side of the alley the plan called for horse 

 stalls, a box stall and feed bins. The 

 east side was to be given over to the cows. 



According to the plan the cow pen was 

 to be equipped with a high manger like 

 a combination feed trough and dairy 

 manger. Rehling said the cows could be 

 run into the pen, tied, fed and milked. 

 Then they could be freed to move about 

 the pen at will. He pointed out that, 

 if the cows were to be kept clean, the 

 pen would need bedding twice daily. 

 But then, with all that straw on the 

 floor, none of the fertility could get 

 away. 



The plan provided for four outside 

 doors to the cow pen to make cleaning 

 easier. "Pull your spreader alongside 

 every week or so and haul the manure 

 right out to the fields where it belongs," 

 the county adviser suggested. And that 

 is the way the Kampwerths have handled 

 manure since the barn was built. There 

 are no manure piles on the farm, except a 

 couple of last year's straw stack butts, and 

 the result is that little plant food goes to 

 waste. 



There is always plenty of straw on 

 this farm. The soil-building program 

 has resulted in ample supplies of nitrogen 

 in the soil. This, of course, makes for 

 long stemmed grain crops. 



Three years ago Kampwerth moved to 

 town and rented his farm to his son, 

 Alphonse. The son follows the system 

 of soil management practiced by his 

 father. Wheat, the main crop, is fol- 

 lowed by alfalfa, corn, oats and red 

 clover. Such a rotation assures plenty of 

 hay and straw for the cows and horses. 

 Then too, there is always corn to use in 

 the dairy ration and to fatten a couple of 

 litters of pigs. 



Phonse plans to use some phosphate 

 on a field or two sometime in the near 

 future. He is anxious to improve the soil 

 even more than it has been improved in 

 the last 20 years. Farm Adviser Twigg 

 is helping him form his plans for a super- 

 fertile farm. 



"This farm wouldn't be worth farm- 

 ing if it wasn't for the Farm Bureau," 

 Alphonse explained. "My father learned 

 about limestone and alfalfa from the 

 farm adviser in 1918. It was badly run 

 down then but it raises 25 bushels of 

 wheat almost every year now." 



Alphonse is of the second generation 

 of soil-builders in Clinton county. Like 

 the others of his generation, he is facing 

 new soil problems. True, he will con- 

 tinue with the system that so successfully 

 built up his land, but the old plan can- 

 not improve the fertility much beyond 

 its present state. The second generation 

 will test the merits of phosphates and 

 new crop varieties as soil building tools. 



Comparing the former value of the 



12 



Sheep Shearing Ring Aids 

 Cooperative Wool Marketing 



By W. H. TAMMEUS 



I 



.ORE and more the modern 

 farmer is looking to organ- 

 _ ized service to do certain jobs 



connected with his farming operations 

 that require skilled workers. A good 

 example of this is sheep shearing which 

 very few farmers can do themselves. 

 Farmers don't have the proper equip- 

 ment and the time because the job must 

 be done during the busiest season of the 

 year. 



The Livingston and LaSalle County 

 Farm Bureaus have noted these facts 

 and have offered a sheep shearing service 

 to farmers in the county mainly to aid in 

 their cooperative wool marketing pro- 

 gram. They have been offering this serv- 

 ice for several years with increased parti- 

 cipation each year. 



The present season in Livingston 

 County is just closing. There the ring 

 has sheared 2,030 head with 11,000 

 pounds of the wool being marketed 

 through the Illinois Livestock Marketing 

 Association. The wool will be sold to 

 mills in the east on grade by the Na- 

 tional Wool Marketing Corporation. This 



farm with its present worth, Kampwerth 

 pointed out that |15 a year is a small 

 price to pay for advice and service that 

 has resulted in raising the value of the 

 land more than 100 per cent. Farm Bu- 

 reau money-saving services alone are 

 worth more than the annual dues, he 

 said. 



Although all the field work on the 

 place is done with horses, ATpBUiijeJjuK 

 oil and grease for his machinery andT 

 gasoline for his car from the Farm Bu- 

 reau oil company. He carries Farm Bu- 

 reau auto insurance and Country Life 

 insurance. 



Mrs. Kampwerth, busy with Mary 

 Margaret, age ly^, and a tiny baby boy, 

 also finds time to help manage the Leg- 

 horn flock and the garden. The hens 

 furnish their share of the income by lay- 

 ing heavily during the fall and winter 

 when eggs bring the best prices. The 

 garden contributes a variety of vegetables 

 which help make a better standard of 

 living possible. 



While the first Clinton county soil 

 builders had a hard row to hoe, the sec- 

 ond generation will need greater knowl- 

 edge and skill to equal the record made 

 by their predecessors. 



is approximately 30% of the wool grown 

 in Livingston County. 



These 2,030 head of sheep were owned 

 by 183 different farmers, an average of 

 16 sheep per farm. And only when we 

 learn that the farmers in this county have 

 realized an average of 2.4c per pound 

 more for their wool by marketing co- 

 operatively during the past 5 years, can 

 we realize what the program has meant 

 from a dollar and cents standpoint. In 

 1936, 116 farmers marketed cooperatively 

 11,742 pounds of wool for 5.6c per 

 pound more than these farmers could 

 have received at shearing time. This 

 was 1657.55 more money for the county 

 that year. 



Glen Martin, County 4-H Club leader, 

 is in charge of the ring. He gets the 

 farmers to sign up during meetings in 

 January and February and by telephone 

 or personal call during the spriiig. He 

 makes a map of the county with the 

 location of each wool grower and the 

 number of sheep he has. From this map 

 he works out the daily route of the 

 shearer and calls the farmer the day be- 

 fore the shearer is to arrive. 



He sends a helper with the shearer 

 and it is his job to catch sheep and 

 tie fleeces. If the farmer decides to 

 market cooperatively the helper sacks 

 the wool and takes it right along in a 

 trailer provided for this purpose. 



The fanner pays 25c per head for 

 shearing. The shearer gets 20c per head 

 and the other 5c is used to pay the helper. 



We hope that other counties will see 



fit to promote their cooperative wool 



''inarketing program by offering a shearing 



and pick-up service similar to that of 



4Jyingston and LaSalle counties. 



The U. S. \(nll be host to the World's 



Poultry Congress in 1939. Illinois' 

 participation will be directed by a 

 Council of which J. H. Lloyd, director 

 of the State Department of Agricul- 

 ture, is chairman. An item of $10,000 

 has been included in the State Depart- 

 ment budget for a suitable exhibit 

 from Illinois at the exhibition. 



Champaign County Home Bureau reports 



having planted 600 trees, fruit and shade, 

 during the past year, according to Mrs. 

 Glen Gordan, county president. 



L A. A. RECORD 



. ■..'.— ii^i : 



