Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1886-08-13
Economy With Team Work.
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One of the economies which most needs
to be learned by farmers is the best man
agcment of team help. A great proper
ton are oyer-stocked with horses, by
which we mean keeping more horses than
can be profitable employed all the year.
There was possibly some reason for the
notion that prevailed at an early day
that teams cost little or nothing for keep
ing. Much that they ate was either I'M
salable or cost about as much to get to
market as it brought. On land worth
little or nothing only the most valuable
grains would pay for transporting to
market 1t was possibly true under such
circumstances that a horses keep may
have been small matter, but now that
the cOarsest fodder can be sold, even
straw bringing much more than either its
manurial or nutritive value, the food that
a horse eats is as good as cash and
amounts to fully 81 per week, and when
working hard and well fed often to twice
that sum. A working team will cost to
keep nearly or quite $3.50, and if we allow
$3.50 per day for use of team it must
work 100 days, or one-third the working
year, under, favorable circumstances, to
merely pay its way, allowing nothing
for accident, disease and depreciation in
value.
On thousands of farms, where only few
kinds of crops are grown, teams get little
if any more than 100 days work per year.
All through the wintet, weeks and some
times months pass without getting horses
out except for exercise. When the busy
season begins, it is altogether too busy
for a little while, though even then the
farmer is lucky whose teams are not kept
idle one or two days in the week by
storms,
Team help at seeding time in spring
and III harvest is well worth whatever its
owners conscience will allow him to
charge. We have known good farmers to
pay $3.50 or even 81 per day fol- man and
team at blowing in order to hurry in
crops in season. Even these seemingly
high prices are less expensive than keep
ing through the year extra team help
which is required at these special sea
sons.
Without doubt the greatest and most
common loss in team management is
from keeping poor horses, unable at any
time to do a full days work. 1t is the
most difficult thing possible for many
farmers to get the idea into their heads
that horse capable of doing but little
is entirely valueIess. An old, worn out
horse will always sell for something, no
matter how poor he may be, and always
for a greater price in proportion to his
value when most worthless. For farm
purposes, with the dear wages now paid
to farm help, it does not require much
reduction from full days team work
each day to make up the value of a first
class team in every respect. The poor
hnrSaG cost fully much and Cranpralfy
more, for keeping than good ones do.
Suppose that with a good team two acres
per day at blowing would be a fair days
work, while with poor team an acre or
an acre and a quarter would be all that
could be accomplished. The hired help
is paid the same in either case, while with
poor team nearly quite half their eff
cheney is lost.
And yet the poorer the farmer Is the
poorer inv ariably his team will be. The
two things always go together as cause and
effect, and the poor team is oftener
the cause of general poverty than the re-
verse.
Having a good team of horses, the
farmer should either work them himself
or employ some one who will not abuse
them, who will feed them well, and so
manage as to keep them employed near
ly or quite all the working days in the
year. Stormy weather will interfere with
this somewhat on the farm, and it is
difficult to get more than two hundred
days of profitable team work on most
farms in our Northern climate. Many
get not much more than half this number
and horses lying idle in the stable in
fair weather, because no work has been
provided for them, furnish proof of the
mismanagement that so often results in
failure. 1t is a difficult matter to keep
teams proftably employed all the time
during the working season, and the effort
to do this has, as it should have, much to
do with methods of cropping and the
kinds of crops to be grown. Keeping
the teams busy, and men as well. is one
of the best arguments for growing
large variety of crops rather than only
few.
No positive or definite rule can be
given as to the number of horses or
teams that may be kept on given area.
If the horses are good animals their
numbers may be greatly increas ed with
profit, as the land is made more fertile
and suited to a greater variety of crops.
Market gardeners often keep several
teams on few acres, but they are always
busily employed either in drawing manure
or marketing produce. Where so to 100
loads of manure are used per acre in
single year, this alone requires great
deal of team work, and the crops to be
marketed need proportionately as much
or more. Even for ordinary farming
on very rich land, four horses, and some
times more, may be proftably kept on
farms of fifty or seventy-five acres, since
this amount of team help will be needed
to crop the land as it should be, and do
the work at the right time. Yet there
are very many farms of this area of poor
land where so much blowing and cultiva-
ting would never pay. Very poor land
will not pay much anyway. but is least
expensive when kept in grass. Where
this is the case keeping five or six horses
on d fifty acre farm would use up most of
the produce.