FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



PROFITS FOR DAIRY FARMERS 



Meetings Held in Sixteen Towns 

 of the County 



Meetings for dairy farmers have been 

 held in sixteen towns of the county since 

 February 1. At these meetings Miss Boice 

 showed the important part milk should 

 have in the human diet. The county agent 

 discused the problem of making a profit 

 from dairy farming. 



It was pointed out that cows are kept 

 for various reasons. The first is to supply 

 the family with milk, cream and butter. 

 It makes little diff'erence what kind of 

 cows art kept for this purpose so long as 

 there are enough of them to supply the 

 family requirements. The idea of this 

 type of dairying is not to make a profit. 

 Another reason for keeping cows is that 

 the fertility of the farm may be main- 

 tained. It is doubtful if the farmers who 

 are keeping cows for this purpose are 

 spending their lives to best advantage. 

 Another group depend on the profits they 

 make from their cows to support their 

 families. These dairy farmers are inter- 

 ested in having their cows make a profit. 

 When a profit is desired, it makes a vast 

 difference what kind of cows are kept. 

 It was pointed out that the herd must be 

 healthy. In the local cow testing associa- 

 tion all but one of the herds that aver- 

 aged over 350 lbs of butter fat per cow 

 were tested for tuberculosis. The cow 

 testing association records show that 

 cows that produce less than 7,500 lbs of 

 Z.lVt milk ju.st pay their owners wages. 

 For herds that try to get an even produc- 

 tion thru the year this means an average 

 production of at least 16.5 quarts daily 

 for every cow in milk. For herds that run 

 much over 3.7% butterfat the cows should 

 average over 275 lbs. of fat for the year 

 before profits begin. There is no place on 

 farms that are being run for profit for 

 poor cows. Poor cows pay poor wages 

 to the man who owns them. 



The cow test records show that too few 

 herds are averaging three lbs of milk per 

 pound of grain. The results of an ex- 

 periment carried on by Professor W. J. 

 Fraser of Illinois were shown by lantern 

 slides. In this experiment twenty acres 

 of land were devoted to alfalfa and corn 

 for silage. The cows (Holstein) were 

 fed no grain till they produced over 35 

 pounds of milk a day, and then were only 

 given corn and cob meal. By using high 

 producing crops 3,888 lbs of milk a year 

 were produced per acre in this experi- 

 ment, while nearby dairy farms with less 

 eflScient crops produced an average of 

 1,412 lbs of milk per acre. In other words 

 alfalfa and corn silage fed to cows will 

 produce two and a half times as much 

 milk per acre as the ordinary kinds of 

 roughage grown on our dairy farms. Sur- 

 veys have shown that good yields of crops 

 are one of the important factors in deter- 

 mining profits on dairy farms. 



The futility of letting producing cows 

 try to make milk on ordinary pastures 

 without additional feed was shown by 

 slides. The value of sweet clover pasture 

 where one cow can be carried on three 

 quarters of an acre was shown. 



RATS RAISE RUCTIONS 



How Many Are you Feeding 



Two hundred thousand individual 

 farmers, 75,000 more than there are peo- : 

 pie on the farms of Massachusetts, are 

 kept busy every year raising products to 

 feed the rat population of the United 

 States. 



This does not mean that the products 

 are raised especially for the rats or deliv- 

 ered to them in special trucks, but it sim- 

 ply means that the rats take the food pro- 

 ducts out of the back door, while the 200,- 

 000 farmers work diligently putting it in 

 at the front door of the storage house. 



This estimate is made by the United 

 States Bureau of Biological Survey, 

 which is now conducting an eradication 

 campaign in the New England states 

 against rats and other pests like mice, 

 rabbits, skunks, and ground-hogs. 



E. M. Mills with headquarters at Fer- 

 nald Hall, M. A. C, Amherst, is directing 

 the active warfare in New England 

 against the rodents. His forces in the 

 field are the county agents and other 

 specialists from the agricultural college. 



Not a Pied Piper 



"We can hardly expect to be as rapid 

 or as efficient in our methods as the fam- 

 ous Pied Piper of Hamlin," says Mills, 

 "but with a little well directed work, any 

 farm can be cleared of rats and other 

 pests. If the farm cannot be cleared, 

 we can at least greatly reduce the damage 

 done." 



A better idea of this enormous loss can 

 be realized from the fact that when put 

 in dollars, the amount comes to $200,- 

 000,000 for rats alone and an additional 

 100 million for other pests. This is 3 or 

 4 times as much as the total value of live 

 stock products for the state of Massachu- 

 setts. 



Studies made in the state of North 

 Carolina show that 5i% of the corn 

 stored in the state is destroyed by rats. 

 If the average for the United States was 

 only one-tenth of this, the annual loss of 

 corn would amount to $7,000,000. 



Rats Destroy Chickens 



One of the most noticeable losses on the 

 farm is the loss of young chickens and 

 eggs. One farmer reports to the Survey 

 that he had 188 young chicks killed by 

 rats in one night, and still another farm- 

 er reports as high as 400 killed in one 

 night. 



Four hundred young chicks sold as 

 broilers would mean better than $200 in 

 the farmer's pocketbook. 



This sort of destruction is much more 

 noticeable than the steady drain by rats 

 on corn and grain products, which is also 

 costing the farmer a good deal of money. 

 It is estimated that each rat your farm 

 harbors costs you at least $2 a year in 

 food products. 



In addition, rats indirectly cause 

 j thousands of dollars worth of damage. 

 They contaminate food products and 

 make them unfit for use. They often 

 gnaw water pipes and cause flooding. 

 They burrow under walls or through 

 them, causing the walls to crack and 

 weaken. Many fires are caused by rats 

 gnawing matches. 



The "Black Death" plague, which killed 

 25 million people in Europe during the 

 Middle Ages, was spread by rats. This 



C^ 



Tiventy 

 Sacks 

 Will Do It! 



— less than a ton of ce- 

 ment to take home, yet 

 enough to build any of 

 the following: 

 100 rot-proof fence poets. 

 Sanitary feeding platform for 24 



hogs- 

 120 feet ot 24 by 4 In. concrete 



walk. 

 20-barrel watering tank with plat- 

 form around it. 

 Floor formillchouse and cooling 

 tank for 20 cans of milk. 



Build These 



Improvements 



Yourself! 



These concrete improve- 

 ments need be built 

 but once; each is perma- 

 nent and expense proof. 



FREE booklet, "Permanent 



Repalre on the Farm," tells 



how to build. Send for your 



free copy today- 



PORTLAND CEMENT 

 ASSOCIATION 



A national organization to improve and 

 extend the uses of concrete 



10 HighStreet 

 BOSTON 



Concrete for Permanence 



k 



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