Successful N.C. Farmers, 1946

By F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the Raleigh Times on Aug. 12, 1946

The fine things that rural people do on their farms are an encouragement to all of us.

There is John S. Hollaman, a former county agent in Henderson County, and his partner David S. Kemp, who bought an old run-down farm and have built it into one of the best dairy farms in the mountain section. During the past year, John and his partner have built modern dairy barns that will house 150 head of cattle. They have 100 acres of Ladino clover pasture that will carry more than one cow per acre.

D.W. Bennett, Wake County farm boy, now the farm agent of Henderson County, says that there are more purebred Guernsey cattle on this Shoals Falls Farm than on any other farm in that county. The two owners have 126 head of highly bred animals and 48 of the cows are in milk at the present. Last month, the farm led the state in the average production of butterfat per cow.

STATE RECORD

During the past four months, an average of 44 cows in milk have produced 1,042 pounds of milk and 50 pounds of fat per animal per month. A state record for the two-year-old Guernsey also was made on this farm when the animal produced 15,700 pounds of milk and 735 pounds of butter fat. She is again on record test and so far has yielded 10,216 pounds of milk and 469.8 pounds of butterfat in 175 days. She has milked up to 75.8 pounds of milk a day.

In other words, the dreams of a farm boy are coming true as he developed this dairy farm. Mr. Hollaman liked his work as an agent, but he has always wanted a place of his own where he could put into actual practice some of his good ideas about how to handle a dairy herd. He was given that opportunity and the result show that he knows how to make the most of it.

LADINO CLOVER

Ladino clover also has had much to do with the success of Troy McKnight, a good farmer of the Mt. Airy section of Surry County. Ernest Durham, farm management specialist, visited Surry the other day to take part in a farm tour arranged by County Agent Neill Smith and his associates. While on tour of the county, they visited the arm of Mr. McKnight and everyone had to stop and see his Ladino clover. The farmer owns but 20 acres of cleared land, but out of the 20 he has planted 11 acres to Ladino clover and has grazed it almost continuously since last March 1, with 26 hogs, 17 head of cattle, two goats, and now he has an additional herd of sheep. The pasture is still undergrazed. Mr. Durham said that this is one of the most intensively farmed pieces of land that he has ever seen. Despite the fact that he owns only 20 acres, Mr. McKnight is making a financial success of his work and said that if he had 20 more acres he would sell it and farm only the 20 acres that he now has.

E.J. SMITH TURNS FARM AROUND

On that tour also, the party stopped at the farm of E.J. Smith, who was said to have owned about the poorest farm in Surry County in 1940, six years ago. The Smith family consists of the husband and wife, one daughter, and two sons, and they own 130 acres of land. Back in 1940, they farmed 85 acres of crop land, but by last year they had reduced this by 10 acres to 75. They also had increased their pasture from five acres up to 15 and had allowed the woodland of 40 acres to remain as it was.

Records kept by Mr. Smith show that in 1940, he had an allotment of 3 acres of tobacco from which he harvested at the rate of 900 pounds of leaf per acre. Last year, he had 4.7 acres from which he harvested 1,400 pounds of leaf per acre.

In 1940 he grew 20 acres of corn, producing 15 bushels per acre. In 1940, he grew 12 acres of small grain, from which he harvested 20 bushels per acre. In 1940, he planted 12 acres of lespedeza from which he gathered 1 ton of hay per acre. In 1945, he grew 20 acres of lespedeza from he gathered 2 tons of fine hay an acre. In 1940 he planted 10 acres of supplementary grazing crops; in 1945 he planted 15 acres.

With his livestock, he had three cows in 1940 that gave about 3,000 pounds of milk a year. Now he owns 10 cows which are producing 4,800 pounds of milk a year. He also has a brood sow, three other hogs, three beef cows, and 200 laying hens.

CASH INCOME IMPROVEMENT

Mr. Smith estimates his net cash income in 1940 to be $725 from his tobacco plus $78 from milk and butter, or a total of $803. In 1945, he sold $3,192 worth of tobacco and $1,000 worth of milk and butter, or a total of $4,192. He has used some of this increased income to build a small grade “A” barn in which to milk his 10 dairy cows, spending in actual cash, however, only about $400. His increased income by reason of having the better barn amounted to $500 last year alone. He grows all of his own pasture and roughage and most of his protein supplement. The hay and grain grown on the farm is sold through its own livestock at good prices. During the past five years, Mr. Smith has used 200 tons of ground limestone, 2,500 pounds of superphosphate, and 2,300 pounds of potash in fertilizing his land for higher acre yields. He plans now to buy or breed some higher yielding cows as he makes the money, so that he can really get a good price for all the hay, pasture, and small grain that he produces.

INCREASES FERTILITY

In the meantime, he is readily increasing the fertility of his soil by controlling erosion, conserving all the animal manures, rotating his crops and fertilizing for highest acre yields. The family does all the work now that the two sons have returned from the Army. The daughter is in college, with her education made possible through a more fertile soil and better paying farm.

Neill Smith says there is nothing unusual about the Ed Smith farm. He is just one of the Smith boys of which there are perhaps thousands all over North Carolina. His farm is an average-sized farm family. The significant thing about the place is that the owner grew tired of working himself to death on poor land and did something about it.