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THE CHANGE OVER
Page 76
Page 77
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from ANIMAL to POWER OPERATION
Benefits the Farming Community
D. N. McHardy Considers the Many Practical Advantages that Have Followed in the Wake of Mechanized Agriculture, and Weighs Up the Relative Costs of the Old and the New Systems
THAT we are witnessing a big change-over from animal , to mechanical traction on the farmlands of the world Can hardly be Open to question, but for many the problem of how such a conversion may affect the individual is still one of considerable moment, There are, even in the areas most advanced in mechanical methods, numerous farmers who have hardly adopted 'any power equipment. Equally numerous, too, are those who have made such a partial change that they have experienced little or no
benefit. .
Whilst generalizations are often dangerous, it is a fact that the whole subject is so wide that, in a brief survey, one cannot particularize. For this reason, I propose simply to review some of. the headings under which the problem may be considered.
Management Comparisons. . .
From the practical aspect, I think that the question of the comparison between the management of animal and mechanical power must be considered as of primary importance. Assuming that the farm is to be served by horse labour, we have to provide men to look after the horses during the whole year, whether they are working or not, and to drive them in the field or on the road.
By' far the commonest team for cultural work in this country consists of two or three horses, so that we must count on at least one man to every two or three-horsed team. Each team will probably cultivate about 50 acres annually.
On a 500-acre mixed farm, therefore, it would probably be necessary to secure at •least five horsemen, quite apart from the other workmen about the place. From the nature of their charges, which require attention out of working hours, men responsible for horses need to be suppliedwith cottages in the immediate vicinity. Stabling of a substantial character for 10 or more horses is required,as well as Musing accommodation for the men, together with harness rooms and sufficient space for mixing and storing feeding stuffs.
So far as feeding is concerned, provision for growing feeding stuffs in the shape of oats, hay, etc, together with grazing for the horses, must be made, and this calls, on an average, for the produce of five acres per horse per annum, so that from 50 to 75 acres of the farm will be needed to keep the motive power.
Inasmuch as the typical implement unit for horse power is the single • furrow plough, we find it necessary to stock up with a multiplicity of small implements of comparatively low output capacity, and often to conduct field operations on the basis of putting several men with their teams .on to the same piece of ground.
The execution of any particular piece of work by animal 'power can be speeded up only by increasing the number of animals . employed. The horse can and will temporarily deliver power to meet an overload, but the daily working stretch cannot be extended beyond the normal, which is between six and eight hours, with breaks for resting, without incurring trouble. Excessively severe weather conditions also depress the output.
The management of mechanical equipment is, in many ways, much simpler, although it has its special problems. On a farm of the same size as that mentioned above, the number of tractors required—of various sizes— would not exceed three, and since they do not require attention out of working hours, they can he 'manned by men who live farther away from the place of work and may get to and from it by motorcycle. This overcomes the housing• difficulty and reduces the number of men required for working the land. It must be c:mphasized,.that . this does. not necessarily mean the
• employment of fewer men in the total number engaged. Implements work out, on the • whole, cheaper when constructed for mechanical traction, in spite of the better-quality material needed. One can buy, for instance, a three-furrow plough for less money than three separate single-furrow implements. In terms of output, tractor mowers and binders, etc., are cheaper than machines for use with horses. The capital invested in power-farming equipment per acre comes out at a lower rate than the investment in horses and horse machinery.
Meeting Ruh-peried Overloads.
When we come to compare the effect on management of mechanical traction. as against animal power, in respect of speeding up or meeting overloads, the limitations of animal power are at once apparent. When work has to he executed in a hurry, it is possible to run the machine for unlimited hours at a stretch, providing only a change of drivers.
This aspect of the tractor solves the question of meeting rush-period overloads of work. Also, as regards the ability to meet overloads of actual draught, it is necessary only to drop to a gear below normal to bring a reserve of pulling power into action.
From this analysis of the two sources of power for haulage, we may proceed to some general considerations. There are, for example, people who adopt power-farming methods because they have too few cottages available to employ as many horsemen as would be needed.
Then, again, the supply of labour itself is dwindling. If the number of hands available be strictly limited, the farmer must use them to the best advantage. Consequently, he may not be able to spare men who are needed for cow keeping or piggery work, to follow at a horse-plough tail. The men themselves are unwilling to continue at a job which entails Saturday and Sunday work in attendance on horses.
Casuallabour is becoming much less dependable, so that harvest work calls for more . mechanical appliances, which, in most cases, mean a tractor for their operation, since a power drive by belt or by a power take-off shaft frequently enters into their design.
So much for the more general of the practical considerations. I have left to the last two headings for discussion, one of these being relative costs. To provide voluminous data purporting to illustrate the relative costs of carrying out farm work by tractors as compared with horses, seems to afford much satisfaction to the economist. I venture to suggest, however, that not one per cent, of farmers is influenced by such data in purchasing their first tractor.
Costs accounts are not a suitable basis for the comparison of the tractor and the horse. For the tractor alone, they are useful as a check on management and driving efficiency, hut nothing more. It is, in my opinion, impossible to produce a figure of the cost per hour or per acre of work that is of any value in determining farming policy, for a simple reason.
These unit costs are, and must be, arrived at by dividing total coats by the number of units worked per annum, say, the number of hours or days. Now, on any given farm, the fewer the hours taken to complete the necessary work, the better. But a reduction in the number of working days will case a higher unit cost to be shown.
It is not in terms of cost that we must discuss the value of the tractor and power equipment generally, although, as mentioned, such coatings are useful as a check and a guide in formulating policy.
When Opportunity .Knocks., The most important phase of all is having the right tool for the job, as the practical farmer puts it, which enables him to get his work done properly and at the right time. What the theorists often fail to realize is that to miss an opportunity of working and seeding ground, in a brief spell of good weather, may mean either a poor crop or no crop at all. Conversely, thorough working and correctly timed seeding may, and frequently does, mean a crop return well above the average.
Deep, thorough, speedy working of the land and quick sowing and harvesting sum up the attributes of powerfarming equipment which are mainly responsible for the change-over. The fact that we can say, without wasting too much time on detailed analysis, that the well-managed power-operated farm shows a better gross return than the poorly 'equipped holding, is a reflection of the general efficiency of the system.