1(1 



HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



DAIRY FARMERS' 

 EXTENSION SCHOOLS 



PLANNED 



Twelve town direftoi> leceived a circu- 

 lar letter, calling their attention to the 

 fact that it was possible to hold extension 

 schools in their towns if they thought 

 their dairy farmers would be interested. 

 Twelve replied that they most certainly 

 believed the dairymen would turn out. 

 Hence the following schedule: 

 Southampton — Friday, -January 11. 

 Middlefield — Satuiday, .January 12. 

 Belchertowni — Monday, January 14. 

 Ware — Tuesday, -Januai-y 1.5. 

 Williamsburg — Wedne.sday, January 16. 

 Chesterfield — Monday, January 21. 

 Worthington — Tuesday, .January 22. 

 Cummington — Wednesday, January 23. 

 Goshen — Thursday, January 24. 

 Granby — Friday, January 2.5. 

 Westhampton — Saturday, January 26. 

 Amherst — (Date to be announced). 



We have been extremely foitunate in 

 securing Professors Abbott and Fawcett 

 from the Agricultural College for these 

 meetings. With these able speakers, we 

 know a fine program will be presented. 

 Professor Abbott will take up "A System 

 of Permanent Soil Improvement for 

 Dairy Farms" and "The Intelligent Use 

 of Lime for Hay Production." Profes.sor 

 Fawcett talks on "The Profitable Utili- 

 zation of Hay and Silage" and "What 

 Constitutes a Good Herd Sire." 



Barring blizzards and cyclones, we ex- 

 pect a good attendance of interested dairy 

 farmers at these meetings. The subjects 

 to be discus.sed are of vital importance 

 to farmers and the men discussing them 

 know what they are talking about. 



Similar schools are to be planned for 

 Fi-uit Growers and Poultrvmen. 



MILK RECORDS IMPORTANT 



Those who have ever seen E. Tliornton 

 Clark's herd in Granby would think that, 

 with cows like his, milk records would 

 not be needed. This is the story he told 

 at the annual meeting: 



"I have kept milk records ever since 

 1 was 21 and from my grey hairs you 

 can see that I've been at it .some time. 

 After graduating from college I went 

 to New York State and had charge of 

 a herd of 150 cows. There were two jobs 

 I attended to myself: (1)1 weighed eveiy 

 cow's milk; (2) I fed the grain. These 

 two things go together. On the feed 

 truck was a .schedule, .showing the amount 

 of grain to be fed each cow. When I 

 had time off the other men would feed, 

 using the same amount of grain, but they 

 did not seem to be able to realize the im- 

 portance of feeding each cow according 

 to production. As a result, production 



often dropped off 100 quarts per day for 

 the herd. 



"One cannot go out and select cows 

 successfully without first keeping rec- 

 ords and then studying- the foim and 

 make-up of good producing cows. This 

 fact has been demonstrated time and 

 again by having dairymen guess on the 

 production of five or six cows. The men 

 who come the nearest to being right are 

 practically ahvays those who are keeping 

 records. Records also show the unprofi- 

 table cows in the string. While some 

 men would not dispose of a poor cow even 

 after it is located, the information gives 

 one the opportunity to discard calves 

 from these pooi' producers and save only 

 heifer calves from the best cows. 



"Many do not keep records because 

 they think it takes too much time. I 

 figure that the small amount of time nec- 

 essary to weight and to set down the 

 amount of milk given as being too small 

 to count. The only time needed is to add 

 the records each month, but this can be 

 done on spare time. I feel that if I did 

 not have time to keep records, I .should 

 not have time to have a herd." 



Western Hampshire Farmers' Exchange 

 Shows Progress 



Alnion Howes, Manager of the Western 

 Hampshire Farmers' Exchange, gave the 

 following account of the activities of his 

 organization : 



"The Exchange was incorporated under 

 the State laws, November 18, 1920 but 

 no business was started till 1921. Then 

 the grain business of the Cummington 

 Creamery was taken over. In 1921 thir- 

 teen carloads of goods were purchased 

 (10 cars feed, 2 fertilizer and 1 seed 

 potatoes). Sales totalled $11,265.84. At 

 the end of the year .$16.3.75 remained 

 uncollected. 



"In 1922 twenty-three carloads of sup- 

 plies were handled (16 cars feed, 1 mo- 

 lasses, 5 fertilizer and 1 seed potatoes) . 



r'oiitinued on pagrt- 11. column 1 



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 NORTHAMPTON MASS. 



