COST OF CULTIVATION

Waipa Post, Volume 31, Issue 1765, 1 June 1926, Page 6

COST OF CULTIVATION

CROPPING WITH HORSES.

EXPERIMENTS IN AUSTRALIA,

Of late years the costs of tractorfarming have often been quoted in an effort to prove the effectiveness of the machine in comparison with horses. Now, few farmers are in a position to quote the actual costs incurred in the carrying out of cropping operations with horses, so the arguments are mostly on one side. Turretfield Demonstration Farm, in South Australia, which is being run on commercial lines as a mixed wheat and sheep farm, .supplies exact figures for its working horses, and, as the farm accounts are under a trained accountant, these may be accepted as correct for that district. A statement made in South Australia shows tine cost of upkeep of between 36 and 37 working horses over a time of three years, -which is summarised, in round numbers as follows: Wages, £7O; feed, £450; grazing, £76; depreciation and repairs, £36; sundries, £l7; total, £649. This work s out at £l7 15s 5d a horse, the distribution being: Wages, £1 Ss 2d; feed, £l2 6s lOd; grazing, £2 Is 9d; depreciation and repairs, 19s lOd; and s und,ries, Ss lOd. In a detailed statement the cost of a horse-hour of work i s put at about 4.Sd, which makes the cost of an eighthour day 3s 2Jd. The estimated cost per acre of various farm operations has also been summarised as follows: —Fallow ploughing 9 S 2d; cultivating 4s 9d; harrowing Is 4d; combine drill 4s 2d; drilling 3s Id; binding 7s 8d; harvester (wheat) 9s 4d; harvester (barle'y) 8s 2d; reaper-thresher (wheat) 7s 6d, (peas) 12 s Id, (barley) 4s lid; stripper (wheat) 9s 2d.; stooking 2 S 10d.

These are valuable figures to anyone interested in farm economy, and will serve as a basis for many farm contracts. Other useful costs are also given. Under costs per bushel, grading seed wheat is put at 6.2 d, picking (bluestone) 1.7 d, winnowing 3.2 d, bag sewing 0.4 d. In this summary is included costs per ton of stooking Is 7d, carting and stacking hay in field 8s 2d„ binding 4s Id, chaff-cutting 13s 4d.