RED BRAND

rotated.

That means

partition fences.Fourth,

good

fencesgo across slopes,

where

they help control erosion

and

save precious moisture.

good management

also calls for

Red Brand-

Fences.

Again you may

ask

why. The

reason:

Red Brand

is

Galvannealed*

to fight off rust, so they costlessinthe longrun.

Red Brand means

econ-

omy. And

for extra

good

measure, the red

top

strand of wire

on Red Brand

looksbetter, too.

Yes,

good Red Brand Fences

are asignofa

good farm manager.

KEYSTONE STEEL&

WIRE

COMPANY, PEORIA,ILLINOIS,U.S.A.

Red BrandWovenWire Red Brand Barbed Wire RedTop¹SteelPosts KeystoneFeedlotFence

D

Keyline^ Netting Keystone Horse Fence BalerWire Nails Gates Non-ClimbableFence December-January, 1963-64

A ^Decade

after

Miracle Day

Ten years and

a lot

of community support have helped

this

chapter turn wasteland into a school farm.

TEN ^YEARS

^{ago this spring scores}

of machines, trucks, and Future Farmers entered a section ofpine and palmetto forest near Fort Pierce, Flor- ida, and"Miracle

Day"

wasborn.

The

125 acres of raw pine

woods

showing through the early morning

dawn

was changedintocleared,irrigated, planted, andfertilizedcropland bylate that after- noon, only 10 hourslater.

Members

prunea citrus tree,

now

bear- ing, thatwas planted on Miracle Day.

The

original idea was conceived by

M.

B. Jordan, then advisor of the Fort Pierce

FFA

Chapter, and Pete Lins, district managerfor a citrusand vege- table marketing concern.

They

would build a chapter farm from wasteland

. . . and do it inone day!

Itworked,andaftertheFuture

Farm-

ers, volunteers, and heavy equipment

left that afternoon, wellover 100acres was planted, several miles of drainage ditch were built, and 118 tonsof fer- tilizer was spread. Advisor Jordan's Future Farmers hadtheir school farm.

A

^{visitor to}Fort Pierce today would see the results of 10 years of Future

Farmer

planning and

community

co- operation.

The

125 acreshad beenpart of a 640-acre section reserved for an

FFA

school farm off Gentile Road.

Today

that entire section is a fruitful farm, and the 73

members

of the Fort Pierce Chapter are its sole guardians and farmers. AdvisorJordanhas since left toteach vo-ag atthe Florida State Prison, being replacedby amiable John Wetmore. But the real story is in the 640acresthatFort PierceFuture Farm- erscall their"demonstrationplot."

Tom

Selph,left, and Ed Consolo (FFAjacket)showchapter'sHerefordstoclass- mates. Animals are a giftof the Sears Foundation and local breed association.

Miracle

Day

as reported in The Na- tional

FUTURE FARMER

10 yearsago.

From

that spring day back in 1954,

when community

leaders pitched in to

make

^Miracle

Day

a success. Fort Piercehascontinued tosupport itsFu- ture Farmers. Last spring local fer- tilizercompanies donated four tons of fertilizer,oneofthemspreadingitwith- outcost. InAugust, local businessmen contributed 20 tons of lime and 100 pounds of clover seed.

And many

of thetown'sprominent businessmen drop out regularly to

Dan McCarty

High Schooltoseeif thereisanything addi- tional thev can do for the chapter's farm.

What

was once wasteland is

now

bloomingwith crops,forests,andcattle.

The

localKiwanis Clubhashelpedspon- sorfiveacres ofChristmastrees; there's acitrus grove. 111 acresofcloverand pasture. 17 acres ofgarden crops, and another480acresof carefully

managed

natural forest.

And we

couldn't forget the 10 acres of pine seedlings in the nursery section, part of 5.000 planted every year.

Sixty head of cattle graze on the farm now. 30ofthembelongingtothe chapter. Most of these were donated by local cattlemen and former

mem-

bers of the Fort Pierce Chapter.

