FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 

 Roland A. I'ayne, County Agent 

 Mildred W. Boice, 



Home Demonstration Agent 

 Harold W. Eastman, County Club Agent 

 Mary Sullivan, Clerk 

 Helen Clark, Assl. 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 



NONBREEDING IN DAIRY COWS 



CORRECTED BY SPROUTED OATS 



Six virgin dairy heifers that had failed 

 to get with calf after being repeatedly 

 served by different sires at the United 

 States Department of Agriculture Dairy 

 Experiment Farm, Beltsville, Md., were 

 fed sprouted oats in an effort to correct 

 their barren condition. According to 

 R. R. Graves, in charge of the experi- 

 ment, five of the six heifers were settled 

 in calf after 30 days of this special feed- 

 ing. Six dairy cows that had raised 

 calves but had apparently become un- 

 able to conceive were fed sprouted oats 

 also with the result that five of them got 

 with calf after 19 to 48 days of feeding. 

 Similar tests made at the Oregon Experi- 

 ment Station upon the suggestion of Mr. 

 Graves gave equally favorable results. 



Feeding sprouted oats to overcome 

 nonconception in dairy heifers and cows 

 was suggested to Mr. Graves by a study 

 of the work done with small animals at 

 the University of California in which it 

 was discovered that a fifth vitamin had 

 a bearing on the fertility and reproduc- 

 tive organs. This vitamin, named vita- 



min E, was found in such feeds as green 

 leaves of lettuce and alfalfa. 



Whether or not the fertility results 

 obtained in heifers and cows fed sprout- 

 ed oats is due to a vitamin has not been 

 determined, nor have enough trials been 

 made to conclude definitely that the 

 method will always give positive results. 

 Mr. Graves points out that animals in 

 their undomesticated state have a breed- 

 ing season closely allied with the spring 

 flush of new grass; and that under mod- 

 ern methods of management, cows and 

 heifers are bred at all times of the year. 

 Many of the cases of nonbreeding may be 

 due to functional disorders brought 

 about by a high state of domesticity in 

 which the natural breeding season is 

 ignored. The beneficial effects of sprout- 

 ed oats may be due to a simulation of 

 natural dietary conditions at the normal 

 breeding season. 



AVOID FALL MOULT 



Pullets Need Twice As Much Scratch 

 Feed As Mash 



Winter egg production and avoidance 

 of fall moult, or partial moult, is more 

 a matter of skillful feeding than time of 

 hatching. 



Early hatched pullets going into laying 

 quarters in September and October fre- 

 quently are not given enough scratch 

 grain to maintain and increase their body 

 weight. Once well into laying they are 

 impelled to keep at it even at the expense 

 of the body. Beginning to lose flesh 

 under the strain of production, they 

 moult and rest in self protection. 



The remedy or prevention is liberal 

 feeding of scratch grain, particularly 

 whole corn. As pullets increase in egg 

 production the scratch grain allowance 

 should also be increased, in order to 

 maintain, in fact, to keep them gaining 

 in weight. It is a safe rule to feed pul- 

 lets all the scratch grain they will clean 

 up each day. Laying heavily during the 

 fall and early winter months pullets 

 usually require about twice as much 

 hard grain as mash. 



Sixty per cent is the upper limit of 

 safety in pullet egg production until 

 springtime and warm weather. Heavy 

 grain feeding will curtail mash consump- 

 tion and tend to prevent too great a pro- 

 duction. Lights after the first of Nov- 

 ember, together with a judicious feeding 

 program, are an aid in securing a high 

 and constant egg yield. Count your 

 birds, measure the feed, keep pullets 

 gaining even though it is necessary to 

 weigh a few in order to be sure! 



— Wm. C. Monahan. 



SEPTEMBER POULTRY SUMMARY 



The 160 egg standard calls for seven 

 eggs per bird in September. Only two 

 flocks failed to reach this goal. The 

 leading flocks all got over double this 

 number of eggs per bird. The leaders 

 for September were: 



No. Eggs 

 Birds per Bird 

 Mrs. R. P. Thayer, Hadley 20 18.25 

 Frank Rood, Southampton 2.50 16.96 

 S. G. Waite, Southampton 12 16.06 

 -John Bloom, Ware 275 15.00 



F. D. Steele, Cummington 51 14.94 



The following are the state leaders in 

 egg production for 11 months' period 

 ending September 30, 1926. 



Large Flocks with 1,000 birds or more 

 November 1st 



-o 



Name County ^.jj (i.£ 



1. Hass Poultry Farm, Br'tol '24501172.4 



2. Elm Tree Farm, Ply'th =1340| 169.4 



3. E. H. Castle, Plymouth '1913 1 169.2 



4. Harold Booth, Hampshire 390 1 163.1 



5. Geo. A. Gillis, Middlesex 871 1 153.9 



6. Glendale Farm, Bristol 2131141.6 



7. Peckham Farm, Bristol n064[ 141.5 



•Includes 1255. pullets. ^Includes 830 

 pullets. 'Includes 564 pullets. ^Includes 

 700 pullets. 



Large Flocks tvith 500 to 999 birds 

 November 1st 



1. .lames 0. Demers, Bristol '6241169.0 



2. .John Bloom, Hampshire =4051167.0 



3. Frank Porebski, Plymouth '610|16.5.1 



4. Frank W. Rood, Hamp.shire 250|163.1 



5. Henry Witt, Hampshire '271 1 158.6 



6. Leroy Grinnell, Plymouth =461 156.1 



7. C. S. Ricker, Worcester "5901156.0 



'Includes 250 pullets. ^Incl'/'des 130 

 pullets. 'Includes 420 pullets. 'Includes 

 200 pullets. 'Includes 360 pullets. "In- 

 cludes 310 pullets. 



Small Flocks — 90 to A99 birds 

 November 1st 



1. Frank D. Steele, Hampshire 51 



2. P. L. Wheelock, Hampshire '330 



3. L. W. Goodnow, Franklin =88 



4. C. J. Richards, Franklin 41 



5. Herbert F. Duncan, H'shire 56 



6. M. S. Leal,Jr.. Middlesex 196 



7. Mrs. A. G. Eldridge, H'shire 81 



201.1 

 190.9 

 179.9 

 179.7 

 177.0 

 173.5 

 172.6" 



'Includes 270 pullets. ^Includes 48 pul- 

 lets. 



If we paid no more attention to our 



plants than we have to our children, we 



would now be living in a jungle of weeds. 



— Luther Burbank. 



"AGROSPECTS" 



By Way of Introduction 



This is an age of new words. The 

 above heading is derived from the word 

 agronomy which has to do with soils and 

 field crops. Under this heading it is 

 planned to submit from time to time 

 items of interest to tillers of soil and 



