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Show Farm News-Notes By LEW MAR PRICE County Agent Turkey production in Beaver County Coun-ty during the past few years has been an important enterprise, yet it is doubtful if profits from the project are as good as could reasonably be expected when prices pre as they have been. It is likely that there will always be a keen demand for this popular article of diet, and steps should be taken to make the business )more profitable by overcoming the uncertainty uncer-tainty and heavy losses which occur annually in the raising of turkeys, especially in the older sections of the county. It is a pretty well decided fact that turkey production on common ground with chickens cannot be entirely en-tirely successful. Chickens are carriers car-riers of the germ which causes blackhead, the disease that incurs greater Uosses in turkeys than all other causes combined. A few birds lost after they are half or two-thirds grown materially reduce the profits of the enterprise, and frequently blot them out entirely. On a farm where turkeys are being be-ing produce it would be neither difficult diffi-cult nor expensive to confine the chickens, and if given proper care, profits from both enterprises would be materially increased. Commercial chicken men would not consider letting let-ting their birds run fjecause they know what it would do to egg production; pro-duction; and commercial turkey growers are just as particular in keeping their flocks away from yards used by chickens. It is a question if turkey breeding flocks under local conditions are" justified, jus-tified, especially where the natural methods of incubation and brooding are employed. When vigorous poults can be secured from an accredited hatchery at 50c to 60c each the system sy-stem merits consideration, for it has many advantages as well as disadvantages. disad-vantages. The poults can be secured one to two months earlier than we are able to hatch them in this climate. This insures greater vigor and vitality and the longer period in which to mature the birds for the most desire-able desire-able market The poults are uniform in maturity .less likely to contract disease or digestive troubles and the mature birds are much easier picked for market. The principal disadvantage is the initial cost of the poults ,which may or may not be greater than home bred. At any rate it will more than be made up in the extra weight of the birds at marketing time. This was well demonstrated by Percy Williams of Greenville this year. He killed everyone of his birds for Thanksgiving. They all graded prime, the hens averaging 13 pounds and the toms 19 pounds. He ' says the greater ease of dressing the birds is worth all the difference in price if there is any. Poults are already being ordered for April delivery. If anyone is interested in-terested orders should be sent in as soon as possible if the early poults are desired. Tan Your Own Hides With hides and pelts being of so little value, and leather of so much use around the farm, some home tanning is being recommended by the government. Farmers' Bulletins 1055 and 1334 giving full details of inexpensive methods practical on any farm can be had for the asking. Some few have been distributed and are being put to good use. Water for Dairy Cows This is the time of year and the kind of weather when the cows are sometimes forced to go without the proper amount and kind of drinking water. A surprisingly large amount of water is required for cows in milk if all needs are supplied. Tests at various experiment stations sta-tions show that cows need from four and one half pounds of water for every pound of milk produced. High producing cows should have access to water several time a day if possible, pos-sible, while twice or even once a day will do for the average cow provided the water is not too cold and is easily accessible to the cow. In winter cows watered but once a day drink freely. The sudden demand de-mand for heat caused by taking into the body this large quantity of water may exceed the available supply, with the result that some of the food nutrients or body tissues are burned to produce heat. The heat of digestion diges-tion and assimilation otherwise supplies sup-plies an amples amount of heat to warm the water. Where cows are given the opportunity to drink two or more times daily ,no extra fuel is necessary to keep the body temperature tempera-ture normal. More uniform and better bet-ter production will usually be realized real-ized when cows have access to water more than once a day, and since the cow is a creature of habit, the time of watering should be as regular as possible. |