Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-04-16
Hard, in Most Cases, to Distin-
guish Between Beef and
Dairy Cattle
WILSON'S RURAL ROUTE LETTER
Charles Howell, Living Near Rockford
Is Cited as the Owner of a Dairy
Farm That Is Well Worthy Of the
Name-statc Agricultural College to
Take Charge of Triss Orchard.
Special to Timcs-Republican.


Rockford, April 16.-To the average
Iowa resident. especially those whose
term clarifying" means nothing more
than milking ordinary cows and mar
keting the milk. cream or butter not
needed for home consumption. AL
most every farmer is included in the
class, because of the fact that his in
come, in part, is derived from the sale
OF these products. In most places lit
tie or no effort Is made to develop the
milk producing capacity of the COW be-
cause that is done at the expense of
her beef producing qualities, and con-
sequently there is often no apparent
the man who sells milk or butter and
the one who does not. One man in CEN
trail Iowa, who millss about forty cows
and has contract for supplying Il
state institution with milk, keeps ami
mails that average up we'll with those
of farmers who are doing their best to
produce beef animals, and heads his
herd with a full blood Shorthorn, that
he may sell his young calves at good
price to men who will later on feed
and market them in the stockyards of
Chicago or Kansas City. 1t is doubtful
indeed, if any one could tell by look
the farms he passes, whether the
Ia l,,
garded them as beef, or as dairy cat
tie.
A few miles from here, on one of
the rural routes, Is dairy farm that is
worthy of the name. 1t Is owned and
managed by Mr.. Charles Howell, and
an hour spent at the place reveals to
the observer something of the posi-
bilities of dairying. where it is car
ried on without any "sidelines," by a
man who understands his business Mr..
Howell has at present about seventy
registered Jersey cows, forty of which
he keeps in the basement of a fine
barn, which he has recently built, and
which is so constructed that every an
imal kept there enjoys about the same
degree of comfort that 1t would II Civ
en- separate box stall. The cows
stand in two rows facing each other,
the bottom Of the space between being
a cemented feed floor. Each is secured
by light swinging stanchion, and altho
they have passed the greater portion
of each day since last fall In the build
ing, they are each as clean as we'll
curried horse Jersey cows are popu-
larly supposed to be timid, nervous
creatures, and easily excited by the
presence of strangers, but as we pass
ed among them many were lying down
and where they blocked our path we
stepped over them as they complacent-
ly chewed their cud.
There were no whips or clubs visi-
BILE, which may explain their uncon-
Germ. Last year silo eighteen feet in
diameter, forty feet high and having a
capacity of 200 tons, was built on the
place, and thirty acres of corn was put
into it, which, in addition to the grain
ration, furnished substitute for Win
ter pasture for the cows. About TWEEN
ty-five calves Of various sizes were also
in the barn, and one peaked little fell
low CnaC the oTulIidIy Cdll ouyei "ouiu
pass by with contempt, was pointed
out as the future head of the herd. He
came from another state and cost the
present owner $500 at the age Of
months. 1t looked like a pretty stiff
price for that sort of a calf, but the
record of his ancestry showed some-
thing more than hundred names, and
mention was made there Of the famous
st. Lambert family and of tests Of from
IA to 20 pounds per week.
Mr.. Howell ships his milk to Ma
son city where 1t is delivered daily to