Farm Notes from Across the State, August 1956

“Around the State” by Frank Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, as published in Extension Farm-News, August, 1956

TRANSYLVANIA

Carl Allison of Cherryfield community has his own unique way of determining when his hogs are tops for the market. Transylvania County Assistant Agent Robert L. Love explains that Allison has a board fence around his corn self-feeder with a whole large enough for the hogs to enter. When they get too big to get through the hole, they are at the right weight to bring top price, and off to market they go.

Preventing breakouts is the speciality of Lewis Gravely, Transylvania County jailer, according to Assistant Farm Agent G.H. Farley, but he ran into some pretty slick “prisoners” the other day on his Duan’s Rock farm. Gravely’s hogs kept escaping, despite a good woven wire fence around the place. Every lead turned into a dead end until finally Gravely discovered his hogs were going underground—through a tunnel six or eight feet long and about two feet beneath the surface. Water had opened the tunnel ad the hogs had enlarged it. They are now back in confinement.

COLUMBUS

Bermuda grass is spreading on the Honey Hill farm in Columbus County. But A.K. Pitzer, farm manager, isn’t worried. In fact, he’s helping it along. Assistant County Agent Victor H. Lytton says that Pitzer planted an acre of certified Coastal Bermuda on the farm last spring. During April, enough stollens were harvested to plant another three acres. Pitzer likes the stuff so well that he plans to plant at least 30 acres of pasture in this highly-productive grass.

L.W. Carter of Chadbourn, Route 2, has taken about all of the work out of feeding his dairy herd. Lytton says that this fall Carter built a trench-type silo from rough lumber and poles and the cows have free access to the silage. He uses two feed racks which are moved forward as the cows eat the silage. Carter doesn’t have to touch the feed.

ROBESON

Some folks must be born with a business head. Take Frank Morrison, 4-H’er of Maxton, Route 2, for instance. Robeson County Assistant Agent J.L. Rea Jr. says that the youngster secured the use of some land from his grandparents and promptly began planting 3,000 loblolly pine seedlings. Frank says he’s not only expecting to win prize money on his forestry, he’s thinking ahead to 20 years hence when those tiny seedlings will be timber.

CALDWELL

“If I had to keep cattle without silage, I’d just quit.” That’s the way J. Ed Auton of Lenoir, Route 2, expresses his feelings about silage. Caldwell County Agent Max A Culp says that Auton dug two small trench silos in 1952. After three year’s experience feeding the silage to his small herd of six to eight cows and heifers, he finds an acre of corn made into silage means a lot of feed for his cattle.

MADISON

Mrs. Zack Eller of Mars Hill figures that her chickens are just like anybody else—they get tired of the same old chow, too. Madison County Assistant Agent L.V. McMahan says that Mrs. Eller feeds her hens wet mash at around 10 a.m., and corn and oats later in the afternoon. And each time she visits her flock, she gathers the eggs to cut down on breakage. The hens are repaying her with around 80 per cent production.

CLEVELAND

John Hendricks of Shelby, Route 6, has an impatient Tamworth sow. But she makes up for it with her ingenuity. Cleveland County Assistant Agent John R. Faison says that Hendricks’ sow farrowed eight days early and before he had his farrowing house ready. So the sow just went ahead and prepared a comfortable bed of grass and clover, piling it a foot high. She farrowed 10 fine pigs.

WAYNE

Scott Elmore of the Saulston community, Wayne County, doesn’t like the idea of making the same mistakes over and over again. He thinks one way to cut down on this is to put the mistakes on paper. Assistant County Agent William S. Lamm says that Elmore feels that if a farmer records his mistakes, there’s a good chance he won’t make that error the next year. For example, Elmore planted his corn before the ground warmed up this year and doesn’t have a good stand. Next year, if he starts to plant too early, he has that record staring him in the face.

Thomas Smith learned the hard way that a person needs to know something of the produce he’s buying. Lamm says that young Smith bought the steer at a sale and planned to fatten it along with a steer he had raised at home. According to Thomas, the calf ate seven buckets of feed the first day. Then the calf stopped eating and has gained only 90 pounds while his home-grown calf has gained 200 pounds.

SURRY

James M. McCraw of Mount Airy, Route 5, has found that it doesn’t pay to seed crops and then just forget them. Surry County Assistant Agent says that McCraw thought that all there was to growing alfalfa was mowing it three or four times a year. But McCraw admits that he also has to fertilize his alfalfa fields properly every year and spray for insect control to get maximum production.

WAKE

Mr. and Mrs. Jonah Hodge of Wendell, Route 2, have found that a portable brooder house can be used for two good purposes on their farm—to brood chicks and to cure and store sweet potatoes. Wake County Assistant Negro Agent C.L. Boone says that last year the Hodges constructed a portable brooder house, but by the time they had it finished, it was too late for baby chicks. So they stored sweet potatoes in the house, and were able to eat good solid potatoes over a long period of time. They even sold a few to neighbors. Now the house is being used for its original purpose—to brood baby chicks.

PASQUOTANK

Alonzo Reid of Elizabeth City, Route 1, has a big “mess of nothing” right now, as far as his woodland is concerned. It’s all grown up in scrub hardwood trees. But all is not lost. Pasquotank county Assistant Agent Walden M. Hern says that if Reid goes through with his intentions of seeding young pine trees, the land will be worth $700 to $800 per acre in 20 years. Reid, himself, says, “This will be my insurance policy 20 years from now.

CLEVELAND

Donald Gold of Shelby, Route 4, doesn’t mind going to a little trouble to make his chickens comfortable. Cleveland County Assistant Agent J.W. Hamby Jr. reports that Gold recently completed a new 30-by-200 foot laying house. Discussing the narrow construction, Gold says it involves some inconvenience in arranging the equipment, but the good ventilation afforded by the narrow house more than “off-sets the extra trouble.”

HAYWOOD

Many folks would probably like to have Ned Tucker’s chicken house to live in themselves. Haywood County Assistant J.R. Tippett says that Tucker has just finished his modern two-story broiler house which will hold 40,000 broilers. The building is of concrete block construction with ridge ventilation and windows on both sides. It’s equipped with a hot water heating system, too.

CATAWBA

Earl Moose of Conover, Route 1, got quite a farming demonstration last year—even if it was by accident. Catawba County Assistant Agent Frank A. Harris says that Moose thought he had enough treated barley and oats to plant his crops last year but ran out of seed. He went back to the bin and used uncleaned, untreated seed to complete drilling. Moose says he has a 50 per cent better stand in the plot seeded with cleaned and treated seed.

DAVIDSON

Sentiment has a place even at cattle sales. Davidson County Assistant Agent W.W. Johnston says that J.L. Griggs of Lexington, Route 1, recently purchased a cow with twin heifer calves but only after outbidding another determined buyer. Griggs wanted the calves to present to his twin sons, Lynn and Glenn, for their 4-H projects. What Griggs didn’t know was that the man running u the price on him wanted the heifers for his twin daughters.

Armon Hunt of Danton, Route 2, says he would have been as well off if he had pinched off the heads of 50 Yorkshire shoats when they were born. Davidson County Agent C.E. Barnhardt says that Hunt recently sold the shoats for a total of $1,435.50. He added up his feed bills and found it came to $1,400. However, Hunt admits he would probably have done better if he had grown all of his own feed.

CASWELL

Being a little skeptical can be a valuable trait. Just ask H.M. Watson of the Leasburg community in Caswell County. County Agent K.V. Perkins says that Watson had several timber buyers give him an estimate on some mature pines. Not satisfied with the estimates, he asked for help from the Extension Service. He got $500 more for his pines as a result.