Norwich bulletin., 1917-12-01

made by Mir Whitman, 152 demon stratfon visits were made, and S5 meetings were held at demonstrations with 416 attending such meetings The assistant county agent has travelled 7,50O miles by auto and 132 miles by rail during the twelve month period. His annual report follows:
 Pork Industry Stimulated.
 In carrying out the agricultural pro- iects of the New London County Farm Bureau due consideration. has been given to the different branches as their importance warranted, dairy inn others As a result of the decrease In pork due to the numerous phases of the war it was decided to stimulate this industry through the agency of pig clubs The poultry industry has been materially assisted through the medium of poultry farm surveys and cuIling demonstrations. This work has been under the direct supervision of the assistant county agent whose duties have been to stimulate and keep up interest through the medium of demonstrations. field tests, farm visits and bulletins, and placing the county on a more practical business basis through the assistance rendered in keeping records and farm accounts
 Dairy Improvements.
 The dairy industry of New London county is the most important branch of agriculture and the most in need os improvement With this knowledge before them the directors of the farm bureau decided to make drive for the more economical production and better marketing facilities of dairy products, through the elimination of improbable COWS: as shown by conn showing costs and production, and daily milk record of production. Re- ducing the cost of feed; through buy ing more economical concentrates: avd hoff hxy clover demonstrations: hotdressing grass lands; silage tests, including corn and soy beans: soy beans tests, alfalfa tests, etc. Herd improvement; by a campaign for the elimination of scrub bulls; assisting farmers in se- curing bulls of merit; teaching boys dairy type through stock judging con- tests
 Cow Testing.
 COW testing association is a CO., operative organization of farmers for the purpose of pyomoting the dairy interests of it's members and of the community and particularly to pro- vide means and methods for periodi- cally weighing and testing each cows milk in the several herds of the mem hers and also to determine the cost of producing milk and butter fat a
 As a result of the high cost of all items entering into the production of milk seven dairymen requested the service of dairy specialist to assist them in determining the production of - each COW as well as cost of producing. ! The assistant county agent, commence ing April 1917. spends one day a month on each of these seven farms securing statistics covering feed consumed by each COW. both grain and roughage, cost of the same, production. covering pounds of milk and butterfat, value Of labor, utensils, interest on investment, depreciation, etc, making recommen- dations regarding buying and mixing feeds and assisting the farmer in ev-s cry way to make his dairy business more profitable. An invoice was taken at the beginning of the year to deter mine the investment etc. that the work is started with Accurate ac- counts a9 mt, are being !. in kent and at the end will be shown whicf: will lead to more profitable farming. Through this as- sistances the dairvnaan is enabled to plan each years farm Business. better than the business Of the year before Reduced Cost of Feed.
 On two farms it was possible by substituting different feeds to reduce the cost iet- cents per one hundred pounds of fred On one farm it was cs4vins five and one-half cents for his milk sold in the form of butter He -fhereaIpon changed to retailing his pro- auction at ten cents and thereby gain Ing a margin of profit on lis product, another found the net returns from Wholesaling r1iIE equal to thaf Of re- tailing cream without the necessary outlay Of time incidental to the retail ing of products. In addition to this he has placed his farm on a plane of higher efficiency by being able to spend 2 larger amount of time on it
 Milk Testing.
 That the testing of milk for the per s centage of butterfat is Attracting the attention of Ngreater number of. dairy men is being demonstrated daily in the large number of samples tested. At the New London County Fair AS samples of milk and cream were test cd and at North Stonington fair, IS samples On seven farms monthly tests are made of 120 cows Milk testing demonstrations have been giv- eli on two farms and on numerous oc- casions small numbers of samples tested It has been demonstrated that mink testing is the solution of a great many of the Dairymen's problems, such as deciding which COW to dispose of and whether 1t is more profitable to sell milk testing different percent ages of butterfat in the form of whole milk or cream It has a direct bear ing upon the balancing of .rations as the COW producing milk testing per cent requires more food than one testing per cent to produce given quantity of milk
 Milk Survey.
 e Tn cooperation with the extension department sof the Connecticut Agri- <-t ~O'4css-y tAAe ld7SASL<tllL- COuIlIyl agent has conducted an fnvestfga ton on the cost of producing milk for the year ending April s0th, 1s17 Twenty seveR average herds were visited and figures tahulated so that costs could. be determined. These figures have heen published and show that it costs thc farmer 0553T to produce a quart of milk while at the same time he re- ceived only s.0447 per quart. The to- tal cost of producing milk was S161.27 per COW. receipts s132.s s1. making a less for the year of s27.46 per COW.
 Field Tests.
 Appreciating the fact that it is just as Important to reduce the cost of production as to obtain a higher mar ket price for one,s products, emphasis was placed on growing nearly all ones feeds and feeding all one grew, with this in mind assistance was rendered to the farmers in securing pea beans,