River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1925-03-26
AGRICULTURAL NOTES
BY II. C. seyforth.

the years 1921, 1922, 1923 and 1921
respectively. Early predictions for
the year just past were that the de-
mand would be light due to good
crops in the cash crop areas and les
sened demand perhaps from Mexico,
which country was fifth highest buy
er in 1928. Shipments were good
during the early part Of the year
with May, June and July exceeding
all previous years. AS summer adj
vanced the demand was less
several carloads each month-con-
tinuing to December, when they
were higher than for any previous
year About 68 per cent of our out Of
state shipments Of dairy cattle went
to nearby states: Illinois, 1885;
Iowa, 1O,545, and Minnesota, 5,445.
Twenty-Five per cent went to
Nebraska, South Dakota, North
Dakota, New York, Montana, Michi
gan and New Jersey. The remaining
10 per cent were divided among
other states and foreign countries.
Japan, Mexico, Canada, Denmark,
India, Spain, Porto Rico, and South
and Central America. The latter
countries purchased mostly pure bred
stock.
Buyers were in the county last
week from North Dakota looking for
pure bred animals of several breeds
We visited number Of herds and
found only few that they wished to
purchase. When outside buyers
come to look at animals offered for
sale they want the following: AMI
mails must be in good condition. The
dams must have Cow Testing associa-
tion or official records. They must
be from T. B. tested herds. Inquiries
are coming in from outside for the
different breeds, but they must meet
the above qualifications before buyers
are willing to purchase them. Let
me know if you have any such ami
mails to sell.
That the last week in March
should be set aside on the farmers
calendar as Seed Corn Week, and
that every farmer should take stock
at this time Of his supply of seed corn
for the springs planting, is the
urgent appeal sent by Prof. R. A.
Moore, of the Farm Crops Dept. of
the College of Agriculture. ere
cent tests or hundreds of samples of
seed corn from all parts Of the state"
says Prof. Moore, shave shown that
a serious emergency confronts our
seed corn growers. The last week in
March is about the last free time the
farmer has before he must turn his
attention tc preparing for seeding Ct
small grains. The supplies of good
seed corn are rapidly being bought
up by growers from other states and
if our farmers do not take stock OF
their seed corn situation now they
may wake up to their own needs after
the possibility of getting the best
seed has passed by. These facts
make it urgent not to wait until near
corn planting time"
Pierce county grows around &c.
964 acres, 23,415 acres being grown
for corn grain, and 1850 acres for
silage. 1t takes 6,160 bushels Of corn
to plant the above acreage. Our
average yield of silage is rs tons per
acre and of ear corn Al bushels.
''The cost of producing corn" says
Prof. Moore, "is practically the same,
no matter what the yield. If we get
n Of the possible yield per acre, we
add b of the possible yield per acea
add u of the possible yield per acre
if We get only 2-3 of the possible
yield we add ~ to the cost of pro-
duction. Our salvation in these
times is in reducing costs and ex-
penses and we cannot afford to add
unnecessarily to our cost of produc-
ing corn because of low yields ,lue to
poor seed"
A poor crop Of corn barely pays
back the cost of production or actu-
ally costs more to produce than it re-
turns and is grown at loss. 1t is
the good yields that pay hack the
cost Of production and profit be-
sides. Poor yields make high priced
feed and take the profit out of orr
dairy, hog and beef production.
A situation like that which con-
fronts us this spring comes only once
in five or ten years and it is urgent
that we do not let the present OPP
portunity to ward off this threatened
loss slip by without taking decisive
action. Let US know by April LIST
either that our seen corn sill grow,
or that we must get new seed inn
mediately.