FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 

 Roland A. Payne, County Agent 

 Mildred W. Boice, 



Home Demonstration Agrent 

 Harold W. Fastmun, t'oiinty Ciuli Agent 

 Mary Sullivan, Clerk 

 Helen Clark, Asst. Clerk 



Office First National Bank Building 



Northampton, Mass. 

 Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 

 1915, at the Post Office at Northampton, 

 Massachusetts, under the Act of March 

 8. 1879. 



"Notice of Entry" 

 "Acceptance for mailing at special rate 

 of postage provided for in section 1103, 

 Act of October 3. 1917. Authorized Oc- 

 tober 31, 1917. 



Price, 50 cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Charles E. Clark, President 

 Charles W. Wade, Vice-President 

 Warren M. King, Treasurer 

 Roland A. Payne, Secretary 



Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture 



Edwin B. Clapp, Easthampton 



Charles E. Clark, Leeds 



Clarence E. Hodgkins, Northampton 



Milton S. Howes, Cummington 



Mrs. Clifton Johnson, Hadley 



Warren M. King-, Northampton 



Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 



W. H. Atkins, Amherst 



L. L. Campbell, Northampton 



TUBERCULOSIS TESTING 



It is hoped that the present investiga- 

 tion of the administration of the tubercu- 

 lar testing of cattle will make it not only 

 unprofitable but positively unhealthy for 

 men to as.semble "canner" cows for the 

 test. Two things stood out at the meet- 

 ing in Worcester regarding State and 

 Federal testing of cattle. The unani- 

 mous feeling was that the present sys- 

 tem is wrong. The other is that there 

 is a great demand for cows that are 

 really free from tuberculosis. 



Under the present system of testing 

 .scattered herds there is little to attract 

 buyers of cattle to the locality. If on 

 the other hand all of the cattle in a town 

 were tested at once there would be a 

 chance to attract buyers. It looks as 

 though there was a better opportunity 

 testing and having cows to sell than there 

 is in the wholesale milk market. One 

 man who has had several tests recently 

 stated that he had been offered double 

 for ten cows what he had ever been 

 offered before. There is a demand for 

 real cows that are free from tuberculosis. 



Wlio's Who With Poultry 



Continued from page 1. column 1 

 Eight of these on the above list re- 

 ported last year. Their average per bird 

 was 132.6 eggs per bird for nine months 

 last year. This year it is 153 eggs per 

 bird, a gain of 20.4 eggs per bird. The 

 mere keeping of the records has not made 

 this difference but we believe the infor- 

 mation they have obtained has helped in 

 increasing their flock averages. 



The -July reports .show the following to 

 be the leaders for the month : 



Eges 

 Birds per Bird 



F. D. Steele, Cummington 148 20.72 



P. L. Wheelock, Amher.st 92 19.40 



Mrs. W. S. Chaff'ee, Pelham 112 19.35 



F. Hebert, Belchertown 23 18.17 



.John Bloom, Ware 270 18.15 



Frank Rood, Southampton 360 18.06 



COW TEST SUMMARY 



There wei-e 653 cows milking in the 

 fifty-one herds tested in the Hampshire 

 County Cow Testing Association during 

 August. Thirty-three cows made over 

 forty-five pounds of butter fat during the 

 month. The following is a list of the 

 leading cows on twice a day milking: 



In August only three herds averaged 

 over 1,000 pounds of milk per cow; four 

 over 900; six over 800; eight over 700; 

 si.xteen over 600 ; seven over 500, and six 

 herds less than 500 pounds per cow. The 

 following were the leading herds in milk 

 production per cow: 



Owner Address 



Pelissier Bros., Hadley 



E. P. West, Hadley 



F. L. Antes, Ware 

 F. D. Steele, Cummington 

 E. T. Clark, Granby 

 H. Bridgman, Westh'pton 



Four herds averaged over thirty-five 

 pounds of butter fat per cow for the 

 month. Ten herds averaged between 

 thirty and thirty-four and nine tenths 

 pounds; eighteen between twenty-five and 

 twenty-nine pounds; thirteen between 

 twenty and twenty-four and nine-tenths 

 pounds and five herds were below twenty 

 pounds of fat per cow. The following 

 were the leading herds in butter fat per 

 cow: 



Owner Address No 



Pelissier Bros., Hadley 



E. P. We.st, Hadley 



F. L. Antes, Ware 



A. D. Montague, West'ton 

 H. Bridgeman, West'ton 

 William P. Quirk, Ware 



HoNtein Clul> MeetN 



Continued from page 1. column 3 

 Greenfield. On the further side of the 

 Shelburne Mountain there is a sign on 

 the left which marks the road to this 

 farm. In the afternoon the following 

 farms will be visited : Harvey Copeland's, 

 Colrain; Walter Kemp, Colrain; Walter 

 J. Davenport & Son, Shelburne. All in- 

 terested in Holstein cattle are urged tO' 

 pack a basket lunch and attend this meet- 

 ing. Some of the best herds of Holsteins 

 in Franklin County will be seen. 



LOWER MILK COSTS 



In an attempt to lower the cost of milk 

 production, the college farm has complet- 

 ed a "roughage feeding" demonstration. 

 Fifteen cows including Holsteins, Jerseys 

 and Shorthorns were used. They were a 

 little better than average cows and to be- 

 gin with were eating more roughage than 

 the average dairyman feeds; the Hol- 

 steins consuming daily about 39 pounds 

 of silage and 11 pounds of hay. At in- 

 tervals of one or two weeks the amounts 

 of hay and silage fed were increased, and 

 the grain ration correspondingly reduced. 

 Beginning March first, the Shorthorns 

 were fed the same amount of roughage 

 as the Holsteins. The demonstration be- 

 gan February 1 and ran to May 1. 



At the end of the demonstration. May 

 1, the Holsteins were receiving 47 pounds 

 of silage, 14 pounds of hay; Jr-rseys, 37 

 pounds of silage, 14 pounds of hay. After 

 the first three weeks the grain mixture 

 was changed from a 20 to a 249r protein 

 basis in order to keep up the protein con- 

 tent of the ration. At the beginning the 

 13 cows which were milking wei-e giving 

 3.07 pounds of milk to each pound of 

 grain. By May 1 this ratio had been 

 spread out .so that they were giving 4.17 

 pounds of milk to each pound of grain 

 fed. The animals weights were taken 

 each month and the group as a whole 

 show a gain of 255 pounds on the more 

 roughage — less grain ration. 



It has been demonstrated repeatedly 

 that (1) where efficient methods are 

 utilized a pound of dige.stible nutrients 

 can be produced on the farm in the form 

 of roughage more cheaply than it can be 

 purchased in a grain bag and (2) that 

 some grain in the average cow's ration- 

 can be replaced by feeding more roughage 

 without decreasing production or in.iur- 

 ing the health of the animal. 



The following table .shows the average 

 daily production of the cows by four 



