A LUCKY NUMBER 



Started This Duroc Herd 



X I /- 



ON^ARRELL WAREHAM drew a 

 ^^/ 1 number from a hat. Although 

 f y he didn't know it, it turned out 

 to be the lucky one. The number he 

 drew corresponded with the number on 

 the back of a Duroc- Jersey gilt and served 

 to establish Darrell's ownership of the 



That was in 1930 when A. D. Clausen, 

 vocational agriculture teacher of Taylor- 

 ville, Christian county, organized a 

 Duroc-Jersey Gilt Qub for 12 members 

 of his class. The boys bought 12 gilts 

 from Lester Lehman, a prominent breed- 

 er, for |20 each. 



Six of the boys showed their pigs at 

 the State Fair. Darrell's gilt won enough 

 prizes to pay back the money he had 

 borrowed to buy her. 



TWO MANAGERS — NO PRESIDENT 

 O. F. Wareham and sons hcnre a thriv- 

 ing dairy on a rented iarm. 



That was the beginning of the Ware- 

 ham herd. Darrell bought Top Superba 

 for lys herd sire and went into swine 

 breeding. By 1932 he had saved about 

 20 gilts. From them he selected a few 

 outstanding ones as the foundation stock 

 of his show herd. 



During these busy years, Darrell grad- 

 uated from high school, farm prices 

 dropped to new lows and Darrell, with 

 his father and brother, opened a dairy to 

 market the milk from their Jersey cows. 



Darrell will tell you that they had very 

 little money when they started their en- 

 terprise. But he will also tell you that 

 if they hadn't formed a partnership and 

 worked together they couldn't have suc- 

 ceeded as they have. 



Both boys are married and live in 

 town ; their father and mother live on 

 the farm. - Each member of the partner- 

 ship gets a weekl]^ salary which is enough 



to furnish each family a good living. 

 All surpluses over a reserve are returned 

 to the business. 



It took a lot of work to set up a dairy 

 on a rented farm that had been a grain 

 farm. That's what the Warehams did; 

 they remodeled the barns, put in milkers 

 and stanchions and built a small bottling 

 works. 



O. F. Wareham, Darrell's father, man- 

 ages the farm, handles the herd and 

 helps with the milking. Darrell is the 

 sales manager. He operates a route, keeps 

 accounts and promotes sales. Orville, 

 the other member of the firm, operates 

 another route, oveisees preparation of 

 their products. 



While they were buildin" a dairy busi- 

 ness in Taylorville, Wareham brothers' 

 Durocs were taking prizes on the show 

 circuit. The old Orrin Cherry King 

 blood of the gilt of the lucky number 

 was standing the herd in good stead. 



At the State Fair in 1935, the Ware- 

 ham hogs lost but one blue ribbon they 

 might have won. That year they had the 

 reserve champion barrow of the show. 



The following year they did even bet- 

 ter. This is the way Darrell describes it: 



"After we had sized up the competi- 

 tion, we saw a chance to win a first in 

 the middle weight barrow class. 



"We won the championship of the 

 breed in the barrow class and went to the 

 ring to compete for the grand champion- 

 ship over all breeds. Then the Judge 

 gave us the blue. Fella, if I hadn't 

 grabbed the fence I would have fainted! " 



The grand champion barrow, weigh- 



'38 MODEL : 



On Cost of Production 



\\rpo SAY that the market shell 

 ^ guarantee the cost o( produc- 

 tion plus a profit and leore it 

 to the producer to fix the scale ol 

 production is to flood the world with 

 products that nobody wonts. To 

 bose the market price absolutely 

 upon the cost oi production and to 

 readjust woges to keep up with in- 

 creased cost oi commodities means 

 to fix prices, and that is what many 

 a man odvocates now, 'so that 

 everybody will know what he is do> 

 ing.' 



"Hare we thought this thing out? 

 We con of course soy that a certain 

 commodity shall sell at a certain 

 price, and tMot the buyer must poy 

 that price or leave it So for so 

 good. But no low oi man con com- 

 pel the buyer to poy the price and 

 TAKE THE STUFF, porticulorly if he 

 has not the money and connot gel 

 it. Right there is where price fixing 

 breaks down, and that is the reason 

 thot no one of the price fixing 

 schemes tried in Rome, Englond and 

 elsewhere could work. Such a 

 scheme con work only when the 

 demand is clearly above the supply, 

 and only so long as it remains 

 above it. 



"It is for on organisation such as 

 this to be informed in matters oi 

 this sort and to stand os a stone 

 wall against mistokes, no matter 

 how insistent the popular clamor. 

 It is the only way to forestall a 

 doni/erous mob psychology in af- 

 fairs agricultural 



"We need more data upon the cost 

 of production, certoinly, but am a 

 guide to practice, not at a basis oi 

 fixing prices in time oi peace. These 

 must be I }it to bargain, to contract 

 and to the processes of trade and 

 here is a great field for this and 

 similar organizations." — ' Eugene 

 Davenport at' lAA Annual Meeting, 

 Ian. 14, 1920. 



ing 210 fjounds was sold to Governor 

 Horner for tjie record price of $1.55 per 

 pHjund. The sale of the pig plus his 

 winnings netted Wareham Brothers more 

 than $600. In addition, their herd won 

 all possible firsts except one for the sec- 

 ond consecutive year. 



Building up the top Duroc herd in the 

 state while establishing one of the three 

 largest dairies in Taylorville required lots 

 of brawn, clear thinking and organiza- 

 tion. 



The Warehams patronize the Christian 

 County Farmers Supply Company for 

 most of their fuels, oils and other lubri- 

 cants. And with two delivery trucks, a 

 farm truck and a family car they can buy 

 in large quantities. Their patronage is 

 really worth while. 



In the short space of five years, a lucky 

 number of a pig started two boys on 

 their vfij to a future on the farm. They 

 learned early that organization counts and 

 that they can get more done through 

 working together. 



DECEMBER. 1937 



