Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1906-04-19
MODEL FARMING.
An Example I'm FAennayivanaa--A Ft3-
teen Acre Dairy Farm.

An Example In Fennaylvanfa--A F'aG-
teen Acre Dairy Farm.
By w. ]. SPIELMAN. department OF ag-
rteulture.
The method OF management on q If
teen acre farm that raises all the
roughage for thirty head OF stock, sew
enteen OF which are cows In milk.
cannot fall to be Of interest to farm.
era In all parts OF the country. The
farm In question Is situated in south
eastern Pennsylvania, near large
city. About thirteen acres are In cul-
ttvation, the remaining two acres be-
ing occupied By farm buildings, yard,
etc. This farm came into the posses
sion OF the present owner (Rev. j. d.
Derrick, a minister with no previous
experience In farming, In 1891, with a
mortgage OF $1,000 upon 1t. For the
first year the farm lacked $40 OF pay
Ing expenses. During the next six
years the mortgage was paid.
Systematic Management.
The writer has never seen another
farm on which system is so pronounced
a feature. Without referring to notes
of any kind, the owner detailed the
crops growing on each small subdiyi-
sion, the crops that had been grown on
each for two to three years past and
those that would be grown for as long
In the future. In most cases the dates
of seeding and harvesting were given.
A peculiar feature of the management
is that each of the principal operations
is performed on fixed day each sue
ceeding year or as near to 1t as the
weather will permit. Not a pound Of
solid or liquid manure goes to waste
on this farm, and the soil is in such
condition that it IL more nearly indie
pendent of weather conditions than any
| other soil the writer has ever seen.
very short time, 80 that the soil may
be handled after q. rain much sooner
than that OF adjacent farms. 1t IL
therefore not difficult to adhere ap-
proximately to a prearranged pro
Rramme. For instance, early corn for
soiling la planted May 8; late corn for
silage, June q; grass seed, about Aug
az, and so on.
Products Sold.
The farm Is strictly a dairy farm
the only products regularly sold being
milk and a few head of young cattle
each year. The cows are all register
ed Jerseys, except one or two picked
up at sales on neighboring farms. They
are not only pure bred, but they are
well bred. There Is not star boardel
In the herd. Male calves, IL worthy oil
1t, are reared for breeding purposes
but none IL ever vealed. IL q male
calf is not fit to raise for a breeder Il
is killed at birth. "It doesn't pay t.
feed $1S worth Of milk to a calf thai
will sell for S." said the owner. The
young cattle sold from this farm bring
on an average 500 apiece. and abou
five are sold each year.
The milk is sold at % cents gallon
the year around to state institution
located two miles distant In neighbor
5.8 per cent. 1t will be seen that thii
IL q very moderate price, considering
the quality.
The amount of milk produced Il
nearly the same at all seasons ant
averages about twenty-six gallons
day, or 4,8O0 pounds year for eacl
Of the seventeen cows kept-not al
enormous yield, but a good one. Thi
gives an income from milk Of abou
$2,40O year. The outlay for concen
trated FEEDING stuff is about 1925
year,