The Cost of Operating Farm Machinery on Central-Western Wheat Farms

One of the principal objectives of the survey of a group of wheat farms in the central-west of New South Wales, conducted by the Division of Marketing & Agricultural Economics in February and March, 1951, was to ascertain the cost of operating machinery in use in the wheat industry. An account of the survey, which was carried out on 94 farms in the Shires of Goobang and Jemalong and in the Municipalities of Parkes and Forbes) was published in the previous issue of this journal'. In this article consideration will be given to conclusions drawn from this survey as to the cost of operating tractors and selected implements. The implements selected for consideration-the twin-disc plough ("sundercut"), scarifier, combine and header-include all but two of those implements which were in general use on wheat farms in the district in which the survey was carried out. Binders and tyne harrows (both the stump-jump and diamond type) were also widely used on most farms, but only for relatively short periods of the year. The data supplied by fanners participating in the survey was inadequate to allow of any analysis being undertaken of the costs of operating implements other than the four mentioned.