Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-03-22
IMPORTANT FACTORS
IN GOOD FARMING
Report Of 0. A. c. and Federal
Expert Shows Good and
Bad Practices

Size of farm, number Of COWS. re-
ceipts per COW, returns for 800 worth
Of feed, number and quality of cows.
and returns per acre, are factors that
have great influence on the success of
dairy farming. These factors indeed
determined the success and failure of
farming operations on fifty-three bot
tomland farms recently analyzed by.
the representative Of the Oregon Az.
ncultural college extension service.
or these various factors il is shown
that the most important are receipts
per COW and returns for 500 worth
of feed. The farmers profit is meas.
ured in the report by the size of tn,
labor income. BY labor income is
meant what the farmer has left after
! paying all farm expenses including
| depreciation Of farm buildings and
machinery, taxes, feed and labor. and
deducting five per cent interest on the
value Of the land, buildings. stock.
tools and other investments. The
labor income is what farmer gets
for his own work in addition to what
the farm furnished toward the family
living.
The labor income ON these fifty.
seven bottomland farms ranged from
minus 81, 1853 to $3,24o. In other words
! some Of the farms failed to pay their
owners anything for their labor ana
ana not pay five per cent interest on
investment. Other farms under sim.
mar conditions paid the owner five
per cent ON Investment and also $3s
for his labor.
Concerning size OF farm the report
| shows that those farmers were not
successful who did not have enough
land to keep the farmer and his fam.
ny or hired help profitably employed.
lhe labor income on farms averaging
thlrty-tour acres was 1896 and the
labor income on farms averaging one.
hundred and nine acres was $47l.
a second reason for variations i'm
the quality Of cows kept. With an
average Of twenty COWS to the farm
the labor income was 1874. while
wlth an average Of forty cows the
income was 1924. The quality of COWS
kept as before mentioned, was one OF
the most important causes of varia.
ton. Farm Investments in which COWS
averaged S62 per head returns leayes
Il labor income Of minus $I23 Where
COWS gave an average return of s!
per mead the labor income was S7g3.
Ihls shows an average advantage a.
more than $500 due to the better ouai
ity Of COWS. i''
Another consideration. even moro
Important is the value Of the return
an animal gives for 800 worth Of
reed. If stock returned an averape
OF Sll3 for each 800 worth of feed
gwen the labor income was minus
Sl22 but where the stock returned IN,
value Of $lSl the labor income aver.
aged $0j3. g. '''
IT IS shown by the next two table,
that the large herds Of better IN.
average COWS made a labor income
nearly four times the labor income
Oh large herds with poorer than aver.
age cows, and twenty-five times ms
much as small heru Of poorer cows
indeed the small herd Of high produc.
ing cows made nearly three times AS
large labor income as large herd,
OF low producing cows, and eighteen
times as much as the small herd o,
low producing COWS.
Better labor income was secured ON
farms with high returns per acre but
not too high. The average labor i'm.
come on farms returning values of
thirty dollars per acre was minus 500
on those averaging $4j per acre s57r
and on those returning $G5 or more
per acre S53S. 1t seems that when
returns reach much above $50 an
acre the expense necessary to secure
them is so great that profits decrease.
The owner Of each farm SURVEYED
is furnished a copy of these tables 10.
gether with explanatory comment and
blank forms wherein he may enter his
various items for comparison with
the average IN this way it is thought
that each farmer will learn wherein
success and failure lie, and manage
his farm operations accordingly.