Annual report of county agent work in Colorado, 1921: Grand County

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK IN AGRICUL'IURE

AND HOME

ECOI~MICS.

state .Agricultural College of

aolo

rado ,

u •

s •

DeP"rtmen

t

of

Agrirul"ture and

G.rand County

Cooperating.

ANNUAL REPORT OF COUNTY AGENT WORK

December l, 1920

to November

30,

inclusive.

-2-ANNU

JJ..,

BEPO RT INDEX.

Agriwltural. resources of Grand County ---3-5

Brief Histoxy of County Agent work in Grand County and

resu.me'

of

mrk in 1921. ---6

Organization

---ea-8

Crop

Improvement---9-ll

Livestock Improvement---l2

Home

Imppovement---13

Pests---·---~·----~-~---14

Roads---~----~-~-~---·-15

Marketing---~---~---~----~-~~---16-17

Other Work---18-19

Statistical Report Summary ·---20

AGRICUL'lURAL RESCOURC]S OF GRAND

COUNTY.

3

In

this

report the agricultural rescwrces of Grand County

will be taken up

under

the following heads:

general description,

surface

&

soil, pop.1lation, climatological

da.ta,

stock raising,

crops, land values, markets, and special opportu

ui

ties.

General

Description.

Grand

County lies in the north- central part of Colo ra.do,

the eastern ooundary b eing formed oy

the

continental divide,

the north ern boundary

by

the raobi

t ear

range,

and

part

of

the

scu

thern ownd.ary oy the

Williams

Fork

mountains.

It is made

up principally

of a mountain park known as Middle Park,

EUr•

rounditd

by

mountain ranges. Its outline is irregular. Its

area

is just

~

,000 acres less than that of the state of

Del-aware. The altitude varies from 6,500 to 8,000 in the valleys

with an

elevation of 13,000 feet at the summit of sor.ae of the

peaks on the eastern boundary.

fu

rfa.ce

&

Soil.

The central part of the Oounty is a

·beau

tifu 1 mountain

p

a;rk

\Vi

th

rolling surface and alluvial soi 1 of wonderful

rich-ness. I

t

1 s largely

co vered

by

na

tu

ra.l

gra.s

a

and 1 s one of

the

best

grazing sections of Colorado . On the rorth, 9a.et and

south

the

sur face ri ees rather abrUptly

to

the mountains, which

fo:rm

th41! -ooundary

of

the County

on

these

sides.

On the

southeast

the Colo ra.do River ruts its

·way

thrc;>ugh the rim ro eke

surround-ing

this park and fonns the famous

gore canon.

No

detailed

soil

Sl

rvey of thi a

area

is

a.vai laole.

Pppulation.

The pppu la.tion of Grand County i e entirely rural, there

being

no

towns of

mor~

than 500 inhabitants in the

County.

The toi.a.l population of the County is 2800. The census

lu

reau

oreditits

the Coun:ey

with

265

farms.

Climatological Data.

The ratn fall in this

County

varies

widely.

A

narrow

strip

along

the

Grand

river

in the western part has an

a.v a-age annuaa rainfall of from 13 to 15 inches. .Immediately

north

and

east

and

soutg

of this is an area compr•sing

the

principal parts of Middle park, there

the~

fall varies

from 15 to 20 inches. Directly

east

of thi

a the

pre cipi ta

ti

on

increases more rapidly, being a oove 25 inches annually, near

the summit of the continental divide. The climate is

much

more

mild than might oe expected at the prevailing altitudes in this

-4-Climatological Data. (cont.)

The

park

is

shielded

from winds

oy

mountain ranges which

surround 1 t on nearly all sides, and though v.ery low

temper-atures prevail during the

wi.

nter, the cold is not

f

lt so

keenly as in other secti o.ne rrore subject to wind

and

' to

great-er ex1tremes of moisture in the a tmmsphgreat-ere. The snow fall is

heavy, especially in the east ern parte of the County.

The

growing

season is the County varies f'r om

7 5

to

lOO days.

Stock Raising.

The greatest industry in the County is stockraising.

On acoount of the vast acreag of grazing land in the Nation•

al

.li'orest, grade cows are

run

in

the

sununer with

purebred bulls.

I

.u

the

fall

a:>

me fat s te-ars a.re

a

old but mostly

feeders. The

breeding cows are winter

d

on hay, and in the neadows, used

ae pasture in the early

fall,

after

the

hay

has

been cut.

