The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1916-04-08
FULL BENEFITS OF TICK ERADICATION

Jersey Cattle on lick
CFrom the United States Department or
Agricultural
In the ever-growing area from WHICH
the cattle tick has been eliminated
demonstration agents are now showing
the people how they can realize the
full benefits of their success in the
campaign of eradication. Purebred
stock is being brought In to improve
the quality of the native cattle, farm
ers who have never paid any attention
to live stock are being instructed in
the fundamental principles Of econom-
zeal and efficient feeding, and cream
routes and creameries are being estab-
lished in sections where they were I'M
heard of in the days of the ticks.
An interesting instance of what
creamery can do for a community Is
afforded by the history Of the one es-
| tablished in cooperation with Clemson
college in South Carolina. In Septem-
Der, 1914, the creamery had five pa
irons whose cows furnished sos pounds
| of butterfat that month. In October
| a cream route was established and the
number of patrons increased to II.
More routes were started from time to
time, each new one bringing in more
| patrons, until in August, 1915, after q
years work, 227 farmers were send
ing in the cream from S33 cows. The
total amount of butterfat delivered to
the creamery that month was 14,S15
pounds. For it the farmers received
S3,S51.SS, an average of approximately
SIT each.
The significant feature Of this cream
ery's success, however, is not the
amount of money that it brought in,
but the fact that 1t opened up an alb
solutely new source of income to the
community. Before its establishment
dairying was unthought of. II there
was a surplus of milk on farm 1t was
usually disposed of as butter at the
nearest store in return for a little
sugar or tea. The ordinary run OF
farm butter, however. was so little
trade it brought only about half Of
what the creamery could afford to pay
for the butterfat. In consequence no
one regarded milk as a reliable source
of income. That it could be actually
made to bring in cash each month was
a revelation. So new to the people
was the idea, indeed, that the checks
from the creamery were frequently
stored away instead of being cashed,
and the managers had to go over the
routes and explain the necessity for
turning them in.
When the creamery opened. the
proper equipment for dairying was
practically unknown. The people had
to be instructed in the use of the sep.
arator and in practically every detail
connected with the handling of cream
Furthermore, the available cows were
all native scrubs which received little
attention and gave in return little
milk. All this has been changed very
materially already and is being
changed still more. OF the A dairy
houses built in South Carolina during
the fiscal year ending June 80, 1915
40 were built by patrons of the cream
cry. On one of the cream routes the
farmers united in the cooperative pur
chase of good bull and on five others
live stock associations have beer
| formed for general Improvement. The
number of cows is also being in
creased, one man distributing a car
, load among his neighbors. Another
farmer is described in letter as trad
ing bales of cotton for cows"
, The importation Of good bulls, botf
for beef and dairy herds. is Of spe
cial significance, since this was prac
tically out of the question in tn,
tick days. because Of the danger o
. death from Texas fever. In conse
, quence, the grading up of the herds
, was impossible, and there was too
; little money in the feeding of tick.
, scrubs to make it an attractive under
: taking. This was also true of dairy
ing with the same kind Of stock, TO
. the milk production, poor at best. wa
infestation by as much as 40 per cent
On the other hand, the possibilities o
profit in grading up herds are yer.
great. The history Of large planta
ton in Tennessee is an instance o
this.
!, The place was an old cotton planta
ton which was so run down that mucl
Of 1t had been abandoned altogethe
, and was overrun with sedge grass an
briers when the owner determined t
> make 1t into a stock farm At tia
/, time Tennessee was not yet free froI
ticks. so that he had to do his ow
dipping. In the course of a year h
succeeded in getting rid of the scourgt
!. and purebred Shorthorn bulls wer
Q then brought in. These were use
q with the native cows, which ranged 1
8 value from $12 to $40 a head an
weighed from 500 to 700 pounds. Tn
calves which resulted weighed an a,
erage of 800 pounds when they reache
the Chicago market, and sold for eigt
cents a pound. or s64 a head. The
were then from Is to IS months oil
This farm is now shipping much of II
t breeding stock into the tick-free coul
= ties of Mississippi and Alabama.
+ 1t is, of course, not every stockma
: who can afford the exclusive use of