THE NEBRASKA
SCENE
by James R. Lowell
While most persona do not real
ize it, the state of Nebraska is en
gaged in the farming business in
a big way, Scattered over the state
are 7,850 acres of land, equipped
with the best of livestock, which
constitute one of the most import
ant phases in the management of
Nebraska’s 18 charitable, reform
atory and penal institutions, run by
the board of control.
Altho the state’s collective farm
ing enterprise saved at least $250,
000 in the cost of running the 18
institutions last year, and in all
propability will be even more pro
fitable in 1936, the purposo of the
various institutional firms is as
much to provide wholesome em
ployment for inmates as to save on
the board bill for wards of the
state, according to Henry Behrens,
control board member who has
charge of the farming operations.
Incidentally, Mr. Behrens has 800
acres of his own near Beemer, and
he modestly admits it is the best
farm in the best farming region
of the state.
Livestock on the state farms in
cludes 1,220 head of Holstein cat
tle, about 20,000 chickens and
ducks and 229 horses and mules.
Half a dozen tractors help augment
the horse-power of the farms.
The cattle are foremost in the
affection of Mr. Behrens and he
hopes within 10 years to have one
of the outstanding Holstein herds
of the nation. Already a third of
the 1,200 head are registered.
There are 475 cows producing at
the present time, and within an
other year and a half there will be
at least another 100 registered
cows producing.
The state herd saves the 18 in
stitutions more than $100,000 a
year in milk bills, not to mention
meat and by-producta of milk. In
the drouth year of 1934 these cowh
produced over two and one-half
million quarts of milk or an aver
age of over 10,000 pounds of milk
per cow.
These cattle consumed $37,000
worth of feed in the year. At 6
cents per quart, which was the
average price paid for milk in 1934
by the institutions that had to buy
milk, this milk was worth $137,000.
At this rate the dairy herds show
ed a net profit of $100,000 in 1934.
In addition, the dairy herds sup
plied over 50 tons of fresh beef for
the institutions.
The Norfolk state hospital has
tho best herd, with 128 head, all
registered, and 60 producers at tho
present time. The state hospital at
Hastings, with ita 1,511 inmates,
has the largest herd—181 with 85
producers. Last November this
herd produced 62,000 pounds of
milk.
Herds are maintained at 14 of
the institutions, the size of the
herd depending chiefly upon the
amount of milk needed at the in
stitution in question. For example,
there are only 10 cows at the Grand
Island soldiers’ and sailors’ home,
as the old folks do not need a3
much milk as children.
On the other hand, such institu
tions as the home for dependent
children at Lincoln requiro a great
deal of milk. Altho this institution
' has a fine registered herd, the
board of control finds it necessary
to purchase several hundred dol
lars’ worth of milk a month. ,
Institutions which do not have
herds include the Kearney hospit
al for tuberculosis, Orthopedic hos
pital at Lincoln,school for the blind
at Nebraska City and the Omaha
school for the deaf. The first nam
ed gets considerable milk from the
state industrial school herd nearby.
The Omaha institution, altho it has
only 200 inmates, spend about |200
a week for milk. .
Mr. Behrens’ goal is to produce
a quart of milk per capita per day
for all the inmates of the 18 in
stitutions. This will require about
two and one-half times as much
'milk as is being produced now, but
he figures it will be worth the time
and effort because of the saving
that will be effected in the institu
tional food bill, and the health of
state wards.
Every effort is being made to
build up the quality of the state
herds. The herd sire at Koarney is
a son of the world’s life time cham
pion cow, Varsity Vertex Quantity
at the state university. The board
of control has shown a herd at the j
state fair for the past four years j
and has taken at least 76 premiums j
as well as showing the grand
champion cow three different times.
The sire of the herd at the York
reformatory for women took first
place at the state fair in 1934,
while the Lincoln men’s reforma
tory herd sire was grand champion
last year. The sire of the Norfolk
herd is the son of the twice all
American bull of the Elmwood
farms near Chicago. The sire of
the Hastings herd is a son of a
three-times all-American bull at
the Maytag farm in Iowa.
As the herds increase in size,'
more of the milk will be used for
butter. Already considerable but
ter is being made, with 4,000
pounds churned in eight and a half
months by the girls at the Geneva
training school.
The largest poultry flock is at
Geneva where about 4,000 fowls
are being maintained. The other
big flocks are at the Hastings and
Kearney institutions and the Lin
coln home for dependent children.
Incidentally it takes 300 ducks for
one duck feed at the Hastings
hospital.
“good riddance,” the farmers as a
whole are disappointed and demand
that some measure be developed to
protect the state’s greatest industry.
Even the worst enemies of the
new deal and its alphebetical ag
encies arc admitting that the AAA
was a Godsend to Nebraska in the
drouth of 1934. Here are a few of
the comments made by outstanding
Nebraskans:
Governor Cochran; “I hesitate
to think what would have happened
to the farmers and small business
men of Nebraska, during the past
two years of drouth, had it not
been for the agricultural policies
of the Roosevelt administration . . .
not even the critics of the admin
istration wish to return to the des
perate condition of agriculture dur
ing the 10 years preceding the
Roosevelt administration.” The
governor advocated a constitution
al change unless congress finds an
other way to accomplish the pur
pose of the late Triple A.
S. R. McKelvie, former republic
an governor of Nebraska: “The
AAA had its good uses as an emer
gency measure, but it was intrin
sically wrong as a permanent pro
gram. What we need now is gov
ernment grants to farmers to in
(Continued on page 3, column 3.)
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