The

last ten years

aas

seen a

ste~dy

increase

of the

dairy

industry,

.a.nd

with

the

stringent

conditions

at

the present

time more people are strating to milk a

few cows.

In connectionwith the b9!f industry a

few

pure-bred herds

are l>eing

founded.

Crops.

The p rincip&l crops are na

1u

ral

hay,

timothy, a.lsike,

potawes, small grain,

and root crops for stookfeed. The

climate

is

adapted

to the production of let

111

oe, cabbage,

peas, beans etc.

The

wnderful

quality of these products in

o ertain years cw ses a ready rnarket for them in the uounty.

Land Va.lu

es.

At the -oeginni ng of 1920 there was 209,598 acres of

privately-owned land in the County, or aboot

17t

per cent

of the

total area.

The

records

of the County Assessor show

that

29,943

acres of this was

being

farmed under irris&tion

in

1919

and

130,414 acres was classes as grazing land.

This

latter c&aesifica.tion includes a consideraole amount of

nat-ural

hay

land.

The

remaining

privately-owned area is timber

land railroad right of way and

to-;,m and city lots • Irrigated

land in this uou nty

sells from $50 .00 to $150 .00

an

acre and

nonirrigated land in the County at from$10.00 to $25.00

an acre. On

Jaru.aey

l;

1928

there

was 59,945 acree of

un-appropriated state land in the Ck>unty, i ncJuding scm e farming

land and large

amount of good grazing

land.

The last mentioned

is

oe~ng

taken up as homesteads v

~Y

rapidly.

Markets:

Must of

th19

cattle sold in the

~ounty

go out on the

Denver and Salt Lake railroad

to

the Denver lliJ..arket or to the

:river mark•ts. The grain raised in the

~unty

finds a reaiy

market in the County •

So1ne

vege

t a ole s are s

bl.

pped to Denver,

and

head let1uoe is shipped as far as California. The truriat

trade during the summer

fu

rnish.es

·a ready

")._for most of the

rul1u ra.l development. This county is

espeoaa.lly

sui

taole

for

stock raising and dairying.

There is water available for at

least twice as large a rural po]Jil.lation as it no maintains.

By

the use of this water

and

dry-farming practise a great deal

more

grain could be raised.

By

raising more grain the

stockrai-eera 1iruld be

a.bl4!

to fatte-'their cattl'! for the market instead

of selling them for

f~eders.

The same is true of the dairy

industry.

As it is now the cows are only milked dllring the eummer

~toy

raising more root crops and grain the incl.Uatry cculd oe

kept

up cllt"ing the winter.

At

the present time the

gr9ateat

opportunity is in the raising

of head

lettv.~e.

The coil

nights,

and rich soil in the County

ar>e ideal for the production of head

l•ttuce

of wonderful crispness

and

flavor.

By

paoki ng thi a let'bl ce in ice

it can be ehi pped all

over the United StateEE.. The

l'!t~ce

in

this

Uounty comes on the

BRIEF HI S'l1QRY OF

COUNTY

AGEt~T

WORK IN GRAND

COJNTY

&

RESJ:ME' OF \VOBK IN 1921.

-6-In the years

of

1918-19

Mr.

W.

J.

Harrison,

a

prominent

l1nakem in the County, started the movement of petitioning the

County

Clommi

sei onere to secure a County Agent for the County.

He was

EUcce:asful

in

his work and during the

Grand

County J!'air

of

1919

Mr. R. H. Felts,

Assistant County Agent

Leader,

organ-ized

the

Grand

County

Farm

.lilreau.

An

agent

tvas

secured in

the

first months of

1920,

bJ.

t stayed only a few months,

\fhen

he

left

to

take up a if'ferent kind

of

work. This

gave

the work in

the

County

a hard 'blow,

a.s

the local

l ·eaders of

th

'9

projs.ects

did

not

have

ini ti

a ti. ve enough

to

go

ahead and

carry out

the

years "'>\t>rk

which 1--.s

planned for the wmmer of

1920. The

County

had just

passed thru .a

very

hard winter, and a late spring.

At

this

tim

~eit

wa.s

practically impossible

for a. new man

to

go in

and carry out

the 'Program of

work

for 1920. In

fact only

one

project was completed.

