of corn with our system as we could 

 if w€ planted twice as many acres." 



Thirty-five years ago, this land, Otto 

 said, produced 15 to 20 bushels of corn 

 per acre. This year one of his small 

 fields made over 100 bushels to the 

 acre. 



He uses hybrid seed, gets an average 

 yield in good years of about 80 bushels 

 per acre. Alfalfa, one of the leading 

 crop.s, is left down from three to six 

 years before plowing. Limestone, rock 

 phosphate and all the manure from 

 a dairy herd of 20 to 25 cows are used 

 to build fertility. 



Berlage is changing from dual pur- 

 pose Shorthorns to Holsteins for great- 

 er milk production. He produces five 

 to six litters of crossbred pigs twice 

 a year, has 40 purebred ewes, and a 

 flock of 200 White Leghorn hens. The 

 pigs come March 1 and the shoats are 

 marketed weighing from 190 to 225 

 pounds in August and September. 



Farm account records have been 

 kept since 1926. The investment, not 

 including residence and automobile, 

 has varied in value from $38,486 in 



1927 down to $21,165 in 1938. The 

 value of the farm investment has 

 shrunk nearly half in 12 years, a good 

 example of what has been going on 

 all over America. The rate earned 

 has varied from 8.85 per cent in 1936 

 down to a loss of four per cent in 

 1932. On the higher investment in 

 1926 the rate was 7.76 per cent, 4.99 

 the following year, 7.94 per cent in 



1928 and 4.01 in 1929. Last year the 

 rate earned was 7.6 per cent on a 

 $21,165 investment. High dairy sales 

 during this 12 year period were $1750 

 and the lowest $721. 



Buy Little Feed 



"The plan we followed whether 

 right or wrong," said Otto, "was to 

 get along with the feed the farm pro- 

 duced. We buy very little feed, some 

 protein supplement but not so much 

 of that. The pigs get skim milk and 

 buttermilk which pretty well balances 

 the corn ration. I believe if a farmer 

 has a system that seems to pay out 

 pretty well, it's not always wise to 

 change." 



Mr. Berlage figures on getting about 

 nine pounds of wool per sheep each 

 year from his flock. He got into the 

 sheep business by accident. About ten 

 years ago the Sears-Roebuck Agricul- 

 tural Foundation offered 25 western 

 yearling ewes and a purebred buck 

 cor the best letter from a farmer tell- 

 ing why sheep raising would be well 

 adapted to his farm. 



Among the 3,000 letters received in 

 the contest Berlage's was chosen for 

 the prize. In his letter he oflfered to 



32 . - .:■ 



SHEEP DAY ON OTTO BERLAGE FARM 

 The 25 winner* in the merit sheep club award between the years 1930 and 1934. 

 Standing just left of center are Prof. W. G. Kammlade of the University oi Dlinoia. 

 H. R. Brunnemeyer, former farm adviser, and Mr. Berlage. 



give five ewe Iambs each year for 

 five years to 4-H Club boys and girls 

 in the community. This sheep project 

 has been op>erating successfully now for 

 ten years. Fifty JoDaviess county boys 

 and girls have received one ewe lamb 

 each. Each in turn has kept records 

 for five years at the end of which he 

 or she has donated a ewe lamb. 



System Proves Successful 



Early in June the JoDaviess County 

 Farm Bureau cooperates in holding a 

 sheep day on the Berlage farm. 

 Twenty-five boys and girls thus far 

 have finished the five-year project. 

 Each year the boy or girl with the 

 best report and record of profit on 

 sheep receives a purebred ewe lamb .is 

 a gift from the Berlage flock. The 

 awards are made under the supyervision 

 of the committee of judges selected by 

 the Farm Bureau. The fame 'of this 

 project has traveled as far as Australia. 

 Berlage corresponds regularly with a 

 sheep breeder in Southern Australia 

 who became interested in his merit 

 awards to club boys and girls. 



If you ask Otto which farm practice 

 has contributed most to the success 

 of his farm he will tell you soil im- 

 provement. "With our plan of keep- 

 ing those old clay hills in legumes for 

 five or six years with two or three 

 applications of barnyard manure in 

 the meantime," he said, "it has been 

 possible to increase the corn yield from 

 20 bushels to 100 bushels per acre 

 when drilled on the contour. 



"Under this system the farm has 

 been changed from low-producing pas- 

 ture land renting at 90 cents p>er acre 

 to a business paying out on an invest- 

 of more than $150 an acre. Besides 

 supporting a family of four this farm 

 now has a set of modern buildings 

 with electricity, furnace, water under 

 pressure, ventilating system for cows 

 and chickens and individual drinking 

 cups for horses and cows. The farm 

 is entirely fenced and most of the cross 



fences are woven wire." 



Several hundred quarts of canned 

 fruits and vegetables, a huge pile of 

 potatoes, pumpkins, squash, apples, 

 onions, other garden truck and baskets 

 of eggs in the Berlage's orderly cellar 

 tell their own story of enterprise and 

 thrift. A moment later at Mrs. Berl- 

 age's insistence you sit down in their 

 comfortable home to a piece of deli- 

 cious, fresh-baked apple pie. 



The Berlages have two daughters, 

 Mercedes, 18, who attends Dubuque 

 College and Marcella, 12, a seventh 

 grader. Both like their home on the 

 farm. Otto uses all the Farm Bureau 

 services and sells his cream through 

 the Farmers Coop>erative Creamery at 

 Elizabeth. He is justly proud of the 

 fact that his farm is a demonstration 

 area in the soil erosion control pro- 

 gram. His soils and fields have been 

 mapped by the government conserva- 

 tion service at Freeport. Most of the 

 fields have been limed twice and re- 

 ceived applications of 400 to 500 lbs. 

 of rock phosphate per acre. He puts 

 on the phosphate with a homemade 

 spreader in the spring with small grain. 



Holds Many Offices 

 Berlage received a Master Farmer 

 medal in 1929- He has served on the 

 county Farm Bureau board as treas- 

 urer. Since 1931 he has been treas- 

 urer of the JoDaviess Service Co., is 

 a member of the Land Use Planning 

 Council set up by the state extension 

 service cooperating with the federal 

 government, and is an officer of the 

 Livestock Shipping Association. 



I..et anyone who is discouraged and 

 doubtful of his opportunities take a 

 ride up to JoDaviess county and sec 

 how Otto B^erlage and his wife have 

 converted cheap pasture land into a 

 productive farm and home. They make 

 you feel that ambition, faith and the 

 will to do count most in achieving 

 success. — George Thiem. 



L A. A. RECORD 



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