Poultry on the Farm
It has been estimated that millions are spent annually In
the United States for eggs alone. Much of this amount goes to china for
imported eggs for consumption in this country.
The South produces less poultry and poultry products than
any similar area in the Union. The egg is, next to milk, the greatest human
food in the world judged from a nutritive point of view, and the price of eggs
has more nearly been maintained at war prices than any food product of its
importance in the Union. Notwithstanding this, we annually permit our families
to want for this excellent food product and allow the consuming public to do
likewise or go to China and other foreign countries for an inferior product,
while we complain of a shortage of money in the community, which we have
largely been responsible for.
We often walk 15 to 20 miles to kill a few birds, when if we
had spent the same time in our back yard poultry interests, we should be better
physically “fit” and fed.
Milk-fed poultry and the best article on the market bring a
premium on any well-informed market. They are more nutritious, since the value
of the food value of the flesh which is formed by it, according to Dr.
McCollum, the greatest food specialist of our time. A well-managed farm always
has the milk and is in position to not only live on “the fat of the land” but to
supply it at a good profit to the consuming world.
Purebreds the Best
The best purebred well cared for hens of the country today
are producing 250 to 300 eggs annually, against the average scrub hen which
produces less than 50.
Even at the rate of half this production, 100 hens would lay
1,500 in one year, which at an average of even 30 cents per dozen would yield
an income of $375 annually. Enough to buy all the necessities of the pantry
other than what should be produced on the farm otherwise. Yes, we men “turn up
our noses” at the poultry proposition now, but wait until Sir Weevil gets
through with us and we shall be sneaking around to the hen roost to apologize
to the old hen, and to accede to the wishes of the “better half” who has always
argued that poultry pays.
Do you know that 100 good hens will produce more food in
ayear than the flesh of a 1,000-pound steer? AND the steer is dead and it will
require 2 years to produce another, while the hens are an asset on hand ready
to repeat their performance from year to year, until age or death interferes.
If California can ship eggs to New York at a profit, we can
do it too. However, it will be a long time before we produce all the eggs that
the South needs.
Sir Weevil demands on each average farm a sow, a cow, 100
hens and perennial garden. Ignore this demand and suffer the consequences.
Attending Annual
Meeting
The county agent has been called to headquarters for the
Extension Workers’ Annual Conference Jan. 23 to Jan. 28, inclusive.--W.H. Barton
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