A

lAl

ring the

fall

of 1920 re-orgainzati on of the nine

communi-ties was att·empted. In

the spring

5 commrwni

ties

were completely

re-organized~

and working

on their communi

tj

p :rogra.ms of work.

A

very

small

percent

of

this

planned

\mrk

~s

completed.

The

depression in

fa.nn

produ

ots·,

the

fi

nancia.l stringency,

~d

high

freiglat rates were largely

responsible

for this

result.

1l.t

rl.ng 1he

last year many

men

that

·t~ere

just &taTting to

fa.rm in

the

County

have had

to

leave

th8ir farms

and

seek laoor.

The substantial men

in the

County are doing what they

can

without

labor, and

are

not

trying

to oranch out in the least. The

idea

seems

to

be to

nsi

t

tight"

and. see what

will

happen.

Under

these

co ndi

ti

ens

1 t is

hard to

get the

farmers to

look ahead 5 years

and plan County Agent work along that line.

This

eummer our rural

education,

by

means

of a port

aole

moving

pioture outfit,

a.nd

department

of agriculro1ure films,

has

b9en

an

outstanding

project.

Our

plan of driving cattle

to

market over the continental

divide • instead

of

shipping them

by

rail has oeen another cut

standing

project.

Other projects, appu-ently ·failures, na'turally have

started

some people to

thinking.

and

wi

11 pro oa.bly go thru next year.

The pepple

in

the

comnu

:cd ties have not

yet

absorbed

the

ide

a

of

~vVarking

rut

their

p

:.:0

blems

together •

b.l

t

the

idea

is

Organization work

done in Grand County during the past year

will be 'baken up under the

follo·~.ving

heads: re-organization of

GOmm.l

ni

ties,

anrua.l JParm

fu

reau

meeting,

exeou

ti

ve eommi ttee

meetings,

membership campaign, boys' and girls• clubs.

RE-tOR GANIZATI ON OF

COIDIJ

NI TIES.

The Grand uounty Farm furea.u is mate up of nine comnunities.

Sulplur

comnunity has only a f -ew isolated ranchmen, and they

were of the opinion that

they did not want to take up any definite

work for the year.

Mil

ddy

comnu ni ty ia large and not heavily

pop.1lated and 1 t was impossi -ble to arrange aa meeting that would

be

representative

of the comnunity. A comnunity meeting was held

in each of the other seven

comnunities. Programs of work were

developed at five of these meetings.

The other two

mee

tinge ·rere

a

failure.

'.i.he

programs

of work

developed

in

the

oomnu

ni

ty meetings were

all

very similar. It

was

hard

to get

the

people to look into the

future in

the preparation of

these programs so

they

were

not as

workable as

they

should have oeen.

AN'NU AL MEETING.

The anrual meeting of the Urand Gounty Fa.nn Bureau was held

in Kremmling, the center of the agricultural industry of the

county, on

D

ec.

18, 1920.

Mr. R. H.

Felts

was

present

a.t the p.eeting reprttsenting

the Extension dept. of the College.

Only

about 35 ranchmen at

tended

this meeting.

They

worked

a.

Gounty Progarm of Work out of the comnu nity

programs, 1tlected.

new officers etc. The spirit

displ~ed

at this meeting was of

excellent character, and gave the work a good send-off for

the

coming

ye

a.r.

EXECUTIVE COlvi:MI TT.BIE MEETINGS.

Three executive

com ni ttee meetings we

r~

held

during the year

to transact the

ru

siness of the Bureau. These meetings were

poorly attended, and

were discontinued on account of not oeing

able to

get a quorum present at the meetings to transact

any

business. The total attendance at these

mee~ngs

was only 15.

At the last meet:i.ng a very urusuallmatter was presented to

the

committee.

It was in the form of a sumesti on from the

Mi ddl'!

Park

Stock Growers Aseociati on. The Stock Growers asked

the

bureau to take over their necessary

work,

and then accept

their

membership as members of the Farm fureau. This was gladly

accepted,

~nd

a Livestock division of the Grand County FaDn

fu

reau was originated to cover the requirements of the Forest

Service. The Middle

Park Stockgrotvers accepted this prpposi tion

-7-organization.

