FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



COW TEST SUMMARY 



Thirty-two cows made over fifty 

 pounds of butter fat during April. The 

 following is the list of the leading 

 animals: 



The high herds in milk production per 

 cow ai-e as follows: 



Lbs. Milk 



per Cow 



1202 



1156 



994 



980 



Owner Address No. Oows 



Pelissier Bros., Hadley 6 

 E. P. West, Hadley 28 



Fred Frost, Easthampton 11 

 Bisbee Bros., Chesterfield 12 

 H. J. Searle & Son, 



Hadley 11 961 



E. T. Clark, Granby 20 955 



J. G. Cook, Hadley 10 955 



The herds having the highest average 

 butter fat production per cow were as 

 follows : 



Lbs. Fat 

 per Cow 

 41.9 

 40.4 

 39.5 

 36.1 

 35.7 

 33.9 

 33.3 

 33.2 



Owner Address No. Cows 



Pelissier Bros., Hadley 6 



E. P. West, Hadley 28 



W. H. Atkins, Amherst 11 

 Bisbee Bros., Chesterfield 12 

 Fred Frost, Easthampton 11 

 R. Pomeroy, Amherst 8 



Fox Farm, Williamsburg 12 

 M. S. Howes, Cumm'ton 12 



Chester A Smith of Hadley resigned as 

 tester for the eastern section of the as- 

 sociation. Fay Montague of Westhamp- 

 ton will take this route the first of May. 

 Mr. Montague has had considerable ex- 

 perience testing advanced registry cows 

 before .starting this work. 



HOLSTEIN BREEDERS MEET 



Local Club to Award Cup for 

 High Production Cow 



The spring meeting of the Hampshire 

 Franklin Holstein Friesian Breeders' 

 Club was held at Boyden's Restaurant, 

 Northampton, Saturday, April 24. Mr. 

 C. N. Crissey, eastern representative of 

 the National Holstein organization was 

 the main speaker. He stated that this 

 was a time of efficiency in production. In 

 industry more efficient machinery and 

 more efficient methods have maintained 

 production and at the same time de- 



creased the need for 2,000,000 workers. 

 The dairy farmers of this country have 

 over $750,000,000 invested in cows that 

 are not paying full value for the feed 

 they are eating. Only three per cent of 

 the dairy cattle in this country are 

 registered. This means an opportunity 

 for the sale of good stock. 



He stated that a cow producing 9,000 

 lbs. of milk in a year did it at a produc- 

 tion cost of $1.84 per hundi-ed pounds less 

 than the 'cow that produces 5,000 lbs. of 

 milk in a year. Better feeding methods 

 and better kinds of crops were urged to 

 cut production costs as all cows have got 

 to pay at the milk pail. A .summary of 

 the record of 777 cow test as.sociations 

 show that pure bred cows averaged 1,000 

 lbs. more milk and 04 lbs. more fat than 

 grades. 



The Hampshire Franklin HoLstein 

 Friesian Breeders' Club voted to award a 

 suitable cup to the registered cow making 

 the best record for the year 1926. The 

 following are the rules. 



1. Eligibility: Cow must be a register- 

 ed Holstein owned by a member of 

 this club. 



2. Acceptance of Recorda: Cow testing 

 as.sociation records and records made 

 under the rules of the Holstein-Frie- 

 sian Association of America will be 

 the only records accepted. 



3. Year: Test must be finished within 

 the calendar year .January 1, 1926 to 

 December 31, 1926. 

 Points: In figuring records one (1) 

 point will be given for each pound of 

 butter fat produced during the year; 

 four (4) points will be given for each 

 one hundred pounds of milk produced 

 during the year. 



Handicaps : Heifers under five years 

 of age will be given a handicap of one 

 pound of butter fat and forty pounds 

 of milk for every ten days under five 

 years of age. This handicap will be 

 added to the yearly record. 

 Calving Requirement: Cow must 

 drop a living calf within a period of 

 not exceeding fifteen months from 

 birth of last previous calf. 

 The cup will be engraved with the 

 name of the winning cow, her record, 

 and the name of her owner. The cup 

 is to become the property of the mem- 

 ber winning it three times. 

 The cup will be awarded at the spring 

 meeting of the club. 



calcium cyanide. This is a material 

 which contains cyanogen in the form of a 

 du.st carrier combined with calcium. It 

 gives off its cyanogen gas quite readily 

 under atmospheric conditions, and is 

 therefore of considerable value for use 

 such as this. Once the outline of the nest 

 is pretty well determined, sink holes to 

 the depth of six to eight inches, at .spaces 

 of about a foot apart over the area in- 

 habited by the ants. A teaspoonful of 

 the calcium cyanide should then be 

 poured down in each hole, and the earth 

 smoothed oyer and firmed down. The gas 

 which evolves from this will penetrate 

 through the runways of the nest and kill 

 large numbers of the workers, and even- 

 tually penetrate to the queen. Of course 

 that is the main object of any control 

 measure. Once the queen is eliminated, 

 the colony .soon dwindles and cannot be 

 replenished. 



4. 



6. 



7. 



CONTROL OF ANTS 



Ants in houses cause considerable an- 

 noyance. Prof. A. I. Bourne of the Mass. 

 Agricultural College has the following to 

 offer on the subject: 



Usually it is quite easy to ascertain the 

 point where ants are entering the house 

 and to trail back their runways to the 

 nest outdoors. Once its position has been 

 determined, I would suggest the use of 



ECONOMICAL CORN PRODUCTION 



The Use of Leveling Harrow and 

 the Weeder Cuts Costs 



Figuies obtained from farmers in dif- 

 ferent parts of the state last year by the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College .show 

 that the average co.st of a ton of silage 

 in the silo is about $9.60. At present 

 grain and hay prices, this is about its 

 feed value. Some have concluded from 

 these figures that it does not pay to grow 

 silage. In some cases where there is no 

 real corn land or where other more profi- 

 table crops conflict with corn produc- 

 tion, this conclusion is undoubtedly cor- 

 rect. In the majority of cases the real 

 answer is that it does not pay to use 

 antiquated methods of production. 



On the majority of the farms of this 

 county, silage can be grown and stored 

 for far less than the average cost if good 

 farm management methods are used. The 

 first step in economical silage production 

 is to grow the corn on a field as near to 

 the silo as possible. The further the field 

 is from the silo the more teams and men 

 are needed to keep the cutter running at 

 capacity. An outfit capable of cutting 

 twelve tons per hour and actually only 

 handling six makes the filling job ex- 

 pensive. 



The second .step is to fully prepare the 

 land before planting. If there is much 

 witch grass in the land it is better busi- 

 ness to delay planting so that additional 

 discings may be given rather than to 

 hurry the seed into the ground. If there 

 is much witch grass the corn had best be 

 checkrowed to allow cross cultivation. 

 Some men have found that it pays to go 

 over the piece two or three times, at in- 

 tervals of from five to seven days, with 

 the leveling harrow or the weeder before 

 the corn is planted. This is to kill weeds 

 before they get started. 



Continued on page 8, column 2 



