres. This is considerably 
greater than the average size of all farms in the corn belt. 
Only 14 per cent of these farms are less than 5 miles from market 
and 20 per cent of them are 15 miles or more. The average distance 
from market is 8 miles, while the average distance from market of 
all farms in the corn belt is probably not over 4 miles. 
A little over one-fourth of these men have changed their markets, 
for at least a part of their produce, since purchasing trucks. For 
those who have changed market, the average distance to the old 
market was 7 miles and to the new market is 18 miles. 
19133°— 21 1 
