Field Day of Farm 

 Sports Planned 



After Harvest Music and Sports Festival Pro- 

 ' posed at I. A. A. Board Meeting 



Plans for developing an I. A. A. 

 state-wide Farm Field Day and Sports 

 Festival brought in by a committee 

 composed of A. O. Ex:kert, St. Clair 

 county, chairman; Albert Hayes, Pe- 

 oria county, and Otto Steffey, Hender- 

 son Qounty were considered at the I. 

 A. A. board of directors meeting in 

 Chicago May 15. 



The board gave the project tentative 

 approval and asked that a further re- 

 port with more detailed information 

 be brought before the Jime meeting. 



The program as outlined by the com- 

 mittee at its initial meeting attended 

 by President Earl C. Smith, C. V. 

 Gregory, editor, and Merrill Gregory 

 of Prairie Farmer, George C. Biggar, 

 WLS, Chas. E. Yale, Lee County farm - 

 adviser, and George Thiem, I. A. A. 

 director of publicity, would include 

 among its features: 



1. State Farm Bureau Soft Ball 

 tournament. 



2. State championship Farm Bureau 

 baseball series. 



3. Horseshoe pitching tournament — 

 state finals. 



4. State niral community band con- 

 test. Contestants to be selected by 

 County Farm Bureaus in various con- 

 gressional districts. 



5. Tug-o-War Contest between coun- 

 ty teams. 



6. County Farm Bureau relay race. 



7. Assortment of races for children. 



8. Donkey Ball Game with players 

 (except pitcher and catcher) and base 

 runners mounted on donkeys. 



Preliminary contests to decide the 

 state finals in soft ball and baseball 

 would be held the day before the main 

 event. An evening program is being 

 considered for those who arrive early. 

 Folk dancing, an old time Fiddler's 

 Contest, amateur musical, tap dancing, 

 and entertainment contest, farm glee 

 club singing, and other events would be 

 scheduled for the evening program. 



' he Field Day program is tentatively 

 het ed for the week-end preceding 

 Lai • Day, Sept. 4-5. The State Fair 

 Gro ds at Springfield have been men- 

 tion as the best location for the Field 

 Day t no definite arrangements have 

 as yc 'cen made. 



The 'ea of a sports festival was dis- 

 cussed at the Annual Meeting of the 

 Illinois Farm Bureau Baseball League 

 at Peoria early in April. President 

 Harris appointed the committee and re- 

 quested it to develop plans for such an 

 event for submission to officers and 

 directors of the L A. A. for consider- 

 ation. 



Co-operative Company 

 Owns 2 -Acre Plant 



Has Paid Q% on Stock and $610,000 in} 

 Dividends Since 1920 



AGO-OPERATIVE poultry and egg 

 plant covering approximately two 

 acres is owned by the Producers 

 Produc* Company of Springfield, Mis- 

 souri. Its annual carlot shipments total 

 more than 300 carloads of live poultry, 

 IM carloads of dressed poultry, 600 car- 

 leads of shell eggs, 200 carloads canned 

 eggs, 25 carloads wool — a total volume 

 of more than 23,000,000 pounds handled 

 annually. 

 Gron sales have been averaging from 



$2,500,000 to $5,000,000 depending upon 

 prices, according to Frank Gougler and J. 

 B. Countiss of the I. A. A. staff. Stock- 

 holders have received eight per cent divi- 

 dends almost from the beginning and 

 patrons have received more than $610,000 

 in dividends during the past 15 years. 



"Shortly after this co-operative was 

 organized in 1920 it lost money," said 

 Gougler. "But the directors had faith 

 in its future. When they found it nec- 

 essary to raise additional capital they 



Pitches Hay and Milks Cows At Ag* 84 



"In the May issue of the RECORD was 

 a picture of Mr. Alvin Broughton who 

 pitched hay at 78," writes Helen Eichen- 

 auer, of Cass county. "R. C. Eichenauer 

 of Chandlerville pitched hay last sum- 

 mer at the age of 83. This picture is of 

 both Mr. and Mrs. Eichenauer who are 

 now 84 and 82 respectively, both cele- 

 brating their birthdays on April 30. They 

 both milked the cows morning and night 

 last winter during the below zero weather 

 and still continue to do so." 



Retail Meat Prices 

 20% Under 1929 



"Retail prices of beef and pork are at 

 least 20 percent lower than in 1929," says 

 the department of animal husbandry at 

 Cornell. "All retail meat prices are now 

 slightly lower than they were at this 

 time last year, and in some instances very 

 much lower." 



Meat production during the first three 

 months of this year, because of dimin- 

 ished livestock supplies, was about 12 

 percent under the production level of 

 the corresponding period of 1934, and 

 nine percent less than the 1931-35 five 

 year average for that period. 



Beef slaughter recently reached the 

 highest point since the war reflecting in- 

 creased receipts of cattle. Prices have 

 been steadily declining as supplies in- 

 creased. 



mortgaged their farms and signed notes 

 to get funds to carry on the business. To- 

 day the co-operative owns its own plant 

 free of debt and has a thriving business 

 that is returning the farmers Of south- 

 western Missouri more for their produce 

 than they ever could hope to gain under 

 any other system of marketing." 



10 



L A, A. RECORD 



