Of this o,661,473ac. was classified as crop land, 10,114,657ac. as pasture land and 2,683,o93ac. as woodland and miscellaneous. Farm population increased from 881,054 in 1930 to 930,515 in 1935 while the number of farms increased from 193,155 acres to 199,877 acres. The average size of farms, on the other hand, de creased from 120•3 acres in 19S0 to 117.4 acres in 1935. The value of all farm property amounted in 1920 to $2,677,283,000 and in 1930 to $2,209,601,000 while the value of land, buildings and live stock was $2,510,194,000 in 1920; $2,039,322,000 in 1930; and $1,400,687,000 in 1935. Between 1920 and 1930 the value of farm buildings increased from $568,969,000 to and the value of implements and machinery from $167,089,000 to $170, 279,000. Land values, however, declined steadily from $1,618, 913,000 (or $73.09 per acre) in 1920 to $1,209,878,000 (or $55.37 per acre) in 1925, to $985,585,000 (or $45.06 per acre) in 1930. The highest land values are in the southern and eastern counties.
Gross farm income in 1935 was $290,400,000, of which $46, 600,00o came from the sale of crops and $243,800,000 from live stock products. The chief crops and their acreage were : tame hay, 2,687,000; oats, 2,663,000; corn, 2,395,000; barley, 929,000; rye, 314,000; potatoes, 287,000; wild hay, 252,000; wheat, 000; tobacco, ii,000. The total value of each crop (with the value per acre in parenthesis) was as follows: tame hay, ; corn, $50,487,000 ($21.08) ; oats, $24,233,000 ($9.09) ; potatoes, $12,002,000 ($41.82) ; tobacco, $1,090,000 ($99.09) wheat, $2,026,000 ($15.23) ; rye, $1,727,000 ($5.50) ; wild hay, $1,108,000 ($4.39)• There were in addition 6,4o6ac. of sugar beets raised in 1929 valued at $385,989, and 18,441ac. planted in 1934. Wisconsin's climate is so favourable that anything like a failure of any one crop is unknown.
A very small proportion of Wisconsin's crops is marketed direct, but they are fed to the live stock on the farms, and the farmers receive their income chiefly from live stock products.
Chief of these are dairy products, for Wisconsin is the leading dairy State in the United States. In 1923 it was estimated that 53% of all farm income came from farm milk produce. In 1935 Wisconsin ranked sixth among the States in the total number of cattle owned, the number being 3,116,466 and their value, $84, Of this number 2,156,584 were milch cows and heifers, two years old or more so that in the number of milch cows Wis consin was far in the front of all other States. Doubtless it was the large proportion of Swiss, German and Danish settlers in Wis consin that gave the cheese-making industry its momentum, for very early these people were making and selling the famous cheeses of their native lands. In 1933 Wisconsin produced nearly two-thirds of all the cheese made in the United States. It also produced about one-third of the condensed and evaporated milk. In the production of creamery butter the State formerly ranked next to Minnesota, but after 1925 Wisconsin lost this relative position to Iowa and fell off in the absolute quantity of its output from 170,202,000 pounds in 1925 to 155,306,000 pounds in 1929 and 150,265,000 pounds in 1933 while production by the nation at large increased from 1,453,483 pounds in 1925 to 1,742,366 pounds in the year 1933.
The dairy industry is so dominant in Wisconsin farm life that other live stock is forced into a minor position. Nevertheless in the southern part of the State swine are important. There were 998,091 swine valued at $6,787,019 in 1935 as compared with 1,611,993 valued at $18,671,225 in 1930. The number of chickens over 3 months old in the State on Jan. 1, 1935, was 14,269,00o, and the number of eggs produced during 1934 was 93,196,000 dozen. Sheep and lambs are much less important, though there is a place for them in the rough, bluff country. In 1935 they num bered 442,596 and were valued at The wool clip of 1934 was 2,911,700 pounds. Horses and mules on farms in 1935 numbered 526,947 and were valued at $52,372,611.