It will probably

seem

queer that such action was

taken,

rut

after

the

cirrumstancee are known I think

yru

will agre e with me

that

it was

the

best

for all,

In Grand County we have only

at>Ol

t

265 ranches. Thi

a

gl.

ves

us

a.

total farming population of ab

Ol

t

300

ranchmen. The middle

park stock growers association h

a1

b~n

doing

tusiness in the

Crunty for

20

years

or more, and had never

a.cc~ished

anything ·

of great importance. No-• the

above pop1lation

does

not give means

a:f

supporting

too

many

organizations,

A

great deal of work was

being

duplicated. The t.ltockgrowers atsked the Fann

fu

reau to

take

them in. When it comes right down to itthe duplication in member•

ship was large.

The

solution to the question

was

all

get

together

and .have

one large

organization

in

the County instead of two small

oas.

It

was

done and

we

look for better work along all lines

next year.

0 RGAl\liZATIO N

CAMPAIGN.

ooon after the amu al meeting of the Grand County

~; a.m.

·bureau

the exeru tive committee met and made plans for their anru

al

member-ship

campaign.

In

the comnunitiee the following plans

w~re

adopted.

Comnunity chairmen to have charge of solicitation.

Each solicitor to reo

ave

hand

oook of information furnished

oy

the Colo • State F ann

fu

reau •

"'"he names of members for 1921 to be sent

to the soli ci

tors.

So.l.ici

tors to visit

all

others pers ona.lly and ask them to join.

Solicitors to start out ]'eb/ 26. End March 5th.

'11

he following work was to

_be

done from

the :b,arm

_fu

rea.1

Office.

To

send out one circular letter to a.ll farmers explaining

in

short

the Farm

fu

rew and

asking

them

to fill

out

olank,

and

send

i t

to th9 Grand County llarm fu reau •

to

follow the above letter with a circular letter to all

old members 1 nfo

rm1 ng

them

that their dues for

1921

were due.

To

publish

a

membership

number of the

Bullet1nt.._

To

wli

te articles for the newspapers dl I:ing the campaign

Arrange for men to s oJ.i.ci

t

at the

..t~arm.

Accou.n

t Schools

and

at the

WM!ter Sports

carnival in Hot &llp!ur Springs.

In

working the above plan 428 circular letters were sent out

th

the

ra.nohm~n

of the County. 287

copies of

the Farm

fu

rew.

news were also distrib.lted over the

Crunty.

The circular letters

and.

1:u

lletins

were sent to every

reliable

address obtainable.

Two

circular letters w-9re sent to the so 11 oi

tors.

The

solicitors

in

t~s

campaign did not

~aork.

The tti.g per

centage of members were obtained

by

a circular letter asking them

to sign an inclosed check and return it to the

]tann

fu

reau

members

..

The dues to the Grand

Co ·Lm

ty

Fann

:Bu rew

were raised at the

a.iiitu

al

meeting

from

ll.OO

to

$3 .00.

fhi

s was

one of

the

thi rgs ..

that was

'hard

to overcome in the

mEmbership

campaign. The reeul

t

was that at the end of our campaign we had only 128 paid members

for the year of 1921,

a~inst

141

mEmbers

for the

year of 1926.

In looking over the

membership

roll

though

we f'ind that we have

more actual farmers this year

than

last.

Many

people

the first

year merely joined to

help

a good thing along, and

~fter

their

fee of

$1.00

was

pa.i

d

they forgot all

a. brut

the

tu

reau, and

the

work that was to .. be done. They wer a not men that would

g::i.

ve

their moral

support to the bureau,

1u

t would gladly give a dollar

to get rid of a solicitor.

BOYS' AIID GIRLS' CllJBS •

Boys' and

girls'

clubs were Ohrganized for the first time in

the

eounty with the help of

w.

R • . Freeman, A set.

State Leader of

clubs.

It

was hoped

that livestock

cJubs

could

be

organized,

at

the

financial mat

-era in

the county did not allow such organization to

ve

done.

11'1 ve organization meetings

were

held with a to tal of 187

people at tending. Thi

a

1 arge at ten dance was

due

tb.

the use of

the

portable

moving

picture

outfit. Mr. Freeman organized the

clubs after the edu ca.tional shows. 2 sewing clubs, 3 garden clubs

and l

rabbit club were organized with a total enrollment of 39

-9-CROP IMPROVEMENT.

Sunflower-s for Silage.

