Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1919-01-29
Bull Clubs.

Several OF the communities IN LnlS
county are beginning to think over
ways of lettering the livestock. One
of the surest, most progressive ways,
which is being used In many places
in the United States is by the organ
ization of pure-bred bull clubs. In
an organization of this sort there are
anywhere from ten to thirty farmers.
The essential points are as follows:
1. One pure-bred bull is purchas-
ed for every so or 60 cows owned by
members of the club. This number
of cows may be owned by two or
three farmers and these farmers sta
ton this bull on some one farm and
make use of him for two years. This
group is called a "block."
2. At least three blocks are neces-
sary for a club and five or six are
better so that a larger number of
farmers can be served by this or
ganization and a larger number of
pure bred bulls will be in use.
3. At the end of two years all the
bulls are shifted to the next block to
prevent inbreeding in any herd and
this continues once in two years until
each bull has been stationed once in
each block.
4 If any bull is found to be a
poor animal after he has been used
year or two and his progeny are not
what they should be, he is disposed of
and another one bought by the club
to fill his place.
5. All the bulls are owned by the
club. That is, if there are II farm
ers having an average Of % cows
apiece in a club, they would need at
least five pure bred bulls. A board
of three or more directors are ap-
pointed by the members of the club
to buy the bulls and arrange the
plans of where these animals shall
be stationed for the use of club mem
bers.
6. Only pure bred bulls with good
records behind them will be purchas-
ed. This means that the average
farmer will have available bulls of
excellent breeding at low cost per
COW. For instance, these twelve men
mentioned above would own a total
of 300 cows. Five pure bred
bulls with good records behind them
ought to be purchased for about $500
apiece or less. This would be a to-
tai Of $500 d. led ar O1g L Tne1 o.
S125 apiece. These five bulls, bar
ring accident, will be good for ten
years-a cost of $3.50 per member
per year.
1t is hard to estimate the value
that a pure bred bull of high produc-
ing ancestry will add to a herd but
daughters sired by such bulls have
oftentimes produced from so to rs
pounds more butterfat than their
dams. And this tendency to increas-
ed production is in turn transmitted
to their progeny. Bull clubs are bus
mess propositions for dairy farmers
and they furnish him at low cost the
of ha%fnr +hov ho
would feel that he could afford alone.
Seed Mixtures.
Last year red clover seed was high
in price; this year is is higher yet
and hard to get In 1916, there were
about 1O2 million pounds on the mar
ket; the season of 1913 produced but
Sc million pounds. Fifteen thousand
bags of clover seed have just been
exported abroad, whereas the United
States usually imports. Hence, the
reason for the high price and search
ty.
However, no farmer can afford not
to sow clover this year on his new
stocked ground. The average yield
of timothy hay per acre will give but
80 pounds of protein whereas an acre
of clover will yield about $50 pounds
of protein or about four times as
much. 1t is short-sighted policy to
cut down on the use of clover seed
simply because of the high price.
Here are a couple of good seed mix
lures which may be used to advan-
tage in this county.
For a rotation of more than three
years:
Timothy 16 lbs. or II quarts
Red Top, 3 lbs. or 3 quarts
Red Clover, lbs. or 3 quarts
Alsike Clover lbs. or Y quarts
For fields inclined 10 be wet and
heavy, more red top and Alsil1e clover
to replace part of the red clover and
timothy should be used:
Timothy, lbs, or 5 quarts
Red Top, 4 lbs, or 4 quarts
Red Clover lbs or 2 quarts