FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 

 Rolnnd A. Payne, County Agent 

 Mildred W. Boiee, 



Home Demonstration Agent 

 Harold W. Eiistman, Connty Clul> Agent 

 C'atlierine I.ucey, Clerk 

 Helen Clark, Asst. Clerk 



Office First l>Jational 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, .lO 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 



tained from the Hampshire County Ex- 

 tension Service, 59 Main Street, North- 

 ampton. If we do not have all of the in- 

 formation you desire we are in a position 

 to get it for you. 



ARE WE READY? 



Those who attended the Mock Trial en- 

 joyed it and found information that needs 

 serious consideration. T. B. eradication 

 is a subject that needs a lot of attention 

 at the present time. Evidence showed 

 that there is tuberculosis in the herds of 

 the county. A tubercular cow sooner or 

 later is an economic loss to her owner. 

 There is danger of this disease being 

 transmitted to children. The continued 

 use of tuberculin will not give cows tuber- 

 culosis. Healthy herds produce economi- 

 cally. Tuberculosis can be eradicated in 

 a herd thru testing and slaughtering the 

 reactors. It is possible to buy tested cat- 

 tle that will not react to the test in sixty 

 days. 



In the matter of tuberculosis eradica- 

 tion we must face these facts sooner or 

 later. There is no evidence to show that 

 tuberculosis decreases in a herd when 

 nothing is done about it. There is plenty 

 of evidence to .show that the sooner a herd 

 is tested the better it is for the owner. 

 Nothing is to be gained by delay. Appli- 

 cation blanks for the T. B. test under 

 State and Federal supervision may be ob- 



Yankec liill li«.ses 



Continued from page 1, column 3 

 than Yankee Bill, that his herd averaged 

 over 11,000 lbs. of milk last year in the 

 cow testing association and that he has 

 always found time to weigh each cow's 

 milk. He proved that Mr. Clark was 

 just trying to be a good neighbor to Bill. 



Expert Explains 1927 Model Cow 



Prof. .J. H. Frandsen of M. A. C. was 

 the only expert witness. He defined an 

 expert as "an ordinary man a long way 

 from home." He stated that the college 

 went to Bill to get the foundation stock 

 for a strain of cows that they are devel- 

 oping to meet New England conditions. 

 A picture of this cow was shown and ex- 

 plained. She had a sharp muzzle so as 

 to be able to drink from a small hole in 

 the ice in winter and so she could get the 

 grass from between rocks in the summer. 

 She had one eye as that was enough to see 

 all of the feed in the pasture and made it 

 more difficult to see holes in the fence. Her 

 neck was extra long as it was found that 

 all of the restaurants were getting their 

 steaks from this part. The heart girth 

 was small so that T. B. germs would have 

 a hard time to get in. The long slender 

 barrell was needed so that corn stalks and 

 timothy hay fed to her could lay straight 

 and not get all tangled up. The V-shaped 

 back was to keep snow and rain from 

 sticking on her and getting her chilled. 

 She sloped on the rump so that .she would 

 fit under the lean-to where this type of 

 cows are housed. She only had three 

 teats, as it was found that this was 

 enough for the amount of milk being giv- 

 en. By breeding it was hoped that the 

 number of teats could be reduced to one 

 so that two cows could be milked at the 

 same time. 



R. C. Adams of North Amherst was 

 called on to show that it did not pay to 

 keep poor cows. His cow testing asso- 

 ciation records showed that it also pays 

 to feed the good cows all that they will 

 eat. He found that it only cost a little 

 more to feed liberally and that this extra 

 feed was what made the profit. He said 

 that he was growing alfalfa and that he 

 had put four tons of lime per acre on 

 some of his fields. He knew that alfalfa 

 hay made a difference in the amount and 

 the kind of grain that he had to feed. 

 Bill's attorney was unable to prove that 

 Mr. Adams was not a real farmer and 

 that he grew alfalfa on his chin instead 

 of on his fields. 



T. B. Testing Evidence Presented 



Ellis Harlow, of Amherst, owner of one 

 of the first accredited herds in the county, 

 was called upon to show that the con- 



tinued use of tuberculin would not give 

 cows tuberculosis. He said that some of 

 his older cows had passed as many as fif- 

 teen tuberculin tests and had never react- 

 ed. Some of these cows had made gold 

 and silver medals for their high records 

 made on advanced registry tests. His 

 experience was that cows purchased from 

 accredited herds were guaranteed to pass 

 a sixty-day retest. He felt that there 

 would be a big advantage to those raising 

 cattle if we could get accredited areas in 

 this county as it would attract buyers of 

 cattle to these areas. He stated that cat- 

 tle from an accredited herd commanded a 

 premium over animals from an untested 

 herd. 



J. G. Cook of Hadley testified that he 

 had a large number of reactors in his 

 herd on the fir.st test, but that he only 

 had one reactor on the last test. He 

 stated that, from personal experience and 

 from seeing how others in the town were 

 doing it, that the only safe way to get 

 clean cattle was to buy them from ac- 

 credited herds. He said that before T. B. 

 testing he had a lot of udder trouble in 

 his herd. Since the reactors were re- 

 moved he has had no udder trouble in his 

 herd. His experience showed that good 

 replacements could be purchased and that 

 they were worth the extra price. 



Allen W. Houghton of North Amherst 

 testified that all of the cows in his herd 

 reacted. He did a thorough job of re- 

 modeling his stable and then bought his 

 replacements from accredited herds in 

 Vermont and at the New England Hol- 

 stein sale in Springfield. This herd has 

 passed two tests without a reactor. He 

 said that he received good treatment in 

 the way of indemnity from the state and 

 federal government. This herd of disease 

 free animals are better producers than 

 the old herd. He has found that there 

 are a lot of people who like unpasteurized 

 milk if they can be sure that it comes 

 from a clean herd. I am planning to 

 raise more of my replacements in the fu- 

 ture," he said. "I have never been sorry 

 that I had my herd tested." 



E. P. West of Hadley was called on to 

 give testimony on T. B. testing. "I have 

 had several tests for T. B. The first test 

 showed quite a few reactors. On each 

 succeeding test there were less till the 

 last test showed no reactors. For over 

 five years I have not bought a cow. I 

 buy the best bull calves that I can get and 

 raise my own replacements. The aver- 

 age production of my herd both in milk 

 and in butterfat has increased every 

 year. I don't worry and wonder now 

 when my folks have all the milk they 

 want to drink." 



Nurse Testifies For Progress 



Miss Dorothea Stewart of the Hamp- 

 shire County Public Health Association, 

 who works with the local boards of health 

 in the prevention and cure of tuberculosis 