In the County 3 comrru

ni

ties adopted thi. s project. The

demonstrations consisted of small plots, atX>u t

~ one-tenth

a ere,

of ma.rnmoth russian sunflowers. The dgnenostrations were to

determine the fact that we cruld raise sunflowers !or

silage

at thi s

a.l

ti

1u

de •

\

In Stillwater commni ty we had a demo nat

mti

on

of

fall

planting of the aJ.nflowers. The fall plam'iad se d ebawed a

poor stand

rut

was earlier than the spring planted seed.

\

In

thi

a commni

ty the

demonstrati

~:n

was

not

a

sue cess as the

frost killed

the

sunflowers oefore

they

wer,e

far enrugh along

to

make

silage •

In

th~

other two comnu ni ties the demonstrations were a

~ess

and the eunflowem developed ma'b.lre seed. The estimated

tonnage per acre of sunflowe

IS

would be abcu t 28 tons on irrigated

land.

Int.,ducti on

of

High Altitude Varieties

of

Wheat.

It

was

planned in Stillwater comrm.1nity to

prorure

some

strains of high.t

~lti

tude varieties of wheat,

bJ.

t we cruld not

get samples of any that ha44. not been tried in the Comnu ni ty.

This fall we have secured a dEmlonstration of Kanred wheat

agai nat turkey red.

Spring wheat variety tests weroe planned but the

did not get the work done.

demonstrators/

,~/

//

Oats~·

/Six hundred pounds of certified N eb. 11021 ee.ed oats

shipped in 'to tb.e county. This seed yielded 96

OJ.

shels

to

measured acre. The oats were rather

light,

w

t

the yield

made up for it •

Grain Treating Demonstration's:

,,/'

w~re

!~ilY/

:::?'

In two communities grain treating demonstrations were held.

Two demonstrations in two comrru nities

with

a toUl at tenda.nce of

6. Barley and oats were treated

by

the sprinkle method. The

o tiler me thode were dis ou s sed

and

qu

es

ti

one

.answered •

Certidied Potato eed introduced.

Certified brown oew. ty and peach blow seed was introduced

into the County

w

t reeul ts were not grati

1'ying.

Peacll olow

showed

the

internal brown spot, and brown oeau ties di*W. not produce

·.-ell.

I

Pas iu

re and

Hay.

Demonstrations were planned to

snow

the increase in yeeld of

meadow land

by

cultivation. Frur comnunities planned for a

demon-station in each, out no demonstmtors \Vere secured. The lack

of

cattl-!

to

ea.t

up the

present production

of hay

prooably

had

o

th1 ng

to

d

w1

th

this

faalu re •

Se ru ring po·vver for cu 1 ti v a

ti

on of

meadows.

This

~ject

was taken up in two

comuu

ni ties. The idea

was

to

secure someone that wruld

l:uy

a tractor outfit and do custom

work. No one wa.s

found in ei

th

er comnu ni ty.

AS

a substitute two tractor demonstrations were planned.

/

There is only one tractor agent in

the

County so oompeti tion

·

was lacking. Many men

SfiW

wna.t

the small

~~olnieon

Tractor could

do for them.

'lbe

total attendance at the tractor demonstrati one

was

abcu

t

75. Along this line it. might oe well to state &hat at

one

o.f the demonstrations they were una ole to cope

with

the large

sage

'ou

rsh in plowing new land. The two men

then got

b.l

sy

and

ruilt their

brush

plow over until it -was proclaimed to

be

the

most eu o oesSlfu l

·brush plo·w ever seen in the County. This is

rath·er important because with the development of the eountcy their

will

be

ma.nyacres

of grrund ·broken, and this plow will be a venefi

to

the

County.

Er

adi c ati on of Fan Weed •

The fanweed was found in otillwater cormminity, and a method

of eradication

was

found

and

perfected.

The fan weed can

·be

controlled in this comnuni

ty

by

getting

plenty of \'6t9r on the spots were it starts in the meadows. Where

there is plenty of water the

timothy and alsike clover will

drive~

it out.

Ar

rund the

barnyard

it was found

that

it o

wld

be killed

by

using a

100

to 1 solution of sodium arsenite. The plants nust

be

covered three times

abm

t 2 days apar •

Fo

rDIIL

ti on of Perma.nen

t

i

rri gated pas 1ll re.

It was planned to start one permanent irrigated pasture in

otillwater com:uu

ni

ty. The pas

1u

re

mi~1u

re was ee ru red

by

the

County Agent and

sent to the demonstrator, bl

t

the pas1u re was never

put

in.

