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Show THE UINTAH BASIN FARMER PEPPARD SERVICE February 15, 1928. Associated Beehive Seed Growers 0 f The Uintah Basin Farming For Profit find that they get a big part of their living from stuff that might otherwise go to waste on the farm. (b) Machinery, buildings, harness, fences, etc. These things break down and have to be repaired or wear out and have to be replaced. Then they represent an investment of money, too. The manager has interest, repairs and replacement to figure on. 2. Things you use up or sell off. manager has to (a) Livestock on feed for market. Theinterest on Iris inwatch the first cost of stock and feed, figure most profitably vestment and decide on the finish (he can make must Then he sell. to which he on guard expects market for the too. some loss on and loss figure against flour, pork, straw, manure, potatoes and grain, (b) Hay, so on, that are to be sold or used on1 the farm to feed the family or the stock, or to go back on the ground, are still another sort of camtal. Some technical economists would probably say that foodstuffs for the family would hardly be capital. Actually, they exgo to help pay the farmers wages which is part of the farm our lines for not fine draw need so purposes. we pense, The managers problem with this class of capital goods, is to sell to the best advantage or to so use them in the farm business as to make greater returns than if he sold them or otherwise disposed of them. In either case they are to be converted into money or its equivalent in the long run. Otherwise they are lost. Have YOU got YOUR CAPITAL sized up? Does it look the same as it did before you got this far? What do you think of your job as manager? Actually, its even bigger than we have indicated here because it is more than a matter of getting the moe off your land or the most for your labor or working capital to .e best advant- Did you read our Service Letter in this magazine two weeks ago? . If you did, you will remember that we reminded you of some of the things a farmer must keep in mind in planning his operations so that he will have a reasonable chance to keep even. Now, let us look Ut this business of fanning jin a little more scientific wayiand at the same time see if we can find some of the ways we can make more money or save money. If we study ECONOMICS, which is DEFINED as the SCIENCE of BUSINESS, we find that there are four factors in production LAND, LABOR, CAPITAL and MANAGEMENT,. Sounds like farming doesnt it ? A large part of the Science of Economics has been built up from the study of agricultural production. You will notice that MANAGEMENT is mentioned last. The Economists discovered it last. Mabye they did not see much of it in agriculture until it began to develop in other businesses. At any rate, MANAGEMENT usually comes first in anv business. Some economists speak of it as the ENTREPRENEUR. This word means ONE WHO UNDERTAKES TO DO SOMETHING. You started in the fanning business as an ENTREPRENEUR. That is, you got land, labor and capital together and undertook to farm. You remained as the MANAGEMENT or manager. YOUR JOB AS MANAGER is to make your LANDt LABOR, and CAPITAL, PAY EXPENSES and WAGES, MAINTAIN your LAND and CAPITAL, and MAKE A PROFIT. Most economists say that PROFITS ARE THE WAGES of MANAGEMENT,. That is, the BETTER the MANAGEMENT, the GREATER THE PROFITS. Now, lets take a look at what you have to manage. LAND Your farm and the land you use in your farming business. If you do not own it you pay RENT. Economists define rent as the income derived1 from land AFTER PAYING FOR THE LABOR AND CAPITAL, and management applied to it. If you do own it you have to pay taxes and water assessments and keep the land as good as it was when you started. Whether you own the land you farm or not, you have to get some use of it that is worth as much to you as the labor and., capital expense you put on it, plus the rent you could get for it or you are going behind. But if you get more than enough to pay for the labor and capital expenses and the rent, you are making a profit wages of management. Can you use your farm so as to make a bigger return without increasing your expenses out of proportion? LABOR Your own labor and that of your help. You and your family must live the whole year. Do (you use your own labor so as to make it earn reasonable wages on yotar farm the year round? Does your help earn all you have to pay them? CAPITAL A farmers capital is his workstock, sheep, cattle, poultry, machinery, hay, grain, seed for planting, buildings, fences, flour and sugar in the bin, meat, potatoes, etc. everything he uses in his business including (his money. Did you ever stop to think that the old straw pile or the old! manure pile were possible capital? We are all accustomed to thinking of capital as money, but from a scientific standpoint, capital is goods that are used in business. If you have such goods and do not use them, you are overlooking part of your capital. Your capital for closer study might well be divided into two classes and these classes divided again. 1. Things you use again and again, or continuously. (a) Workstock, breeding stock, and dairy stock. These have to be maintained and fed. They also get old and die or have to be sold off and replaced. The manager needs to know how much money they are worth and how much interest that money is worth. What it costs to feed them, how often they have to be replaced and how much the replacements will cost each year. Then if he knows how much they bring in each year, he can strike a balance and see if they are making 'money. Very likely he will age. YOU as manager of youf farming business, become a r i .uring ou: a eve.ic to hook your three horses, LAND, LABOR and CAPITAL onto your fanning business in such a fashion that each horse has a good chance to do all he possibly can. Probably mur horses are so different in size that one or two of them will have to be favored on the evener. Then after you are started you may have to favor one of them and your skill as a teamster will have a lot to do with the distance you travel, and how well your horses last. Of course, your farming ousiness is your individual problem. You should know your own business better than aynone else. No doubt you do. At the same time, most of us get a lot of ideas from others and we started out in this letter to help you analyze your business and suggest a few things that are helping some farmers to make a profit. LAND Almost every farm has land that is not in use. Perhaps it would grow a crop of com 'or potatoes. Maybe it should be made into pasture. LABOR Farm work is seasonal. There are rush periods and slack periods. Perhaps you can change, yohr farming operations so as to do more of the work in slack periods and cut down the hump on the rush periods. Com is a good crop for this purpose. It is planted before time to cut hay and most of the cultivation comes after the first cutting of hay is off. Then it makes a crop that is harvested late in the fall after seed is cut and stacked. Along with alfalfa hay or pummy, it will feed a lot of livestock during the winter another slack period. Com is excellent grain for dairy cows. CAPITAL You are getting the most out of your livestock, feed, manure machinery, etc., when they are doing the most for you. Can you give them a better chance to make yolu money? Can you keep them working to advantage more davs of the year? Perhaps you should change some of your capital. If you can make your Land!, Labor and Capital pay its way, you are on the way to making a profit. When they begin to make more than tnat, you are operating at a profit and your profits will depend upon how good your management is. i -- t , . . X G. Pepparct Seed Company Duchesne s,- - Roosevelt ' k V team-st- thru-hor- se Vernal |