News From N.C. Farms, July, 1944

“What’s New in North Carolina” from the July, 1944, issue of Southern Planter

By F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh

J.D. Parker of Eagle Springs, Moore County, has a nice heard of Jersey cows. He also has a flock of sheep and some goats; and, it is now easy matter to provide feed for all of these on the sandy soils of his farm. He began to take stock of the situation last fall when every man with livestock and poultry began to fear the outcome of the feed situation. Mr. Parker had a nice 11-acre field conveniently located for grazing so he put the soil into tip-top condition, applied about 1,500 pounds of limestone, added 800 pounds of phosphate and 100 pounds of muriate of potash per acre. Then he planted oats, crimson clover and Austrian peas, seeding rather liberally. This spring he top-dressed the crop with 200 pounds of nitrate of soda and on April 10, he decided that the growth was large enough to turn 26 Jersey cows and six head of work stock into the field.

Two weeks later, however, the grazing was getting so far beyond the capacity of these animals that he turned in 75 sheep and 110 goats. He figured that certainly sheep and goats could eat all of everything. But the growth gained on all of these and lasted until about the end of May. Mr. Parker said he never saw so much grazing from an 11-acre piece of land—and this in the Sandhill section. He attributed the enormous production to the liberal seeding and the heavy fertilization.

Rain Makes Record Roughage Crops

But from all over North Carolina there comes similar reports of fine hay and grazing crops this past spring. Much of the cereal mixtures and winter legumes planted last fall to be plowed under for soil improvement were never turned due to the simple fact that one could not get a plow into the fields until it was too late. The rains were almost continuous up until time to plant the summer row crops. But then the weather favored the haymaker and as a result the State is harvesting one of its record crops of fine quality roughage.

H.T. Watkins of Caswell County, for instance, reports almost as good returns from 13 acres seeded to  oats, crimson clover and rye grass. He grazed 40 cows on this field last November and December and put them back on it April 1. He made the field supply grazing until late spring by dividing it into halves and grazing each half for about 10 days. He says more grazing is secured in this way.

R.L. Spencer of Columbia, Route 1, Tyrrell County, has 18 cows and 37 hogs that got most of their winter feed from 6 acres of oats, 3 acres of rutabagas and 18 acres of field gleanings. The rutabagas are especially relished by the cows in mid-winter when there is a lack of succulent feed.

W.N. Shearon of Bunn, Franklin County, seeded 45 acres to crimson clover and rye grass last fall and grazed about 300 head of cattle and 300 hogs all winter. He finds that the rye grass will provide more winter and spring grazing than any other crop that he has ever planted.

Alvin R. Askew of Goldsboro, Route 2, and D.Z. Holloman of Goldsboro, Route 1, reported similar grazing results with cereal mixtures and Italian rye grass on a smaller scale but proportionately as high returns.

Some dairymen are now installing hay driers so that the hay of spring and early summer will be saved despite tricky showers and thunder storms.

Water for Two By Hydraulic Ram

C.H. Boyles and Benny Jones live on adjoining farms on which there is a need for water for five milk cows, three heifers, four mules, 100 hens, 600 chickens, 29 hogs and pigs, and a beef animal. The two families and these animals require at least 500 gallons of fresh water each day but Mr. Boyles had been hauling all the water supplied to his stock and Mr. Jones had been carrying his about 800 feet. They found a free flowing spring on the Jones farm and installed a hydraulic ram at a cost of $235.38 t the two families. Now there is plenty of water for all uses and life is more sanitary and satisfying on both farms.

Mule Clinics Prove Profitable

A farmer of Martin County bought a mule from a neighbor for $75 because the mule had a lump on his jaw and the neighbor did not value the animal very highly. The buyer took the mule to the workstock clinic held in that neighborhood by animal industry specialists from State College cooperating with the county agent and the local veterinarian and had the “horse doctor” look at the lump. A tooth was extracted at a cost of $1 and the owner returned home with a work animal easily worth $300. H.M. Stamey, assistant livestock specialist, says the veterinarian found that the mule had a split tooth in which food was compacting causing all of the trouble. These clinics were held in 59 counties during the late winter and early spring when 6,549 animals were examined and many of them treated. Treatments were given at nominal cost and the owners say that excellent results were obtained.

Cotton Choppers Look Promising

Once again the machine has invaded the cotton field, historic home of hand labor, and if present experimental trials with two-row cotton choppers are successful, North Carolina farmers will use more of them in the future. A number of the machines have been purchased in widely separated parts of the State and almost universally, the owners say that they work. Clifford Hamrick of Boiling Springs, Cleveland County, has one which he says chopped his cotton all right and killed the grass at the same operation. The chopper is pulled by a tractor and requires one man to operate it so that the chopping blades may be kept set at the proper depths.

Airplane Used for Dusting Peaches

Peach growers in the Sandhills of Moore, Montgomery and Richmond counties have been saving labor this spring by having their orchards dusted by airplane. A commercial plane operator has worked in that section at the request of the orchardist and has performed a service which hardly could have been accomplished otherwise. The plane is equipped for the work and can be used to dust 100 acres of orchard trees in one hour. It takes a little more dust for the job but growers say that they get a better coverage of the trees than with the regular farm outfit. County Agent R.E. Davenport says he has observed the plane dust a 30-acre orchard in 10 minutes enveloping the trees in 600 pounds of chemicals. The dust is used for control of brown rot and curculio.