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A HERD IN THE MAKING 

 Will they produce more than their 

 dams? Calves taken from cow at birth 

 are fed whole milk. At a week old they 

 eat whole oats, ore later switched to 

 dairy ration. Truman is the feeder. 



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EVEN Macoupin county broth- 

 ^^^S^ ers are going places with Hol- 

 V^3X steins. Until just a few years 

 ago the name Pocklington was unknown 

 in dairy circles. Now it appears 

 almost monthly on the list of owners 

 of the ten high producing herds in 

 dairy herd improvement associations in 

 the state. 



In the short month of February the 

 Pocklington herd with 23 head milk- 

 ing ranked sixth among the best ten 

 with an average fat production of 45.3 

 pounds per cow. Average milk pro- 

 duction was 1270 pounds. High cow 

 produced 1565 pounds of milk and 

 78.3 pounds of fat. Two other cows 

 made more than 70 pounds. 



Who are these boys? How did they 

 build a herd that may soon average 

 500 pounds of fat per cow per year? 



It's a simple story of a mother and 

 ten children who are working out a 

 plan. The Pocklington family of seven 

 sons. Charles. 35, Walter, 34, Albert, 

 31, Truman, 27, Elmer, 25, Irvin, 23, 

 and Evan 21, and three daughters, 

 Clara, 32, Olive, 29, and Emma. 18, 

 operates as a unit. No one is "head 

 man." They work together for the 

 good of all. 



Says Mother Pocklington : 



"We always tried to keep our chil- 

 dren busy and out of quarrels. Boys 

 and girls can be just as busy playing 

 as working. We found it best to direct 

 both work and play. I guess my chil- 

 dren were as mischievous as most but 

 1 found kindness is better than punish- 

 ment. We always reason things out 

 together. That way the children solve 

 their own problems." 



20 



They Made The Most 



Of What Thejr Had 



: I • . 

 ■ I . : 



How \ Mother and Ten Children Are Carrfing 



On A Successful Farm Business In Macoupin County 



Since her husband's death in 1933, 

 Emma Pocklington has been the fam- 

 ily's main arbitrator. Her first big 

 problem was finding a plan that would 

 raise the family income to fit the in- 

 creasing needs of her lively brood. 



The four older boys were in their 

 20"s in 1933. Like most fellows of 



EMMA POCKUNGTON 

 "Kindness is better than punishment." 



that age they were planning their life's 

 work. Had jobs been plentiful it is 

 likely that they would have gone away 

 one by one to farm for themselves or 

 take up other work. Elmer, Irvin and 

 Evan, too, would soon have been look- 

 ing for full time occupation. 



Chances for income away from the 

 farm were slim. Why, just across the 

 field from their home was the ghost 

 of Standard City, once a thriving coal 

 mining town. Shells of buildings there 

 stood as grim reminders of days before 

 1925 when the mine was working three 

 shifts. The few men who stayed after 

 '25 found little to do. 



Even if the boys had wanted to farm 

 for themselves they would have hit 

 snags. Credit was just a word and 

 farm prices weren't on speaking terms 

 with farm equipment prices. 



So the Pocklington boys revived a 

 lost art. They decided to make the 

 most of things at hand. It was a knack 

 that pioneers like Abe Lincoln used 

 with success. It's a way to better liv- 

 ing that's always forgotten when liveli- 

 hood comes easy. 



A rough inventory included a lease 

 on a 700-acre farm, equipment to run 

 it, a herd of 12 Poland China sows that 

 had been founded by the younger 

 brothers in 4-H club work, a small 

 herd of purebred and grade Holsteins, 

 a couple of not-too-modern barns, a 

 hog house, a granary and some sheds. 



Seven agile young minds worked out 

 a plan to provide them all with work 

 and income. Most of the boys had 

 had some 4-H club training. They got 

 some help from Farm Advisers W. F. 

 Coolidge and T. H. Brock of the Ma- 

 coupin County Farm Bureau. They 

 had picked up helpful pointers from 

 Farm and Home week programs at the 

 University of Illinois. Before the plan 

 was formed there must have been some 

 stormy family conferences. But the 

 boys all stayed to work out their 

 scheme. 



Before they could sell milk on their 

 best market, St. Louis, they had to have 

 a dairy barn. The agent for the com- 

 pany owning the land would help little. 

 After some planning they remodeled 



POCKLINGTONS AT HOME 

 Albert strips at the left. Olive cold 

 packs meat. Walter gets a welcome irom 

 Snooks, the "best rat dog in the county." 

 All but Clara work at home. 



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