The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1927-01-27

Vic SIOWluS dliu uoC VI illOIC dlldi-
ia hay, declares the Blue Valley
Creamery Institute. The Institute
estimates that if only those farm
ers in this state who keep dairy
cows would grow sufficient alfalfa
to feed these. cows properly this
year, that the alfalfa acreage
would be more than doubled.
Approximately 100000 acres of
Minnesota farm land were in al
falfa in 1926 producing 10000
tons of hay, states the Institute.
AS the average cow consumes APP
proximately liz tons of alfalfa
hay in year, the $4,000 dairy
cows in this state require around
100000 tons of this hay annual
ly. Since the average acre yield
of alfalfa in Minnesota for the
past five years is 2.5 tons, the acre
age of this valuable legume needed
to feed dairy cows most efficiently
and most economically during the
coming year is estimated at 948,-
600 acres, to say nothing of the
many more thousands of acres that
will be required for feeding other
farm animals. Alfalfa contains
more protein than any other hay,
and makes from two to nine times
the yield of other hay crops.
That the need for more alfalfa
hay is appreciated by an increas-
ing number of farmers in this state
in recent years is shown in the
800 per cent increase in the acre
age of that crop since 1922, as
compared to an increase of Is
per Cent for clover hay and de-
crease of 48 per cent for timothy.
The acreage of mixed clover and
timothy hay remained about the
same. The work of state and
county agricultural extension
forces and the cooperation of To-
cal banks and business men, who
recognize the advantages of grow
ing more alfalfa to increase farm
and community prosperity, are two
of the agencies responsible for the
rapid growth of alfalfa growing in
this state. One of the most sue
cessful and inexpensive ways for
making start with alfalfa on
farms where it has never been
grown before is the 10,000-Acre
Alfalfa Club plan originated by
the Blue Valley Creamery Insti-
tute, by which local bankers and
business men cooperate with farm
ers in establishing an alfalfa crop.
u. S. Butter Imports Small in 1926
While the United States was
one of the three leading countries
in imports of butter in the first
seven months of 1926, it's i'm
portance in this respect in world
trade was almost negligible,
amounting to less than one per-
cent of the total imported by the
two leading countries, the United
Kingdom and Germany, according
to the Blue Valley Creamery In
stitute.
During this period the United
Kingdom provided the market for
410,672,000 pounds of butter
made in foreign countries, while
Germany continued to maintain a
good outlet for surplus butter
made in neighboring countries to
the extent of 118,032,000 pounds.
Germany's economic improvement,
which has resulted in marked
gain in German demand for dairy
products in the last two and one
half years, has helped materially
to absorb the increased surplus
produced in other countries and
prevented the severe drop in the
world price level some observers
were looking for.
Denmark continued to be the
leading exporting country in the
world butter trade with 176,639,-
900 pounds, which was over twice
the amount exported by it's near
est competitor, New Zealand with
II, 674,000 pounds. The Neither
lands and Australia follow closely
with 57,512,O00 pounds and 49,
10000 pounds respectively. A
new conner in the 1926 export
field was the Irish Free State,
which took a prominent place with
Argentina, Sweden and Finland as
one of the leading countries of
the world to produce butter for
foreign consumption.
SUBSCRIBE FOR THE HERALD