They Developed a 

 New Farm Sideline 



MANY ii ttititi iniiu>ti\ lui> (If- 

 velopcd from a linhbv or sidt 

 line. And \Uv faiiu ha.-> bceTi the 

 -Kirtiim poii't lot .1 Tiiirtihci ol iiiijjor- 

 •i'lii tiitfrpri>i> 



Siirn and Frank Hoiu'guer. Li\ int;- 

 -lon County Farm Buroau inenibers. 

 bfsjaii niixina tluir own rations ior 

 ifitlms their poultry, dairy eows and 

 i)ik;>. <e\cral siar.- a^o. Tluy followed 

 .. I iiiiibinatioii of tormuliis advoeatcd b_\ 

 "lu UniverMt\ of Illinoi> ENperinu'iil 

 SiciUon and .othiM niid<lle we>t aun- 

 inltural eolli.-ai->. Thiii hotnc-iiiixed 

 ;»H(i^ i!avc such eood rt>\div llial the 

 •uMuhlKirs heard about it Tlioy asked 

 ■ill HoneuRer boys to sell them a litllt 

 lor their poultry. F'rom this small ht- 

 ^innini; has erown a substantial busi- 

 •ii'» whic-li during thi- first six months 

 ■1 UK5.T n-sulted m the .sale of approxi- 

 mately 50(1 tons of mixed feed mostl> 

 poultry mash. By the end of the year 

 till- \olunie will run close to 701) ions. 



Sam and Frank, in addition to their 

 ■rowins mixed feed busnu-ss, operati- 

 .1 Z■^^ ficre f.'f . > •:' ' • !■ ' ipef whcrt 

 •-;:lk, l:nL:s ,:::r. p ;.;■•, | ■ ; ;> ' le the 

 'ihi-r principal sources of farm mcomf 

 U'lu II they installed their feed Rrindi't 

 "iiey had no idea of selling mixed fei'd 

 nor supplyinii some 15 feed dtaler- 

 Ailh their home mixe<l rations. 



The feed business lias j^rown. nat- 

 irally. beeaii.-,e the Honessjers learned 

 •hex eould operate with low overhead. 

 ^>u\ their grain direct from the farm, 

 purchase concentrates in carload lot.-, 

 ind manufacture high-grade feed at a 

 lower price than could mixed feed 

 • Icalers in the cit\ Today the Hon- 

 '•liSer brothers ha\i modern mixing 

 'tfUipment and then ftrd business is 

 inc of the nnpiirtaiil l)r;itichi". of theii 

 tarming operations 



But 'o get back to ih'- faiimng end 



vhich is still the most important busi- 



;n-ss on the Honi-ggci farm. Guernsey 



•ows. Hampshire pigs ,iih\ White Leg- 



•lorn chickens is the coml)mation the> 



!>l\ on to make ihi tarm p;i\ Tin 



.ow.-- are not ordmaiv one.-.. Thi\ aii; 



;iigh producing grades and ))ure breds. 



Ill tact, they are .mi i^ood ihal 20 cow-- 



'I. 'est in the Dairv Ihrii lnipni\ emenl 



^ -•.■•.■•ition .i\-i-rMve.) liiT uomuis of 



• Mlterfat cacli last \'.ii i o' v .h ;ht to 



to Well considering 'lial 'he\ L'el ex- 



. I Men' carf, alfalfa jiasiure m reason. 



|)lint> ol silage. <i l)alanieil grain ra- 

 tion aiKJ alfalfa ii<i.\ . 



One ulance around the building- con- 

 \incis >oU that everything is operated 

 in a business-like manner. Order pre- 

 \ails Over the fence across the nuid. 

 \ou see a lot of individual hoy houses 

 .iiul a sun sharle wheri^ the spring ijigs 

 are at rest in the heat of the day. You 

 know at once that these pigs are rai.sed 

 under the swim- .sanitation system as 

 recommended by th(> Livingston Coun- 

 t\ 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 

 aaain>t hot; elmlera. 



The (lair> barn is insulated against 

 1 .\triiiie heat and cold. There are 

 screens on the windows. The ceiling is 

 boarded up with tighth- 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 niMghboring lowtis f)f 

 Forrest and Strawn. The routes take 

 K55 to 1 10 cjuarts a da_\' and any sur- 

 plus IS sold t'ither to a local ice cream 

 maker in the .-ummer or to the F^irm- 

 eis Creanier.N (-'ompan\ 



Sam and F'rank Honetii-ei. partners, 

 are two of a large fainilv of 14 chil- 

 dr<-n. Mo-I ot the boy- are operating 

 farms in Luing-toti counlv All are 

 Farm Uiinaii member- 

 Sam and P'lank ha\f kej)! farii. i ei - 

 ords in the Farm Bureau Farm Man- 



Honegger Bros. Sam 

 (♦: Frank, right. The 

 Guernsey herd on a' 

 falfa pasture and build 

 nqs In background .»'e 

 seen *o the le*t. 



agemeiit service- for the past four year.- 

 'The liooks give you an idea of whafs 

 going on." said Sam. "They point out 

 the weak spot.s." The milk business 

 bring.s in about S375 a month — the feed 

 business a good di'al more than that 

 although thi-ri' is a great deal of laboi 

 overhead and (.-xpeiLse connected with 

 retailing milk and mixing and selliiii; 

 feed. 



It liasnl been .smooth .-ailing for tin 

 Honeggi'i- brothers by any means. A 

 number of years ago contagious abor- 

 tion got into till- herd. The cows kepi 

 losing their calves which not onl\' se- 

 riously interfered with the milk flow 

 but resulted in sterility of abj)Ut .50 

 per cent of the cows so aflected. San, 

 made a special trip to see Dr. Robert 

 Graham, animal pathologist at tin 

 University of Illinois. Urbana. Thi 

 University advocated testing at onci 

 and a general clean-up program. The 

 boys followed this advice religiously 

 although they had to get rid of some of 

 their best i-ows in the clean-up. Now 

 iilood sample- are taken periodicall_\ 

 and sent to Urbana for the Bang test 



"I am a firm believer in thi' abortiori 

 tt'sl." said Sam. "I wouldn't bu> an> 

 breeding stock unless it was tested aiui 

 we find il iRcessary to take blood 

 samples at least twice a year." 



The Honeggeis co-operate in all thi 

 Farm Bureau .services. They have threi 

 <'ars and two tiucks insured in the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Mutual. There an 

 live Country Life policies in the fam- 

 ily. They ha\e a base of 200 pigs m tin 

 corn-hog program aiul their livesloik 

 goes to market co-operativelj'. 



I ic 

 far: 



I \ \ i;k< iikii 



