American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-05-06
MILK PAIL

The Stevensville Creamery was a
topic of discussion at a banquet in
Hamilton Sunday afternoon when a
party Of Northern Pacific men were
presen. ]. L. Bricker, general agent
of the company, while speaking, re-
ferred several times to the local
creamery, and his words, which were
reproduced in the Western News, are
as follows:
do o know that the product of
seven acres of green corn-it need
not mature-will fill an average silo
and provide two feeds per day for a
period of eight months for 40 head
of cattle or 500 sheep? In his valley,
with your magnificent climate. you
need feed only about four months in
the year, the remainder of the season
utilize your pastures and the hun
dreds of thousands of acres of graz
ing land lying in the forest reserves
around you. Why don't you raise cat
tie for beef as well as the dairy here?
splendid creamery at S~tevensville,
with its 400 patrons and 100000 pay
roll has demonstrated what can be
done. You ought to have a dozen
such creameries strung all along the
valley and you ought to send many
thousands of beef cattle to market"
Such vas the advice given by Mr..
Bricker, the immigration agent of
the Northern Pacific, to some of our
Hamilton friends on the occasion of
his recent visit there, as reported in
the Stevensville Tribune.
II enough corn fodder can be grown
on seven acres of irrigated and to pro-
of eight months. for 40 head of cat
tie or 500 sheep, the possibilities of
successful dairy farming in these
western Montana valleys can hardly
be estimated.
1t is said that several farmers
around st. Ignatius, in the Flathead
valley, have recently been expert
menting with corn as a forage crop.
They report from seven to eight
tons of first class dairy feed per acre.
Mr.. George Beckwith, the st. Igna-
titus merchant, has recently tried an
experiment in practical missionary
work that should entitle him to a
Carnegie medal.
Foreseing the tremendous possibil-
tiles of the dairy business in the fer
tile Flathead valley and with a view
to encourage and give aid to the set
tiers there in helping establish a
real payroll for that section, Mr.. Beck
with recently visited the rich dairy
ing sections of Wisconsin and there
purchased Is ~high-grade Holstein
cattle. These he distributed among
the farmers in the vicinity of st. Ig-
%natius, at actual cost to himself.
By this act he has helped lay the
foundation for the future development
Of the dairy industry in the lower
Flathead valley.
That is what we call constructive
craftsmanship. In Hamilton local
bankers have taken similar action
and we understand that the Merchants
National bank of Billings has also
recently purchased in the east two
carloads of Holsteins and distributed
them, at cost, among the farmers in
that vicinity.
That investment of the Billings
bank will in the future years yield
more cash returns than any s per
cent loans made by it in recent years.
If we had five thousand high-grade
and full-blood Holsteins for imme-
date distribution among the farmers
in western Montana it would mean
a half million dollars revenue to the
men who MIXED them.
1t would mean a S25 instead of a $40
a ton hay market.
Mr.. Beckwith reports that in one