Premier Mussolini 



Bouglit Tiieir Holstein Bull 



The Story of Six Hancock County 

 Farmers Who Wanted Better Cows 



By LARRY POTTER 



^BOUT two years ago, 

 jlL Premier Mussolini sent a 

 ^ ^ ^y ^ I delegation of dairy experts 

 to the Netherlands to buy a herd of 

 the highest producing Holstein-Friesian 

 cows available. This was the first step 

 in II Duce's plan to improve Italian 

 dairy herds through the use of sires 

 bred from superstock by the Italian 

 government. 



Last summer the agents were com- 

 manded to buy a herd sire that would 

 improve the production records of 

 the daughters of the Premier's best 

 Dutch cows. In Seattle, Washington, 

 they discovered seven-year old Carna- 

 tion Inka Sir Bessie, son of Carnation 

 Ormsby Butter King, world's champion 

 in both butter and milk. (Her record ; 

 1752.5 lbs. of butter and 38,606.6 lbs. 

 of milk in a year). 



CARNATION INKA SIR BESSIE, NOW IN ITALY 

 Eight-year-old son of Carnation Ormsby Butter King, world's champion with 1752.5 

 pounds of butter and 38.606 pounds oi milk in a year. The Adrian Holstein company 

 paid $1000 ior him as a cali, sold him for S1200 last year. One of the best bulls oi the 

 breed, he heads Mussolini's herd. Most oi his calves are owned by Hancock County 

 Farm Bureau members. 



INKA'S FORMER 



OWNERS 

 Hancock County 

 Holstein Breeders Ed 

 and Al Whitcomb. 

 Howard Perry, C. T. 

 Myers and Emery 

 Mapes make up the 

 Adrian Holstein Com- 

 pany. RoUo Ash, the 

 other member and first 

 president, not present. 

 Their motto — "Qual- 

 ity not q u a n t i t y." 

 Herds range irom eight 

 to 15 cows. 



But the most fertile part of Inka's 

 life had been spent on the farms of 

 six Hancock county farmers. Inka had 

 been well cared for during these years 

 and had associated with only pure- 

 bred, healthy corn belt cows whose use- 



lUNE. 1938 



fulness consisted of producing butter- 

 fat and bearing Inka's calves. 



Three of the six farmers, Rollo Ash, 

 Ed Whitcomb and Charles Myers 

 started their plan for herd improve- 

 ment at least 12 years before Mussolini 

 started one for Italy. Straight think- 

 ing led them to resolve that they would 

 get better cows or get out of the butter- 

 fat business. 



Roll Ash and Ed Whitcomb, neigh- 

 bors, attended a farmer's short course 

 and dairy day at Adrian during the 

 winter of 1923-24. 



"We came back from that meeting, 

 just as we had done in other years, 

 and kept right on milking our scrub 

 cows without even experimenting with 

 the better feeding methods explained 

 during the short course^" Ash recalls. 



"Then I got to thinking about try- 

 ing one of the rations. But before I 

 changed, I thought some more. Finally, 

 I concluded that the only way I could 

 make better feeding pay was to get 

 better cows first." 



Roll talked it over with Ed. They 

 agreed that better cows were needed 

 but they couldn't hit upon a breed. 

 Meanwhile, Charles Myers, their neigh- 

 bor, became interested. The three sat 

 down and figured it out. 



First, they wanted plenty of skim 

 milk for pigs because they all were 

 swine producers. Next they wanted a 

 breed of cows that would use much 

 of the rough feed they always had on 

 hand. Finally, they wanted cows that 

 would bring a fair price as beef when 

 their milking days were over. 



31 