The

remaining 30 areindividually

owned

as part of members' supervised farming programs.

"Without thesupport of local cattle- men, businessmen, and the local board ofeducation, this 640-acrefarmwould have been impossible," John

Wetmore

told us. His miracleon Gentile Road, he knows, owesits successto thefore- sight of Fort Pierce's progressive citi- zens. "Solid

community

cooperation."

Bob

Enns. local farm editor, called it

back in 1954.

And

the results can be measured inthe experiences and train- ing it offers the Future Farmers

who work

there yeararound.

TheNational

FlTl RE FARMER

Simple, down-to-earth engineering--

that's Single Lever Power Shift

in the New, More Powerful John Deere 3020 and 4020 Tractors

It started at FairTime. Allacross thecountry,

farm

folks like yourselves gathered to see the

new John

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More power ... 64

h.p. in the

new

"3020" ... 88

h.p. in the

new

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And

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New Power

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in fact, it's

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Nudge

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Now,

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8

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reversespeeds.

Do

iton-the-go.

Do

it without clutching.

Do

it

anytime —

with a single lever. That's simplicityby practical design!

Liketoseeit?

Your John

Deere dealeristhe

Power

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man. Ask dad

to

go

too. He'll

want

to try a new, more-powerful

"3020"

or

"4020"

_Tractor.

,fck

JOHN DEERE

Across the U. S. A.. Future Farmers Are "Learning to Do; Doing to WYOMING— A

group of 39 Future

Farmers and threeadvisorsstepped off the plane in

New York

this

summer

fullofEuropeanexperiencesfroma 21- day tour. Nearly all werefrom

Wyo- ming FFA

chapters, but a few crossed thelinefrom

Montana

andColoradoto jointhetrip.

Hostwas AdvisorPaul Sweitzer of the

Cody

Chapter, a veteran of 38 years of teaching vo-ag. Starting with the motto

"To

See and

To

Be Seen," the group stopped off at the Edinburgh University of Agriculture,which was a major interest in Scotland.

Then

it

was onto

London

tospend adaywith Englishfarmersdotting the countryside Back at Idlewild Airport in

New

York,

there.

From

Paris,theFuture Farmers spent time with Belgium farmers to learn about their agriculture.

Highlight of thetrip wasa

week

be- hind the Iron Curtain at Prague and Budapest.

On

theschedulewere^collec- tive farms, state agriculture displays, andachance to talkwith farmers and students.

From

here to Berlin, Den- mark, and then home. This tour, as well as similar tours taken by other

FFA

groups,showedother nations that

FFA members

and America's agricul- tural future go hand in hand. (Before undertakingsucha tourinthe

name

of the

FFA,

be sure to check with jour state

FFA

advisor.

—

Ed.)

Future Farmers prepare for trip home.

MARYLAND— A

big smile told the crowd

how

proud

Mike

Stileswas

when

helearnedhe had

won

twofirstplacings in dairy judging at the recent Eastern StatesExpositionat Springfield,Massa- chusetts.

The

Gaithersburg Future

Farmer

was unchallenged as the ace dairy cattle judge

when

the announcer

boomed

^that hewas high individual in both the HolsteinandJerseybreed judg- ing. His advisor, Jim Pope, accom- panied

him

to Springfield for the con- test.

Mike'stop individual placings helped the Maryland dairy judging team take

first place

among

the 1 1

FFA

teams

participatingat the Exposition. Richard Fitzpatrick, superintendent of the dairy cattle judging, loaded

Mike down

with a model Jersey cow, a model Holstein cow, a Holstein plaque, a blue ribbon, andacheckfor$12.

The

camera caught theFuture

Farmer when

hewas wonder- ing what he would do with all his awards.

36

Mike Stiles and part of the array of awards that he

won

in cattle judging at recent Eastern States Exposition.

A

look intothefuture, John Peterson,

NEPPCO's

poultry winner, andfriend.

