Making the Farm Pajr 

 Interests 800 at Ottawa 



QV . L. MOSHER, specialist in 



_*^ -A ij prescribing effective cures 

 ^ ^ wl ♦ for sick farm businesses, 

 was chief surgeon at a farm clinic in 

 Ottawa, November 16. Nearly 800 

 Farm Bureau folks from LaSalle, De- 

 Kalb, Kendall, Grundy, Marshall-Put- 

 nam, Bureau and Lee counties, all doc- 

 ters of their own enterprises, were 

 shown that the 40 most profitable of 

 200 farms in the area are responding 

 to limestone and phosphate applications 

 and crop rotation. 



Aiding Mr. Mosher were Dr. H. C. 

 M. Case, head of the department of ag- 

 ricultural economics, University of Illi- 

 nois, and Prof. E. C. Young of Purdue 

 University, LaFayette, Indiana. Shar- 

 ing duties of presiding were E. G. 

 Fruin, fieldman for the service, and R. 

 V. McKee, Marshall-Putnam county, 

 chairman of the advisory board of the 

 Farm Bureau-Farm Management ser- 

 vice. 



James Montavon who owns a quarter 

 section of rolling land near DeKalb 

 said that attention to details coupled 

 with sound farm management practices 

 is the treatment he and his son are 

 using to keep profits up. The Monta- 

 vons milk 30 cows and feed 200 hogs 

 a year. A rotation of corn, corn, small 

 grain and a legume is used. 



Proper drainage, especially on clay 

 hills, boosts yields. Checking the corn 

 yields, Montavon found that hills 

 nearest tile were producing 17 bushels 

 an acre more than poorly drained land. 

 Good drainage aids tillage and there 

 are few spots on the farm that do not 

 work up mellow and fine. He plans 



to have tile every five rods on the 

 hills where they are most needed. 



"No manure is wasted. The hogs 

 are fed under a shed and the manure 

 is spread on spots where it is most 

 needed before the first crop of corn. 

 Hauling manure is not a job for a hired 

 hand unfamiliar with the land," he 

 said. 



Hoeing corn by hand, a practice al- 

 most discarded in the corn belt, con- 

 tributes to high yields. "A weed in a 

 hill is equivalent to planting corn too 

 thick. We even thin the corn as we hoe 

 it to be sure we have the right number 

 of stalks in each hill." 



J. A. Andrews, a tenant farmer in 

 southwestern LaSalle county, operated 

 a grain farm. His rotation, corn, oats 

 and sweet clover, produced a lot of 

 legume pasture and hay for which he 

 had no market. In cooperation with 

 his landlord, "the best one in the busi- 

 ness," Andrews worked out a plan to 

 feed cattle on the 220 acres. 



"We buy choice Hereford yearlings 

 weighing 550 to 650 pounds. We like 

 to get them as good as we can, feed 

 them as much as we can, and sell them 

 as high as we can. Most of our cattle 

 come from Texas. Sometimes we get 

 them on the open market at Omaha 

 late in the summer or early fall. They 

 go on pasture sweet clover and have 

 access to straw stacks. We feed six 

 pounds of oats per head per day while 

 they are on pasture. That prevents 

 bloat." 



After they have cleaned up the stalk 

 fields, the cattle go into the feedlot on 

 corn, oats, cottonseed and legume hay. 

 About May first they are put on blue- 



SUCCESSFUL TENANT FARMERS 



). A. Andrews, laft La Soil* countr- i«*da choice H*r*iords. Carl lohnson, MarshoU 

 county, makes grain and liTsstock par- 



200 FARMS EXAMINED 

 "Doctor" Mosher used facts and charts 

 compiled {rom 200 iarm records to show 

 what made the most profitable iarms pay. 



grass and the oats feeding is increased. 

 They are fed twice a day and receive 

 alfalfa hay all summer. After six to 

 eight weeks in the feed lot they are 

 marketed. 



Carl Johnson, a tenant farmer in 

 Marshall county, paid tribute to his 

 wife and landlord for the parts they 

 play in making his enterprise success- 

 ful. He operates a half-section grain 

 farm and maintains a profitable herd 

 of 20 high grade, dual-purf>ose Short- 

 horns. Being a grain farmer, Carl is 

 actively engaged in grain marketing 

 problems as a director of Illinois Grain 

 Corporation. 



Carl's major problems are maintain- 

 ing soil fertility and getting his work 

 done on time and done right. To solve 

 both problems he employs two tractors, 

 labor saving machines, and uses a half 

 ton of rock phosphate on every new 

 seeding in his rotation. Hay making 

 is made easy with a mower equipped 

 with a swather. The swaths, when 

 cured, are taken up with a pick-up 

 baler which turns out 100 bales an 

 hour. The hay is handled only in the 

 bale. Carl likes his grain combine be- 

 cause the straw is left on the fields to 

 maintain fertility and prevent erosion. 



Corn is harvested with a two-row 

 picker mounted on a tractor. The 

 small tractor plants and cultivates all 

 the corn except in rush seasons when 

 the big one is used part time. Carl 

 finds it best to use the small tractor 

 as much as he can because of lower 

 operating costs. Drivers work two 

 shifts a day. 



George Thier, Lee county farm ac- 

 count keeper, ranked near the top in 

 all factors of sound farm management. 

 His outstanding record was the result 

 of doing the job b>etter. 



C. M. Smith, Woodford county farm- 

 er and lAA director from the 17th dis- 

 trict, said: "Keeping farm records is 

 most valuable to younger farmers. 

 (Continued on page 33) 



DECEMBER, 1938 



31 



