A study of dairy-farm management in the Waipa county : being a thesis submitted ... for the degree of M. Agr. Sc.

Abstract

Farm management differs from the natural sciences in that it can not be studied in the laboratory or on sample plots. It must be studied in the actual operation of real farms. These individual farms differ so widely that large numbers of them must be studied in order to find enough farms similar in any one character to make a sufficient sample. Farm management surveys provide the most practicable method of procuring detailed information, at reasonable cost, on the operation of large numbers of farms. It is now generally accepted that in farm management studies a large number of observations is more important than extreme accuracy in individual observations. The primary object of farm management research is to determine facts and principles that will aid individual farmers to organize their farms most profitably. As Ashby (1934) has pointed out, 'It is not the business of the research worker to tell a man how to run his farm. This is his job. If he can be given information which will assist him in checking up on his policy or actions, then at this point the functions of the research worker cease. A basis for intelligent examination and criticism should be supplied."