Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-12-06
RAISE BIG HERDS
IN THE NEW NORTH
FARMERS OF WOOD, PRICE, MARA
THON AND TAYLOR COUNTIES
ALL STOCK BREEDERS.
TO BE GREAT DAIRY CENTER.
Cut-Over Lands Serve as Pastures for
Cattle-Wilderness Is Fast Dis
appearing.
GOOD PRICES PAID FOR CHEESE.

hAhS1t 1ELD, w IS, NOV. 81 SpS-
cial. lin November last year I wrote a
letter to The Evening Wisconsin from
this city in which l reported that the
shipments of cheese from this city,
which is a concentration point for that
commodity, amounted to an average of
car load n day. This statement was
accepted as true. 1t was true at the
time, and since then it has been re
peated many times in print as state
ment of fact, the last time being in
write up of 'Wisconsin's Grassland"
printed in The Wisconsin Agriculturist.
AS a matter of fact the statement is
no longer true-it falls short of the truth.
The shipments of cheese from Marsh
field now run from ten to fourteen cars
Il week, the average being about twelve,
or an increase of about 10 per cent. over
the amount shipped last November.
Dairy Herds Pay Well.
The explanation of this increase, for
which but few parallels will be found,
is to be looked for in the profits that
farmers have made from their herds of
dairy COWS. These farmers are awake
to a full realization of the profits that
may be earned by improving and increaS-
ing their herds, and they are also learn
ing how to handle their cows to the best
advantage. They are beginning to study
the COW and are learning to so feed
her that the flow of milk will not begin
to diminish as soon as the summer be-
gins to Wane.
l venture the statement that when the
records for the current year are made
up and the reports of all the creameries
and cheese factories are i'll it will
be found that the section of the state
lying along the Wisconsin Central rail
road north of Stevens Point and Grand
Rapids and extending up to and iclud-
ing q part of Price county will be found
to have made the greatest gain i'll pro-
duction of any part of the state. Up
here i'll the New Wisconsin the farmers
are just beginning to grasp the idea that
in the dairy industry lies wealth for
them.
AS result of their discovery, and with
q good crop of forage as a contributing
cause, the farmers of this particular
dairy section are beginning to creep up to
the idea that q good cow is a milk fac
tory and that the only way to make the
most of her is to feed her well. 1t can
not be said that there We're bumper"
crops of grass or grain OF any kind i'll
this section, but there was no crop fail
ure. The oat crop, to be sure, is short,
and the quality not of the best, but there
was a fair to good crop of grasses. The
corn crop is good where the right kind of
seed was planted and where the plant
ing was done at the right time. All other
grains produced an average yield, but
grain is not and never has been promi-
nent in the agricultural reports of north
central Wisconsin.
Even Corn Crop Is Heavy.
On Saturday and Sunday l rode from
SIXty-hye to seventy miles over country
roads south and east of Marshfield, and
i
of corn, the shocks standing in the field
being good enough for show purposes in
most cases. In no case where the early
flint corn was planted was there any
damage from frost. Also reports made
to me are to the effect that the hay ran
from one and one-half to two tons to the
acre this year.
One of the most noticeable features of
this country brought to ones attention
while riding along the country roads is
the alienation of we'll cleared and titled
farm and wild land, some of the latter
being practically covered with a second
growth of growing green timber. This
wild land is not, as might be supposed,
made up of wood lots saved by farmers
for their own use in future. 1t is what
| have called it, wild land, and is owned
by men who are holding it for sale But
1914 per cent. of the acreage of Wood
county is under cultivation, and yet there
are some OF the finest farms in this
county to be found in the entire state
of Wisconsin.
The efforts of some of the leading
men in this vicinity to improve the grade
of stock also are beginning to bear fruit
and the results are to be seen in many
of the herds. There are more grade
Jerseys and Guernseys among the cattle
on the hills and in the valleys of Wood
county than ever seen there before, and
entire herds of Holsteins are seen at
intervals.
Naturally, the prices paid for butter
and cheese in these boom days of dairy
ing have something to do with the
progress noted. When the manufacture
er of these necessaries finds that his
profits are increasing he is disposed to
offer to share some of these profits
with the man from whom he buys milk,
with the hope of inducing him to in
crease the supply of milk. And thus the
wheel of progress turns and the man
who is in a position to reap the rewards
of his industry-the farmers benefited.
EDGAR T. WIIEELOCK.