Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1922-04-27
ACCOUNTING IS MADE
ALLY OF The FARMER
College of Agriculture Aiding Pro-
ducers to Lower Costs and
Increase Returns.

to see the banker.
"You here again." said Banker Hall.
yes, / have. few bills to pay
and need about two thousand dollars
to meet them. When the checks come
In after the first Of the month I'll be
Afl right again and come in and see
you"
Brown had put up this story once
foo often and Hall frankly told him
so. "You have a good proposition out
there and l don't understand why you
are so continually in financial diff
culties," said he. "You ought to get
ahead, but instead you run behind. II
YOU will bring me an exact statement
Of your assets and debts and budget
showing how you propose to meet
them. you can have two thousand, and
more, but not cent till you show me"
Business Is Out of kilter.
Brown was a hard-headed practical
farmer of no small executive ability
and Of wide experience. He owned a
small farm and produced retail market
milk from a hundred milk COWS. he
figured on raising about all the rough
age needed for his stock and boughI
the feed; instead of raising his COWS,
he bought fresh cows from his neigh
bors as needed for his trade. Ills
was rather an expensive plan but MS
milk was of the highest quality and
used mostly for baby feeding in the
CITY in which he sold and it commanded
whatever price he thought he ought
to get
Still his business was sick; 1t was
like a strong man laid up with the
grip-wretched enough at the time put
with the best of prospects of speedy
recovery under proper treatment.
AS first aid treatment he got an ex-
tension of time from his creditors for
which. of course he paid handsomely.
Then he went to his agricultural col
lege for help. In order to get a basis
for recommendations the farm manage
ment men asked him many questions
about his cows, feeding labor, expenses
income, market, which he could not
answer except in the most general
way.
Brown died hard on the bookkeep-
ing proposition. He had the common
idea that a farmer didn't need to keep
books. He had never kept any records
except d few memoranda and his
check book stubs, and he didn't pro-
pose to let anyone waste his good time
and money keeping books" But
finally a young man who was earning
his way through the state agricultural
college was secured to start the new
system. The result was a compromise
at first with a complete vindication
Of the record idea later.
inventory Pays Wonderfully.
The first thing done was the pre-
paration OF a detailed inventory OF
property, according to classes, with all
the unpaid bills sorted, verified and
arranged in order of due date, with
fine tooth combing of the file of Gus
TONER'S accounts. This resulted in
q statement which loOsened Banker
Halls hold on sufficient funds to meet
the maturing bills, while closer collec-
lions Of customers accounts furnished
more than enough for current eX-
penses. Creditors, becoming convinced
that prompt payment when due was
assumed made better prices and bet
ter terms, which effected cut in ex-
penseS.
The second thing done was to test
his herd. A dozen cows were sold at
once; they were easy mixers and had
been kept in the string by Sinking
mixers long after they had ceased to
pay for the milking; their stanchions
were left empty until four new COWS
could be found.
At the same time the feeds pur
chased were listed by kind and amount
and character Of the feed actually fed
compared with milk production. Ref
erence to Henry Morrison's "Feeds and
Feeding" showed that not only were
the cows fed an uneconOmical amount,
but much too heavy ration. The
new record keeper issued orders to
feed one pound Of grain to three Of
milk and changed the ration. He was
laughed at and finally had to do the
feeding himself, but except for a few
days while the cows were getting used
to the new feed, production was in
creased and cost of feed materially
decreased A further large saving
was effected in the better health of
the cows; forced sales of cows on ac-
count of udder troubles stopped at
once.
The attention was turned to the
milk house where the milk was bot
tied. The weight of milk .going over
the cooler was compared with the num-
Der of quarts placed in the refriger-
ator. It was established that 30 to 40
quarts day were lost down the drain
because Of an old and leaky bottling
machine. This waste of So to 81 a
day was cut out by investment in a
new and efficient bottling machine.
Boosted His Sales. esa
Then the matter of delivery was at