When the boys entered the 4-H dairy 

 heifer clubs, they selected calves from 

 their father's herd. Russell, the eldest, 

 started farming for himself two years 

 ago. Most highly prized of all his 

 possessions were the four young pure- 

 bred cows developed from his 4-H club 

 calves. 



John Jr. at home with his father 

 and mother is the proud owner of 

 four purebred females including one 

 yearling heifer. Last year Junior's three 

 young cows, made records as follows: 

 Bess, 15,128 milk, 506.4 lbs. fat 

 as 4-yr. old; Doris, 13,934 milk and 

 472.9 lbs. fat as 4-yr. old; Patsy, 10,- 

 784 milk and 354.3 lbs. fat as 2-yr. old. 

 This year the herd book shows all 

 three producing substantially ahead of 

 their 1938 records. Patsy, daughter of 

 Doris has 9549 lbs. of milk and 31 31 

 lbs. fat in 166 days as a second-calf 

 heifer. Both took county grand cham- 

 pionships as calves in the 4-H club 

 roundup. 



John Derrer probably inherited some 

 of his ability as a dairyman and love 

 of good cows from his Swiss ancestry. 

 Both his father and mother who are 

 still living, came from Switzerland. He 

 is one of ten children. While their 

 farm has many modern conveniences 

 there is a solid plainness and durability 

 about the farmstead that you instinc- 

 tively associate with careful handling 

 and wise spending. The buildings are 

 substantial but not fancy, yet provide 

 all the necessities for handling live- 

 stock efficiently. 



The Derrer design of economy and 

 full value for money spent is carried 

 out in all farming operations. A Farm 

 Bureau member for many years, 

 Derrer uses his membership profitably, 

 puts into practice the better methods his 

 organization recommends. Home- 

 grown feed, including corn silage and 

 alfalfa hay; a home mixed ration of 

 ground corn and oats, bran and one 

 of such protein concentrates as soy- 

 bean oil meal, linseed and cotton seed 

 meal in each batch of feed produce milk 

 and butterfat economically. 



The milk is separated and the cream 

 marketed through the Mt. Carroll Co- 

 operative Creamery which has been 

 operating successfully since its organi- 

 zation by the Farm Bureau and the 

 lAA back in the early twenties. The 

 thrifty Duroc Jersey shoats show the 

 effects of plenty of skim milk from 

 the 33 cows now milking. Last year, 

 the dairy herd book showed that 27 

 cows, completing a year's record, had 

 produced an average of $146.99 of milk 

 and a return of |89-46 over feed cost 

 per cow. 



The present herd Sire is the son of 

 De Creamco Calamity Posch, the fa- 

 mous cow owned by Maytag farms of 



THRIFTY DUHOC JERSEY SHOATS 

 •how what com and akiinmiUc wiU do. 



Iowa who produced 845 pounds of 

 butter as a two-year old. 



"We have always tried to buy good 

 bulls out of high record cows," said 

 Mr. Derrer. "We don't hesitate to 

 pay |250 to $300 or more for a bull 

 if he has the breeding. Selecting bulls 

 from the best Holstein herds out of 

 high record cows has helped us in- 

 crease our average production from 

 year to year." 



The Derrer herd is tested and free 

 from tuberculosis and contagious abor- 

 tion. There have been a few reactors in 

 the past but these have been disposed 



of with comparatively little loss. 



John Derrer's success as a father and 

 husband who shares ownership of the 

 herd and its direction with his boys ; 

 Mrs. Derrer's kindly and active inter- 

 est in the work of her husband and 

 sons plus her achievement as a home- 

 maker, match and are largely respon- 

 sible for the success of this family en- 

 terprise. 



How can you keep farm boys happy 

 and interested in the farm? John Der- 

 rer and his wife have done it by giving 

 the boys a stake in the business. It's a 

 formula that seldom fails. 





on 



^A^^HEN a farmer pays all costs 

 ^^yiy of fertilization in the first 

 Q two crops of hay, he is get- 

 ting big dividends. 



Ronald Stanford who farms 280 acres 

 of well improved Ford County land, 

 cooperated with Farm Adviser Hugh 

 Triplett last summer in this interesting 

 rock phosphate demonstration. Four 

 plots were arranged in an established 

 alfalfa field, (Elliott Silt Loam) along 

 the gravel road leading to the farm. The 

 first plot received no phosphate, the other 

 three were "top dressed ' at rates of 500 

 lbs. and 1000 lbs. and 1500 lbs. of 

 ground rock phosphate per acre. The 

 weight from four one-yard square plots 



gave the yields of cured alfalfa hay as 

 shown below : 



This demonstration was carefully done 

 and all computations were figured by the 

 University Soils Department. Rock phos- 

 phate in this area costs about $14.00 per 

 ton. Valuing alfalfa hay at $8.00 to 

 $10.00 per ton, this demonstration shows 

 clearly that the cost was more than cov- 

 ered in the increased yield, which should 

 carry on for several years. 



The practice of top dressing alfalfa 

 with rock phosphate is in accord with the 

 provisions of the 1938 Agricultural Con- 

 servation program. One of the soil build- 

 ing units is the application of 500 lbs. 

 of rock phosphate on legumes or perma- 

 nent pasture. 



"^ 



24 



L A. A. RECORD 



