Dairy Farmer 

 For 60 Years 



E. G. Britton Started Career 

 As Grass Farmer Half a Century 

 Ahead of a Modern Trend 

 In Southern Illinois 



SIXTY years ago a young man of 27 

 decided to become a dairy farmer. 

 It wasn't something you could de- 

 cide in a liurry. None of his neigh- 

 bors were dairy farmers. The 

 roads were bad and the market was un- 

 certain. 



But the day E. G. Britton started dairy 

 farming in 1890, he was more than half 

 a century ahead of a modern trend. To- 

 siay a Pulaski-Alexander farmer switching 

 from crop farming to pasture-dairy farm- 

 ing would get strong encouragement 

 from Farm Adviser Les Broom. 



"Some of my neighbors said I couldn't 

 even raise pasture on these hills," Britton 

 chuckled as he looked across his fields. 

 "But about the turn of the century I read 

 in a magazine about alfalfa so I decided 

 to try it. Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins, Univer- 

 sity of Illinois agronomist, heard that I 

 was growing alfalfa and came to the farm 

 in 1903. He said it was as good as any 

 he ever saw. In those days," Britton 

 said, "I averaged about three tons of hay 

 to the acre and cut it three times a year." 

 Britton had to deliver his milk himself 

 to nearby Mounds. Making the rounds 

 with a milk cart he rang a bell for cus- 

 tomers, measured out the milk and 

 poured it in the customer's containers. It 

 sold for a nickel a quart or six quarts 

 for a quarter. 



By 1927 when the herd was at its peak 

 of 60 cows milking, Britton was produc- 

 ing 180 gallons a day. Today the milk 

 from 32 producing cows goes to the 

 Prairie Farms Creamery at Carbondale, 

 an lAA affiliate. 



Britton has always been a strong be- 

 liever in farm organization. He belonged 

 to the Illinois Grange and is a charter 

 member of the Pulaski-Alexander Farm 

 Bureau. He also holds one of the origi- 

 nal policies issued by Country Life Insur- 

 ance Company, another lAA affiliate. 



About 40 years ago Britton started 

 liming his fields for better alfalfa pro- 

 duction. Then he built a pair of silos. 

 A silo in 1909 was an oddity in this 

 neighborhood, he said. He grinned as 

 he recalled how the neighbors came to see 



t. 6. Brttton (right) 

 shows Pulaski-Alex- 

 ander farm Adviser 

 Les Broom the Master 

 farmer award he re- 

 ceived from Prairie 

 farmer magazine In 

 1930. 



Mr. and Mrs. t. 6. Britton are shown at 



their farm home near Mounds In Pulaski 



county after more than three score years of 



marriage. 



what he was doing. "Some of them told 

 me not to waste my corn by putting it in 

 silage. 'If you have to be foolish about 

 it,' " he quoted them as saying, " "go 

 ahead and put your corn m one of those 

 things, but don't put it in two of them.' " 

 He already had built a dairy barn on 

 the place which is still in good condition. 

 It is 36 feet wide and 1 54 feet long with 

 a "T" extension 36 feet wide and 42 feet 

 long. And he got all that for $5,000! 

 Britton received the Master Farmer 

 award in 1930 from Prairie Farmer. The 

 award was given to Britton as a good 

 farmer, a good neighbor, and a good citi- 

 zen. When Burridge Butler, late pub- 

 lisher of Prairie Farmer, made the award 

 he jokingly told Britton: "I didn't think 

 these hills could produce a really good 

 farmer. But the book says you're the 

 best so I'll have to admit it." 



Like most farm women, 83-year-old 

 Mrs. Britton has had a great deal to do 

 with her husband's success as a farmer. 

 Whenever he couldn't quite recall when 

 he did something around half a century 

 ago, Mrs. Britton supplied the answer. 

 She seemed to know as much about the 

 actual farming operations as Britton did 

 himself. 



Mr. Britton has gradually retired from 



By JIM THOMSON 



Ass't Editor, lAA RECOKD 



operation of the farm which has grown 

 from the 80 acres he started with to 373 

 acres now. During the war he worked 

 hard because of the lack of help but in 

 October 1943 a cow knocked him down 

 and broke his leg. Since then he hasn't 

 been able to do very much. A grandson. 

 Miles Hartman, 32, manages the farm. 

 During his long career as a farmer 

 Britton has watched the changes in agri- 

 culture with a great deal of interest. He 

 feels that agriculture has come a long way 

 and that with machinery and science it has 

 a great future full of opportunity for 

 young men who are ready to try to im- 

 prove what already has been done. He 

 cautions, however, that the farmer cannot 

 expect to accomplish much alone but 

 must join with others to make his voice 

 heard where it counts most. We older 

 fellows helped build that organization," 

 he said, "all you young men have to do 

 now is support it. Keep it strong for the 

 young farmers yet to come." 



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I. A. A. RECORD 



