Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, December 9, 1915, Page 14

i SN 10 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 19185. $60 Cow Shows Farmer Profit In His Business (A. J. McGuire.) Dairy Farm Management Specialist, University of Minnesota. -A miner of the north country saved up a little money and bought a piece of land and went farming. The first year he did not make as much money “as he had expected. The second year he tried to find out why he didn’t and in going over the figures, he kept the second year, he found that he had sold only $20 worth of butterfat per cow for the year. He read some- where that a dairyman should sell $60 worth of butterfat a year per cow. Last year, 1914, he made the $60 mark. He has been farming just six years. The cows from which he sold $60 worth of butterfat per head last year were common cows, but the farmer had a silo, a pure bred dairy sire and two pure bred dairy heifers. He is not going to stop at $60 per cow. From Experience. During my ten years among the farmers of the timbered section of northern Minnesota, I met a great many men on their own places and learned from their own lips the story of their farming experience. I have met many men who could lay claim to the fair word ‘“success,” and I have met many others who broken in spirit and possessions, were ready to leave the country. I have tried to learn why some farmers succeed and others fail. It is true that there are various factors that have their bearing and influences but the fact is that 99 out of every 100 success- ful farmers I have known in the tim- bered section, were dairy farmers. Farmers Dairying. I know that the majority of farm- ers who will read this article are dairying, but I do not know how many are getting only $20 per cow a year or how many are up at the $60 mark or above. The keeping of $20 cows may keep the mortgage off the farm and the wolf from the door, but the $60 cow makes the farm profitable. ‘With the $60 cow the old barn may be replaced with a modern one, con- venient and profitable. The silo soon appears and various forms of equipment that lightens the farm labor and increases the profit. The home is improved and the farm life has a broader outlook. The $60 cow should be sought, not for the making of more money alone, but for the things that money will buy,—con- veniences, comforts, education and the right to stand up and know that your work has counted for more than a mere existence. ‘We believe that the miner referred AT THIS Bank YOU GET Safety, Courtesy, Accommodation, Advice, Interest on your time de- posits, and money when you need it. to in the beginning of this article, did the most important thing. he could do, in sitting down and figuring out why he did not make more money. He found out what his cows were do- ing and he found out what they ought to do in order to be profitable in the true sense of the term. He set a standard and went after it. Success was sweet to him and he is now aim- ing for a pure bred dairy herd and cows that will make him $100 a year. But let us move for the $60 cow. We climb to higher things only thru using the things we have at hand and the average common cow on the average farm, properly fed and cared for, is a $60 cow. The average com- mon cow is capable of producing 200 pounds of butterfat a year. The average price paid by the ‘co-opera- tive creameries of the state for the past few years has been 30 cents a pound. Must Have Clover. ‘While there are certain splendid advantagés in the way of better build- ings, etc., that follow profitable cows, there are also certain conditions that must go ahead of her. The farm must grow clover for hay and pasture, a silo has not been built. Some grain corn for fodder or silage, or roots if must be fed. The barn must be made warm in winter and darkened to pro- tect the cows from flies in summer. The cows must have pasture both day and night in summer, and'fi;uSt be fed all they will eat twice a day/ in winter and watered under such conditions that they will drink amply at least once a day in the winter. ‘Wild hay and corn stocks from which the ears have béen-Husked, and the straw pile will not make a $60 cow. Neglect of the'cow and a dislike for the dairy work will never | result in profitable dairying either. The man who knows it-all, but ‘who has never read a book on dairying in his life or even a dairy paper, and who uses the cheapest scrub sires he can get, will never have $60 cows: Must Study Farm. A man need not be a graduate of an agricultural school to have pro- fitable cows. He need not have ex- pensive buildings or pure bred stock. But he must study his own farm and his own stock and to know what is best, he must keep the door of his mind .open to worldwide information. He must be regular and careful and intelligent and consider dairying a business second to none. And he must be a worker. Stumps do not come out of the ground very fast on their own account. We say “clov- er grows like a weed in the timbered section,” but the man who waits around for it to grow without seeding it, will wait a long time for the $60 cow. A man may be very enthusias- tic over dairying and be well inform- ed along dairy lines, but if he has to buy all the grain feed the cows get and much of the roughage instead of -going after his clearing in good shape and growing his feed, his cows: will be hungry,and though he had the best bréd dairy cows in'the ¢oun- ty, His sales will be far below $60 a ‘year per cow. The cow follows in- telligent labor. Corn Helps Land. The farmer with the $60 cow pros- pers not only from the sales made, but the.cow helps clear the land. ‘Where shp pastures, the brush will cease growing, the stumps will de- cay faster and clover, when scattered at the rate of a few pounds per acre, will soon make a pasture from which the cow ¢an make from 7 to 12 dollars worth of butterfat per acre a year. Bytterfat contains practically no fer- tility that impoverishestheland. Over 85°per-cent of the elements of fertility contained in the.feed the cows con- sume may be returned to the soil again if the manure is hauled to the field before it is wasted. - The clover grown to feed y:he cow enriches the soil.” The co-operative creamery that manufacturers her product into but- ter teaches the farmers to work