They Developed a 

 New Farm Sideline 



MANY a great industry has de- 

 veloped from a hobby or side 

 Hne. And the farm has been the 

 starting point for a number of impor- 

 tant enterprises. 



Sam and Frank Honegger, Living- 

 ston County Farm Bureau members, 

 began mixing their own rations for 

 feeding their poultry, dairy cows and 

 pigs, several years ago. They followed 

 a combination of formulas advocated by 

 the University of Illinois Elxperiment 

 Station and other middle west agri- 

 cultural colleges. Their home-mixed 

 feeds gave such good results that the 

 neighbors heard about it. They asked 

 the Honegger boys to sell them a little 

 for their poultry. From this small be- 

 ginning has grown a substantial busi- 

 ness which during the first six months 

 of 1935 resulted in the sale of approxi- 

 mately 500 tons of mixed feed — -mostly 

 poultry mash. By the end of the year 

 the volume will run close to 700 tons. 



Sam and Frank, in addition to their 

 growing mixed feed business, operate 

 a 237 acre fjirrn soiilli of Fnrre.st where 

 milk, hogs ami pcniltiy pr()'.liiri<; ,nre the 

 other principal sources of farm income. 

 When they installed their feed grinder 

 they had no idea of selling mixed feed 

 nor supplying some 15 feed dealers 

 with their home mixed rations. 



The feed business has grown, nat- 

 urally, because the Honeggers learned 

 they could operate with low overhead, 

 buy their grain direct from the farm, 

 purchase concentrates in carload lots, 

 and manufacture high-grade feed at a 

 lower price than could mixed feed 

 dealers in the city. Today the Hon- 

 egger brothers have modern mixing 

 equipment and their feed business is 

 one of the important branches of their 

 farming operations. 



But to get back to the farming end 

 which is still the most important busi- 

 ness on the Honegger farm. Guernsey 

 cows, Hampshire pigs and White Leg- 

 horn chickens is the combination they 

 rely on to make the farm pay. The 

 cows are not ordinary ones. They are 

 high producing grades and pure breds. 

 In fact, they are so good that 20 cows 

 on test in the Dairy Herd Improvement 

 Associntion averaged 407 pounds of 

 butterfat each last year. They ouijht to 

 do well considering that they get ex- 

 cellent care, alfalfa pasture in season, 



plenty of silage, a balanced grain ra- 

 tion and alfalfa hay. 



One glance around the buildings con- 

 vinces you that everything is operated 

 in a business-like manner. Order pre- 

 vails. Over the fence across the road, 

 you see a lot of individual hog houses 

 and a sun shade where the spring pigs 

 are at rest in the heat of the day. You 

 know at once that these pigs are raised 

 under the swine sanitation system as 

 recommended by the Livingston Coun- 

 ty Farm Bureau — no chance for worm 

 eggs and pests to slow up their growth. 

 You learn too that they are vaccinated 

 with Farm Bureau serum to guard 

 against hog cholera. 



The dairy bam is insulated against 

 extreme heat and cold. There are 

 screens on the windows. The ceiling is 

 boarded up with tightly matched lum- 

 ber to prevent dirt falling from above. 

 You can produce clean milk in a barn 

 like that. Two large silos at the end of 

 the feed alley assure plenty of suc- 

 culent roughage in winter. The milk 

 is bottled on the farm and delivered on 

 routes in the neighboring towns of 

 Forrest and Strawn. The routes take 

 135 to 140 quarts a day and any sur- 

 plus is sold either to a local ice cream 

 maker in the summer or to the Farm- 

 ers Creamery Company. 



Sam and Frank Honegger, partners, 

 are two of a large family of 14 chil- 

 dren. Most of the boys are operating 

 farms in Livingston county. All are 

 Farm Bureau members. , ;,: 



Sam and Frank have kept farm rec- 

 ords in the Farm Bureau Farm Man- 



Honegger Broi. Sam. 

 left; Frank, right. Tk* 

 Guernsay hard on al- 

 falfa pastura and build- 

 ings in background art 

 taan to tka laft. 



agement service for the past four years. 

 "The books give you an idea of what's 

 going on," said Sam. "They point out 

 the weak spots." The milk business 

 brings in about $375 a month — the feed 

 business a good deal more than that, 

 although there is a great deal of labor, 

 overhead and expense connected with 

 retailing milk and mixing and selling 

 feed. 



It hasn't been smooth sailing for the 

 Honegger brothers by any means. A 

 number of years ago contagious abor- 

 tion got into the herd. The cows kepi 

 losing their calves which not only se- 

 riously interfered with the milk flow 

 but resulted in sterility of about 50 

 per cent of the cows so affected. Sam 

 made a special trip to see Dr. Robert 

 Graham, animal pathologist at the 

 University of Illinois, Urbana. The 

 University advocated testing at once 

 and a general clean-up program. The 

 boys followed this advice religiously 

 although they had to get rid of some of 

 their best cows in the clean-up. Now 

 blood samples are taken periodically 

 and sent to Urbana for the Bang test. 



"I am a firm believer in the abortion 

 test," said Sam. "I wouldn't buy any 

 breeding stock unless it was tested and 

 we find it necessary to take blood, 

 samples at least twice a year." 



The Honeggers co-operate in all the 

 Farm Bureau services. They have three 

 cars and two trucks insured in the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Mutual. There are 

 five Country Life policies in the fam- 

 ily. They have a base of 200 pigs in the 

 corn-hog program and their livestock 

 goes to market co-operatively. 



in 



I. A \. RECORD 



