Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1922-12-30
How to Make More
Money in 1923 % d
By Dan shafer, County Agent

This is the one big problem be-
for the farmers OF the country today
How are we going to increase our
farm income? How are we going
to pull ourselves out of the hole?
Are we going to increase our cash
crop acreage, increase our live stock
or farm more efficiently? We have
included these problems in our
agricultural program for Iron county
this year
Our first big problem in this coun-
ty is the cleared land situation. We
haven't near enough cleared land in
Iron county to farm efficiently. If
we are to feed our live stock pro-
perry and profitably we must grow
our own feed and we haven't the
necessary land to feed our stock that
we have at the present time. Our
live stock holdings per farm are al
together too low for profitable
farming We have been purchasing
altogether too much feed in the past,
and if we are to make more money
we must grow our own feed. But
TO grow that feed we must have the
land, and we must cleal' that land to
get it.
Our second great problem is the
scrub bull We have in Iron county
something like 100 scrub bulls. The
scrub bull is the most expensive bull
in the world. Scrub bulls prevent
all live stock improvement. Using
scrub bulls on native cows as a
starting point, we have only about
"a half blood animal at the end OF the
fifth cross. Starting with pure
bred bull and native COWS we have
at the end of the fifth cross, animals
that carry thirty-one thirtY-seconds
Of the pure strain of the sire The
production is increasing at the same
time that the blood line increases. In
one case where farm herd was
graded up with a pure bred bull, the
dams averaged 1860 pounds Of milk
and III pounds Of fat, their daugh-
ters averaged 1908 pounds of milk
and 26l pounds of fat, and the
granddaughter averaged 840l
pounds of milk and 1858 pounds of
fat. In other words the milk pro-
duction Of the daughters was in
creased sd per cent and the fat So
per cent, and the granddaughters 1919
per cent for milk and l09 per cent
for fat. This increased production
was not due to better care or feed
for all the animals received the same
care. The increase was due to bet
ter breeding. Two crosses more
than doubled the production. If il
has paid others it will pay us. Thirty
Iron county farmers have seen the
light and are using pure bred bulls.
Our third great problem is to get
rid Of the boarder COW, in other
words can her Ii cost very little
more to keep good producer than
II does "a poor producer. A COW, tc
pay actual cost Of feed and care
must produce from 1000 to 5000
pounds of milk year, depending on
the breed and the fat content. The
average production of all the cows
in Iron county is about 1000 pounds
This shows very clearly that only g
portion of our COWS are paying foi
their feed. How are we going tc
make profit in dairying if our cattle
only pay for their feed. Dairy
farming is the only real substantial
line of farming but if we are to make
it profitable we must get rid of the
boarde~ GOV A farmer with good
cows can make more money with
butter At Ace pound than a farmer
with poor cows with butter at zoe a
pound Get rid of the boarders and
feed the good ones right.
This office viii have a milk test
ing outfit and Will begin to test milk