4 



"SUCK AS A WmSTLEI" 

 Milking parlor for 24 cows was once a 

 hog house. 



the concrete-block hog house. It be- 

 came a milking parlor with concrete 

 mangers, gutters and stalls for 24 head. 

 Then they built a milk house. 



With this equipment they could bed 

 the cows down in the hay barn like 

 steers and bring them into the parlor 

 for grain feeding and milking. The 

 system reduces labor, saves all the ma- 

 nure and keeps the bacteria count of 

 the milk down. 



If the herd was to provide work for 

 the boys and increase their income it 

 would have to be enlarged with better 

 cows. With the help of the farm ad- 

 viser they bought from nearby breed- 

 ers. Little by little the herd that was 

 founded ten or 12 years before on un- 

 weaned calves purchased locally for 

 prices ranging from $1.50 to $3 for 

 grades to $10 to $25 for purebreds, 

 grew in numbers and production. 



Old Daisy, dam of some of the bet- 

 ter cows, was the first to hit the 500- 

 pound mark on three milkings a day. 

 In 1934, the first year records were 



kept with the Macoupin Dairy Herd 

 Improvement Association. Daisy pro- 

 duced 320.8 pounds of fat in a frac- 

 tion of a year. Her first 365-day rec- 

 ord was 595.1 pounds. She hit what 

 will probably be her peak in 1936 at 

 ten years of age with 615.7 pounds. 

 In '37 she dropped back to 573.1 

 pounds. 



Milking is done by machine with 

 three crews of two. That gives the 

 boys more freedom for other work 

 and keeps them all interested in their 

 main source of income. 



Now that Irvin and Evan are through 

 school (they got their bachelor of sci- 

 ence degrees in agriculture from the 

 University of Illinois in June 193S) 

 the enterprise has been enlarged to 

 provide them with work by adding a 

 hybrid corn project. The Pocklington 

 plan anticipated the need and the first 

 inbreds obtained from the Illinois 

 Corn Hybrids, Inc. were planted three 

 years ago. 



The first hybrid grown was Illinois 

 9(^0. This year they will have more 

 than 100 acres including Illinois 960, 

 200 and 710, and U.S. 13 and 35. With 

 this development, instead of looking 

 for jobs the brothers will employ extra 

 help during the detasseling and har- 

 vesting seasons. 



A drier has been rigged up in one 

 of the old mine buildings near the 

 farm using mine ventilating fans for 

 blowers. Both the 1937 and '38 crops 

 were sold almost before it was graded 

 Most of the seed was sold through 

 the Macoupin County Cooperatives, 

 Inc. Walter is chief salesman. 



DAISY 4 THUMAN 

 First in the herd to hit the 500-pound mark, her calves are even better. 



The third enterprise, hogs, is in- 

 creasing the family income, too, the 

 Farm Bureau-Farm Management records 

 show. Nineteen pure-bred sows far- 

 rowed this spring. The pigs were 

 handled under the swine sanitation 

 system. 



Feed for the cows and pigs is all 

 home grown. The dairy ration con- 

 sists of 500 pounds of ground corn, 

 300 pounds of ground oats, 175 

 pounds of soybean oil meal, salt and 

 minerals. Roughage is largely corn 

 silage and soybean hay with some al- 

 falfa and clover. 



By building up what they had at 

 hand the Pocklingtons are on their 

 way to a place among the state's out- 

 standing farmers. Their 28 cows make 

 nine to ten full cans of milk a day 

 which, through careful cooling and 

 handling, brings a 10-cent premium or 

 $1.76 per hundred at the farm. The 

 milk goes to the St. Louis fluid milk 

 market where prices to producers have 

 been quite satisfactory under the Sani- 

 tary Milk Producers-AAA milk market- 

 ing plan. 



They are planning to improve the 

 soil with limestone and phosphate as 

 fast as their landlord will help them. 

 It is the family's ambition some day 

 to own a big farm and if they do, 

 you'll hear more of the Pocklingtons 

 — a lot more. — Larry Potter. 



Tom Barron, famous English poultry 



breeder, heads the list of speakers on 

 the poultry breeding section of the 

 popular program of the Seventh 

 World's Poultry Congress to be held 

 at Cleveland, O., July 28 to August 7. 

 The breeding section of the popular 

 problem is scheduled for Tuesday 

 morning, August 1. 



Uncle Ab says if you can change 



your mind you can't go crazy. 



Cow For Sale 



Mrs. Earl Busby of Malta, DeKalb county 

 reports an unusual incident proving the 

 alertness of their local postoffice. 



Her father-in-law, George Busby adver- 

 tised a cow for sale in a Rochelle news- 

 paper 15 miles away. The want ad was 

 signed with his name and address. A sub- 

 scriber living at New Milford, some 20 

 miles from Rochelle wanted a cow and 

 answered the ad but apparently he had lost 

 the newspaper and the name of Busby, 

 the advertiser. So he addressed his letter 

 as follows: 



TO THE MAX AT MALTA, ILL, 



WHO HAS A COW FOR SALE." 



George Busby received the letter the next 

 day at the regular mail delivery time. 



Both George Busby and his son are Farm 

 Bureau members, the elder having been a 

 member for practically the entire 26 years 

 he farmed. "AH of us read and enjoy 

 the RECORD" says Mrs Busby, ' and hope 

 to see this in print." 



JUNE. 1939 



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