MISSISSIPPI— Through

aleasewith the U. S. Army's Corps of Engineers, the Mississippi

FFA

Association has a ^1,- 460-acre farm justbelow the

Grenada

Reservoir

Dam

inthe northcentralsec- tionof thestate. Part of the landwas the

Grenada

Air Force Base during

World War

II,and

many

of theremain- ingconcrete buildings are being usedas barns,toolsheds,andatenanthouse by the Future Farmers.

The

entire farm was fenced by the

FFA

Associationafterthe25-yearlease was signed.

Now

there are over 200

These mature cows form Mississippi's

.o.

TheNational

FUTURE FARMER

I

WSfcijj^ \3£

^''15

Learn; Earning to Live; and Living to Serve."

NEW YORK —

Each year cooperating

members

of (he Northeastern Poultry Producers Council hold aconventionin oneof the 14states inthe northeastern section of the U. S. which they serve.

One

of the highlights of the annual three-day event is thecrowning of the

NEPPCO-FFA

Star PoultryFarmer.

When

20-year-old John Peterson, a Future Farmer from Dryden.

New

York, drove to the Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania, affair this past October, he didn't dream he would be

NEPPCO's

toppoultryfarmer. Attheawards ban- quet he learned differently. John

won

out over six other competing finalists and received his award sponsored by the Ralston-Purina

Company. He

plans to be a poultry farmer and is well on his

way

since graduatingfrom theDry- denConsolidated School thispast year.

More

than 5.000 poultrymen from all sections of the Northeast attended.

Herefords grazing the pastures, includ- ing 96 mature brood cowsand sixherd hulls. Grass silage and lespedeza hay

make

up the crops in addition to the well-fertilizedpastures.

MississippiFutureFarmersvaluetheir cattle at nearly $52,000.

The

excellent herd not only servesasademonstration unit for thestate's

FFA

members, but

it is asource of good quality breeding stock for

members

at a price they can afford.

The

State

FFA

Association has builta

camp

on the farm alongsidethe large reservoir.

erd ofover200 purebred Herefords.

OHIO —

^{School buses} around the

com-

munity ofAlexandria are shining extra specialthese days. FutureFarmers from theNorthridge SouthChapterarewash- ingand waxingall of the buses

owned

by the Northridge Board of Education asachapter fund-raisingproject.

They

have been doing this maintenance job for the past two years, and have the full appreciation of the school board members.

Not only dothe school buses retain their finishlonger, hut the specialproj- ecthas brought inenough fundsto buy theFuture Farmersasteamcleanerfor

This buswill soon be

waxed

shiny,foo.

cleaningtractors,asetofcattleclippers, and a setofsheep shearers. Thereare shiny buses, clipped cattle, and shorn sheepintheNorthridge School District, thankstothischapter of Future

Farm-

Governor

Rolvaag and

Duane

Leach

make

friends with mother,

baby

burro.

MINNESOTA — ^Two

prominent indi- vidualswere

among

the

more

than 200,- 000 persons

who

visited the Children's Barnyardexhibitat theMinnesotaState hair this summer. Governor Karl F.

Rolvaag and National

FFA

Vice Presi- dent

Duane

Leach from nearby Winne- bago stopped by to pay their respects tothedozensofanimals on display for city youngsters.

Itwas

Camera Day

atthe

FFA

Barn- yard, and a camera bug caught the Governor and

Duane

inspecting a five- year-oldburro and herfoal.

The

baby burro was horn at the State Fair just five days before the photograph was taken. Hisbeingasymbol of the

Gov-

ernor's political party was pure coin- cidence.

December-January, 1963-64

IOWA —

Everyone can't receive the Honorary Chapter Farmer Degree, so AdvisorBillStewartandhis

Maquoketa

Chapter thought up another

way

to thankthose

who

supportlocal

FFA

ac- tivities.

They

heldan *'FFA Apprecia- tion Barbecue." planned to

show com-

munity leaders that Future Farmers reallyappreciatedtheirsupport.