to- gether, to have confidence and great- er respect for one another in a busi- ness way, or if they fail in this, it certainly should teach them how lack- ing they are.in business ability and emphasize the need of more.educa- tion. Towns Spring Up. ‘Where the $60 cows. exists in great numbers,-splendid country -towns spring up and the business men and professional men seed friends among the farmers Not entirely for the money_ there may be in having the good will of the farmers, but also becausp‘ a ‘man who has the ability to make a cow produce $60 worth of butterfat a ‘year is-a .man worth knowing. It is -a pleasure to visit his home and his farm. He is not thought -of ~as-a hayseed, but as a F. P. SHELDON, Pres. gentlemen and a scholar. His chil- dren-finish the country school course and go on to the high school and agri- cultural ‘college. The $60 cow shows a farmer that there is ‘profit in his "business and when a man realizes this he is on the high road to success. It is the man ‘who believes in himself and his work who succeeds. B Million Dollars PaidOut Yearly At Kelliher The “Kelliher District,” which in- cludes. the North ‘a!fd :éingt"h Battle,| River, North Cormorant, Shotley-and Tamarack settlements, is one of the most progréssive and important sec- tions ‘of Beltrami county, a-“hard-- wood country,” and well drained. The spil is g rich clay anl silt loam;, on a clay sub—soil,‘and very ‘firoduc- tive, tame’ hay and -clover .yielding from two to four tons per acre, wheat averaging thirty bushels, oats sixty bushels, ‘potatoes: 250 bushels,’ pér’ acre. Good Road System. Kelliher and vicinity has a system of turnpike roads unexcelled in Bel- trami county, extending north, east and wefif,‘ into ‘the different 'settle- ments tributary to the village. The farmers are of progressive type, and their farms are well developed, dairy- ing and diversified farming being gen- erally pursued. ‘The village of Kelliher, situated 43.miles northwest of Bemidji, at:the terminus of ‘the Brainerd-Kelliher | line of the Minnesota and Interna- tional railway, is a thriving town of 500 population, and is headquarters for vast logging operations in cédar and other timber, which will give plenty of work, at good wages, for the new settler and laboringman for many years to come, while establish- ing a farm home or residence in town; and these logging operations furnish an excellent local market for a great deal of produce raised by the settlers. Have Large Payroll. A conservative estimate of the amount paid out at Kelliher for raw material and labor places the sum at upwards of $1,000,000 per year. Few vilages in Minnesota are in a more prosperous condition, as a muni- cipality, than Kelliher. Through a conservative, business-like adminis- tration of the affairs of the village, Kelliher owns its own electric light- ir’.lg plant and waterworks system, has a fine city hall and a splendid school Building and church edifices. With tall virgin timber extending into the village limits; a fine farm- ing community adjacent; within a few n}i_les of the Red Lakes, the Big dnd Little Tamarack, the Shotley, the North and South Battle, the North and South Cormorant and the Perry rivers, and with fine turnpike roads extending into the country for many iiles, Kelliher ard vicinity is one of the most progressive and prosper- ous districts in Beltrami county. Good state and private lands $5 to $35 per acre. BELTRAMI COUNTY GOODS. Good place to make a home. Good farm lands. Good water drainage. Good opening for business. Good schools and libraries. Good roads. Good religious environments. ~Good'educational advantages. : Good chance for opportunity. Goodregion for rewarding labor. " Good class of progressive citizens. _“Good health and happiness resi- ‘dence. Bemidji, Minnesota DIRECTORS A. G. WEDGE, Jr., Vice-Pres, R H. SCHUMAKER, Cashier G. H. STRICKLAND, Asst. Cashier Beltrami County Has Many $60.00 Cows Blackduck Is In Heart Of Rich Farm Section Blackduck, situated in the sou@h- central part of Beltrami county, is located in the heart of one of the richest agricultural sections of the state. Organized in 1900, Blackduck has developed into a thriving vilage of over 1,000 population. With one of the finest school build- ing in the north half of the state, the village has a splendid school sys- tem, maintaining a complete four- year high school course, and having an enrollment of 240 pupils. One of the organizations which has contributed very largely to the pros- perity and social advancement of the village is the Blackduck Commercial club, with 40 active members. No county can be well developed without good roads; and herein lies one of the distinct advantages of this section. Blackduck has not only good main roads in all directions, but is located on the Elwell state road from International Falls to Minne- apolis. This road gives Blackduck one of the best systems of roads in northern Minnesota. Blackduck- has excellent railway service, and there are numerous spur tracks along the line for the conven- ience of marketing produce. An ideal hunting and fishing re- sort is Blackduck. With Blackduck lake a short ‘walk from the main street, many other lakes and streams adjacent to the village, all well stocked with game fish, and with the ‘| wooded sections east and north of the village abounding with deer and moose, the fisherman or hunter who is looking for rare sport, will find an abundance at Blackduck. State and private farm lands, from $5 to $30 per acre, according to dist- ance out, and location. SMALLEST HOMESTEAD IN UNITED STATES IS LOCATED IN COUNTY Miss Serena Blue, 27, has one of the smallest homesteads in the United States. She has a homestead at Turtle Lake, in this county, which consists of a triangular point of land jutting into the lake, 189 feet long and 38 feet wide. The entire area of the homestead is eight-hundredths of an acre, and according to land office authorities, it is probably the smallest entry ever proved up. Miss Blue paid ten cents last spring for the deed. T comply with the homestead law Miss Blue built a log house 14x6 feet. She cultivated and grew tomatoes, carrots and clover on nearly half the area of the lot last year. The First National Bank BELTRAMI COUNTY’S OLDEST AND BIGGEST_ BANK Capital and Surplus $60,000 A. A. WARFIELD