The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-04-22
Make County Famous

| Was it the county agent. the state and dairy division field men. or the farmers themselves? All of these people had
 hand in putting Rowan county on the
 cattle breeders map. Here is how it hap pened.
 In January, 1918 two field men repre-
 senting the state of North Carolina and
 the dairy division of the United States department of agriculture, held a series
 of meetings in North Carolina. going out
 from the towns to the country school houses and talking about bull associa- tions The county agent of Rowan county
 became interested, and an association was
 organized at Salisbury, With progress slve. and practical farmer as presiuent, for the purpose of purchasing and own-
 ing high quality, purebred Guernsey bulls
 in common.
 That bull association has made Rowan
 county famous, and the fame is based on actual beneficial results. At the begin ming there were only l5 purebred Guerra seys in the whole county, now thsre are 2O9. over $75000 worth of purebreds were brought into the county in twenty months. The membership of the association has gradually enlarged until now there are members in every township of the county. Their number now is 2l9, and they own 670 cows. These men are not experienced breeders, but the breeding operations are guided by man who is perhaps the most experienced breeder in the community.
 The assessment per COW was at first $S.
 It was thought advisable to raise this to s7.50, but before doing so the fact was made public that up to certain date new
 members would be accepted at the old
 rate, and at that time forty-five persons joined the association.
 Before the association was started
 Rowan county had no wide reputation; it had no special reputation at all, but lvery soon after the organization was formed it began to get inquiries Tor stock. These came from many parts of the country, and it kept the county agent busy to take care of the correspondence As this took place before any attempt had been made to advertise it was ap- parent that the association in itself had
 a strong advertising value. phe breeders when working singly undoubtedly had
 good surplus stock for sale, but they
 found difficulty in selling, because they
 had only the local market, but the bull
 association opened up the whole country
 as market.
 l The reputation made for the county
 reached distant states. Five graduates
 of the college of agriculture in Arkansas
 are making inquiries with view to go- i ing to Rowan county to live, because | they want to live and farm in this pro- gressive locality. number of soldiers
 returning from the war are looking 70 | Rowan county as a good place to engage 1 in dairy farming.
 Tuberculosis, that bane of cattle rais- 1 ing is being attacked in earnest. These
 farmers with their fine stock and fine
 reputation, are not going to run the risk | of losing both from this disease. Testing | is going on according to the accredited l herd plan, and the test for tuberculosis l has been administered by the federal au- thorities to 1,600 animals. That the dis ease has not gained a foothold in that I region is shown by the fact that only a
 fraction of l per cent reacted.
 l Last fall the association members ex-
 hibited 1O6 head of purebred Guernseys at the Salisbury fair. There were sixteen hefers in one class Breeders from va rious sections of the country who had
 herds of the same line of breeding as | the herds in the association were invited to the fair.
 l Among other visitors to the county was l g. prominent breeder from New forK state, who was looking for herd bull. He was interested in one of the assocla- l tion bulls, who was the son of a S20,o00 bull. and who had himself sired number 1 of good heifers. None of these heifers | had as yet, made a record. but their con- l formation indicated that they were or excellent quality. The visitor saw the l $15OOO for him. The association members thought this was pretty good offer, and
 were inclined to accept it, but the county agent remonstrated. North Carolina, he said needs for it's own use the very best breeding stock it can get, and we, | ought not to part with this excellent l animal" The price, however, was so at tractive that 1t was hard to hold them back. | The New York breeder wanted the bull. and finally succeeded in securing the use of the animal for two years for a pay | ment of s1 1000. In addition to this he gave the association the use of his own herd bull for two years, presented the association with two young bulls aged [ and IS months respectively, and insured ithe association bull for 30 days, to cover the period of transportation. He will m sure ir again for the return trip at the end of two years. He also paid the ex- lpenses of a man to go with the bull ana the cost of transportation of all four bulls. The association still has other good bulls. including one for which they re- fused $2,00O
 This exchange is an extension or the nrjnciple of saving tested bulls and using them on their herds If this principle Icould be fully applied by individual farm CTS working separately, it would serve the purpose, but it is too difficult TOT inc individual to find other individuals with whom to exchange
 | Then. again, buyers apparently haVs more confidence in breeders seiiins tbrough an association. The association lis known; it has it's reputation to protect and the stranger feels safe in huyins stock through an organization.
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