The

guest listincluded 42 prominent individuals,fromtheschool administra- tion tofeed dealersandthelocalpress.

There were

men who

loaned the chapter farm equipment,farmers

who

hadgiven a helping hand, and seed

men who

donated seed for thechapter farm.

Since the chapter raises broilers on their farm, these were used for the barbecue. Total cost of the broilers andacomplete

menu amounted

toonlv

$38, a good investment in

community

Future Farmers form an assembly line to barbecue the banquet's chickens.

publicrelations.

FFA members

learned to do the barbecuing, and as Advisor Stewart putit,

"Now we

areinbusiness forothergroups

who may

want topay for our barbecuing services."

37

PERSONAL

^{ingenuityhas paidoff}

for a formervo-ag teacherfrom Minden, Nebraska. He's Ivan

Lux

who. in the process of developing his farm into farrowing units, decided todesign his

own

operation.

"We

tried

many

types of farrowing units but found problems in most of them." Ivan began. Sowith truefarm shopfashion,hesetouttobuildhis

own

farrowing house from his

own

ideas.

Hereis

how

hedidit.

He

took the bottom two rings of a

27-foot steel grain bin. retained the grain binroof, and erected them on a roundconcreteslab (FigureA).

Under

theslabhehad duga5-foot-deepseptic tank for use as a central

manure

dis- posal area. At the eaves the two bin rings are 5 feet 4 inches high, sloping uptothe pointintheroof. Ivan used 2-inchwheatstraw insulating boardsto line the walls and roof, then used an- other grain bin ring to line the inside wallsto protect the insulation.

Next, theformer

FFA

advisorneeded

farrowing pens, so he formedeightpie- shaped pens from regular corrugated steel. These are built around the pe- rimeter of thesteel building (FigureB).

Inside each pen he built a farrowing crate, still using pieces of steel angle braces (Figure

C

). Slottedsteel floors are arranged so that wastes drain into the central septic tank.

And

each pen has a sow feeder, pig starting creep feeder, and waterer.

There isanextra section of thefloor just inside the door where no pen is located. This serves as a handy place to wash the sows as they are brought intothe house. With Ivan's farrowing house no outside

manure

lagoon is

needed.

The

septictankoverflow's into a drain field, while the ventilatingsys- temexhausts gases from the tank.

Ivan installed a heat exchangerven- tilating fan for environment control.

Inalltypesof weather, moistair is ex- hausted from the house, and cold air is

drawn

in and passes over a radiator where it absorbs heat. For

warm

weather, Ivan designed the system so that incoming

warm

air bypasses the radiator.

In the very center of the house is a bulk feed bin suspendedfrom theroof.

It holds 2.300 pounds of ground feed, or enough to carry the eight sows through weaning.

When

the sows are

removed

from the house at weaning, Ivan plans to remove the crates, refill the bulk feed bin, and keep the pigs here untilthey reach salable feeder pig size.

A

novel feature in feeding isthe augerthat rotates 360degrees toallow Ivanto fill all thefeeders.

By

walking 30 feet. Ivan can check

alleightpens.

When

heopenseachpen gate, the gate goes against an interior steelring and formsthefence foreach weaning pen. Special infra-red quartz heatlampsserveeachpenaspigbrood- ers, and small fog nozzles cut into the water line serve as cooling units in summer.

What

does it cost?

On

a per-sow basis, itwillbe considerably belowthe costofarectangular building with simi- larfeatures,Ivansays.

He

explainsthat a 40-sow unit, using five ofthe build- ings, will not be as expensive as one large unit.

And

the advantagesofiso- lation for large operators will aid dis- easecontrol,he adds.

"This

new

concept of farrowing. I believe,hasanswered 99percent of

my

problems," Ivan told us. But as he also explained,

"One

has to see ^it to appreciateit."

Figure

A

shows exterior view, while B illustrates central feed bin and auger, steel pens, and vent system.

Steel farrowing crate is in Figure C.

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