^'' 



000 to 50,000 bushels, is bought from 

 farmers of the adjacent drainage dis- 

 trict. 



Field arrangement is simply a series 

 of 100-acre plots laid oS across the 

 island. Oscar, always alert to make 

 the most of new developments, ripped 

 out all cross fences, including hedges, 

 a few years ago. Now when fences 

 are needed he puts up temporary elec- 

 tric ones. This plan saves labor since 

 there are no fence rows to mow and 

 there are few weeds allowed to seed. 



When Oscar married 13 years ago 

 and took over the management of the 

 island after his father moved to his 

 own farm, one of the acute problems 

 was to eliminate hauling hay from 

 one to two miles and then hauling the 

 manure back to the hay fields after 

 the fecdlots were empty. Farm papers, 

 text books, the Farm Bureau, Farm 

 and Home Week speakers and other 

 sources of information Oscar commonly 

 uses, were of little help in solving this 

 one. 



Today, on Duck Island, no hay is 

 hauled and no manure is handled 

 either. Hay is stacked in the field with 

 a buck rake and stacker. Steers are 

 fed right from the stack and they 

 spread the manure. 



Oscar confines about 100 head of 

 feeders to a temporary pen. Only 

 corn and supplement are hauled and 

 they are hauled by truck. Water is 

 supplied by pumping from one of the 

 lakes to a large stock tank with a 

 gasoline powered pump. When the 

 stack has been consumed, the equipment 

 and cattle are moved to another stack. 

 The manure is seldom spread farther. 



Whitnah and Linn feed two classes 

 of cattle. Common cattle are bought 

 in August and September through the 

 Peoria Producers. Most of them come 

 from Wichita, Kansas. They are fed 

 around the hay stacks all winter and 

 sold in April or May by the Producers 

 at East St. Louis or Chicago. 



Cattle of good quality are bought 

 in February, March or April. They 

 are usually half-fat or warmed-up Here- 

 fords. They are put on bluegrass pas- 

 ture and are kept on full feed. When 



All maclimas used ore 

 of the soma mole*. In- 

 terchongaabl* porta 

 and tooU pravant 

 del Of. 



NO HAULING HERE 

 Hay (tacked in the field with buck 

 rake (circle) and stacker ia fed in 

 temporary manger. Sores labor, 

 hoy, manure. 



the pasture shortens up in the late 

 summer they are put in the feedlot 

 and made ready for the fall or winter 

 market. 



Oscar has records which show feed- 

 ing on pasture cuts feed costs almost 

 in half. 



Records kept last year on 25 head 

 on full feed of corn and on bluegrass 

 pasture between April 27 and June 29 

 show an average daily gain of 2.4 

 pounds. Feed cost per hundredweight 

 of gain, including 324 bushels of 

 shelled corn at 52c and |19.20 of sup- 

 plement, averaged $498. This is com- 

 pared with a cost of $9.64 per cwt. 

 of gain on steers of similar weight 

 and quality on dry lot feeding. 



Careful check was made on cattle 

 being fed around the stacks to dis- 

 cover the effect of extreme cold and 

 stormy weather on gains. As far as 

 Oscar can determine, there was no 

 slackening of gains and very little more 

 feed was consumed by cattle in the 

 open as compared to cattle protected 

 by a shed. The stack offered some 

 protection from the wind, however. 



The solution of the problem of haul- 

 ing hay and manure from one end of 

 the island to the other brought forth 

 another problem. What to do with the 

 big hay and horse barn? 



"That was a practical building when 

 we farmed the island with 35 to 40 

 head of mules," Mr. Whitnah recalled. 



"There are buildings that become ob- 

 solete on the farm and that barn is 

 one. We keep two head of saddle 

 horses there now, and that's all." 



But the obsolescence of farm build- 

 ings has gone farther than that on 

 Duck Island. The hog house, where 

 30 to 40 sows once reared their young 

 is no longer used for that purpose. 

 All pigs fed on the island now, about 

 1000 head a year, are purchased. 



Once again Oscar ana his good friend 

 and counselor, C. L. Whitnah, studied 

 the problem of what to do with out- 

 moded buildings. After some investi- 

 gation they decided to use the hay barn 

 and hog house for turkeys. They bought 

 600 poults in 1934. These were brooded 

 in the hog house in homemade battery 

 brooders. By 1937 they were produc- 

 ing their own eggs and raised 2100 

 turkeys for market. 



In 1938, they started only 1100. 

 This year they came back by starting 

 5400. All these eggs came from 312 

 breeding hens housed in the loft of 

 the former horse barn. The hens, fed 

 on a special mash, laid eggs that 

 hatched 80 per cent live poults, an 

 unequalled record. After the laying 

 season, the loft becomes a rearing pen 

 for poults. 



Poults six weeks old arc put on an 

 alfalfa field not far from the build- 

 ings. Range equipment consists of a 



(Continued on page 30. Col. 3) 



HOG HOUSE IS BROODER 



Feotherboord. left, reploce 



hens in keeping young 



poults 



BHOOISRS REPLACE HOG 



PENS 

 The house ia kepi at 80 de- 

 grees with one kerosene stove. 



DUCK ISLAND FOLKS 

 VSn. Linn enjoys modem conveniMices, catches fi^ for 

 many meols. is in charge of turkey production. C. L. Whit- 

 nah (uriiite shirt) and his wife live in o snug cobin oa the 

 island, collect antiques and relics. Whitnah ond Linn, 

 right, study plans in mid-morning conference. 



