THE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



FARM BURUEAU EXHIBIT 

 THREE-COUNTY FAIR 



AT 



Cows with yearly records in tue 

 Countcticut Valley Cow-Test Asso- 

 fiation were plicwn in the Farm Bu- 

 reau tent at th>:- Tliree-C'ounty Fair 

 for the purpose' of demonstrating 

 that the average farmer cannot pick 

 out the liigh producing cows by 

 looks alone and that the mqst practi- 

 cal, economical way to find out the 

 prcfi'able cows in a herd is to join 

 a cow-te»t association and have rec- 

 ords kept on the cost of production 

 as well as yearly records. Mr. Wil- 

 fred Learned, Florence; M;r. E. T. 

 Whitakcr. H. C. Heiden and Ruth 

 Sesfions Farm, Hadley, freely al- 

 lowed their cows to T)e usea tor 

 'his demonstration work. All of 

 these farms belong to the Connecti- 

 cut Valley Cow-Test Association. 



There Ave re eight cows in the 

 string and the farmers tried to pick 

 the two Iiighest and two lowest pro- 

 ducers. At one and four o'clock 

 each day of the fair, announcements 

 were made, telling ;he way the 

 cows were placed according to their 

 yearly production records. No one 

 during the fair picked tlie right 

 cows. Every cow in the string was 

 placed first and every cow was 

 placed last. There was a difference 

 of 4600 lbs. of milk between the 

 highest and lowest producers or at 

 5c a quart, a difference of ,$107 

 returns for a year. 



In the morning of the fiist day 

 of the fair, 55 men left their rec- 

 ords and the cow with the highest 

 yearly i-iilk production. 9793 lbs. 

 was picked as the poorest cow 20 

 times, next to the poorest 5 times 

 and best and second best only once 

 each. The next highest producer 

 seemed to be a favorite as she was 

 picked only once as the poorest, -1 

 times as next to the poorest, 6 times 

 for second best and 25 times for 

 best. The next to the lowest pro- 

 ducer was picked for the winner 7 

 times, as next best, 9 times and in 

 her right place only 5 times and 

 last 3 times. The lowest producer 

 was picked riglrt 6 times, as next 

 to the poorest 6, second best twice, 

 and as best 3 times. The cow that 

 stood sixth or the third poorest 

 cow in record of production seemed 

 to deceive as many as the best cow 

 for she was picked as the next to 

 the best cow 22 times, as best 5 

 times and as poorest and next to 

 the, poorest only 3 times. The cow 

 that stood fourth and had a record 

 of 7544 was picked only 3 times as 

 one of the best and placed as one 

 of the poorest 35 times. Very 

 similar results were obtained on the 



remaining days of the fair and it 

 was ample proof that records count 

 more s'rongly than looks, A "good 

 looker" with a high yearly record 



j is the kind of a cow tliat is safe to 



! buy. 



The motto is — Keep records on 

 your cows; weed out the unprofit- 

 able ones; use a pure-blood bull 

 who has high producing dams back 



1 of him and raise your own stock. 



THE FEED QUESTION 



With the exception of the ques- 

 tion of milk prices nothing has more 

 keenly concerned our farmers this 

 ; fall than the question of feed prices. 

 j Last summer, when the government 

 1 crop reports indicated a shortage in 

 some of the leading cereal crops, 

 many farmers throughout the coun- 

 ty saw the probable rise in prices 

 and prepared for it by pooling their 

 orders and l)uying in carload lots. 

 Puying when prices are low is just 

 wliat the shrewd feed dealers al- 

 ways plan to do. They fill their 

 storehouse to the limit in May, 

 June and July, when feeds are al- 

 ways comparatively low' in price. 

 The feed dealers know that there 

 is good profit between the summer 

 price and the fall and winter price. 

 This is perfectly legitimate type of 

 business sagacity, but there is no 

 good reason why the farmer with 

 '•eady cash cannot adopt the same 

 plan. 



Farmers generally have plenty 

 of storage space and many can pay 

 for food as well at one season of 

 the year as at another. Even if 

 tliey were obliged to borrow in or- 

 der to pay cash, the interest charge 

 for a period of several months would 

 be very much less than the advance 

 in price. Some local feed dealers 

 are glad to sell feed at anytime, at 

 the ear for cash, at a small margin 

 of profit over cost. This is no 

 more than fair to the man wlio is 

 prepared to pav spot cash. There is 

 ncf good reason why farmers who 

 are in position to take their feed 

 at the car in large orders for cash, 

 should have to pay as great an ad- 

 vance over strictly wholesale prices 

 as the man who wants long credit 

 or the man who wants his feed in 

 small lots when convenience suits 

 his pleasure. 



Local dealers should get the first 

 opportunity to bid on collective or- 

 ders and whenever their bids are 

 fair they should he given the pref- 

 erence. Farmers should not, and 

 generally will not, plan to crowd 

 out legitimate local business — St, 

 Lawrence County, N. Y., Farm Bu- 

 reau. 



HAVE YOU A BALANCED FARM? 



What is a well-))alanc('d farm? It 

 is a farm with a larger business 

 than the average, with crop yields 

 and stock production better than 

 many of the farms in your locality 

 and witli a proper proportion of 

 stock, and crops. These are the four 

 "horses" which pull the balanced 

 farm to success. If one "horse" is 

 weak, it gets behind, the team pulis 

 unevenly, and the load slows up or 

 sometimes stops. If your farm has 

 a weak spot, that is, if it has a 

 small business ,or if it has poor 

 crop yields, or low prodvtoing stock 

 or an improper production of stock 

 to crops, your profit is slowed up 

 and your farm does not pay as it 

 should. The well-balanced farm 

 has its four "horses," evenly 

 matched and all pulling steadily to- 

 gether to bring the farm to success. 



How can you know if your farm 

 business is well-balanced? Keep a 

 record of your business for a year 

 and then compare your record with 

 figures for the average farm in your 

 section. During the coming winter, 

 the county agent expects to obtain 

 business records from forty or fifty 

 farms in some representative towns 

 in Hampshire County. The average 

 figures from these farms will be av- 

 ailable, to be used as "yardsticks" 

 to measure the success of your farm 

 and determine whether your farm is 

 well-balanced or not. 



DAIRY RECORDS 



Cows in the Connecticut Valley 

 Cow-Test Association, making over 

 1000 lb. milk or 40 lbs. butter fat 

 for the montli of October: 



W. H. Learned, Florence, Grade, 

 Holstein 