Fo rmatio.n of

dry

land pastures.

Pas1ure mix'b.l.re wa.s secured and sent to demonstrator,

tu

t work

Clearing Land of Willows.

In several comnu

ni

ties of

Grand

County there are acres

and acres of willow ground. These willows are u Slliilly &und

upon the bottom land. In fact in

most

places they are taking

the moi sill re and land in the most de

ai

rable places for meade

¥6.

Up

to

th~ ~sent

time there has b'Sen

no

practical way

of getting

rid

of these willows.

~age

:LcDg

ago

when

labor

\vas

plentiful,

and

cheap •

a

good

many

acres

were gru ·bb d

out

with a grubbing ho• ,

1:u

t at the pr eeent time

ycu

can

hardly

find

labor

that

will

do

the

work. Many

men have pull d them

out

with

small tractors, and

teams;

tu

t tr.d.

e method

is

very

slow,

and

if

the

farmers

time is taken

into

consid

ration,

rather expenei ve. In some

places

they

can be burne:d,

when

th~y

get

d:cy in the

fall)

this

method

i a rather

lrazardoue.

The

plan of

th

Fan:n

fu

rew

was to get

information on

machinery

that

woald

be

able to handle t.tas willows

on

a

laige

scale.

We knew

of'

the

marufac'b.lre

of large

cater-pillar tractors, and tractor grub breakers. From litera1ure

we thought that the above outfit

could handlf'

the willows.

\

While

in

Denver

the

County

Agent was Ill t

in tw ch

with

a contmctor that was looking for work as we had •. He visited

the County during the SJ.mmer and visited several willow

patches, and

promised to return with an engineer that would

J

be able to

gate

us data on the kind of machi n

ry

necessary to

plow

these

willows

out,

I

The

financial

co ndi ti ons of the County at the present

time

do

not war rant

going

any

farther with this project,

bJ.

t .

as

land

becomes more

valuable

in this County this work will

.~

1

have to be done, and the work of the ]'arm fureau this sea o

will be a stepping stone to

the

solution of the willo

/

problem.

Fall

or Spring Seeding for Meadows. Timothy and aleike.

'l'his fall a demonstrator has

-been

sewred to

show

by

actual demonstration the falue of fall se

ding of

tJmi.crnthy

and

alsi~e

clover seed. He has

put

in a small

piec~

of land

thi

e fall, and plane to

pl

t

another piec$ of

land

adjoining

next spring, using similar

conditions. The yj.eld on these

plots

will

be

measured as to

production fo r

the

next three

years.

Investigational

Work on Corn.

This

spring

the earliest varieties of corn known ere

di stri bu ted among the

farmers. Squaw,

gehu,

U •

s.

193.

Silver

King,

Northwestern

dent,

were the varieties tried. A few

ro as ti

ng

ears

were

a

e ru red,

bu

t

no corn ma 1ll re., ..

\

LIVESTOCK

I:MPFI.OVEMENT.

At the Annual meeting

of

the Farm fureau it was d cided

to

put

on a campaign to get at least

60%

of the ranchmen to

hold their tulle off of the range until after July lst.

If bulls are Ill t on the range before tnis time a great many

early cal•es will be dropped. These valv s are dropped at a

time that it is practically impossible for them to receive

th

~

care that they

eh

wld

have. Theywi ll probably come during

a spring blizzard or a very

cold

speel of weather,

and a

good

percentage of the calves are lost.

The

idea

of

this

p

mject

was

to increase

the

calf crop

of

the

county. Plans for this

project were to

be

worked out

by

the

County Agent

and a

committee.

Wlliehl

the

eime came

for

the ccm:rni ttee to work out their

:gjlans the weather did not permit the committee

getting wgether

Later in the spring weather developed that made it impossible

for

the men to turn thei x· rulls out

as

early as they had done

in

previous years. The

tu

ll

a were not held until July l at

.pi

but

they did not go on the range as early as the average ranch

man

tume

out.

A

plan was

aae]t•tleti-~e

adopted

by

the

ru

reau to . have

tulle, bought in Denver at the Na:t:bnnal Western Stock Show

foruee in the County all shipped

iR'e in

together.

In

this

way a great deal of freight

w

ruJ..d

be

saver.

It was found

thrugh that

on

account of

the

financial conditions that very

few

bu

.lle ere bought, and that it wo uld be

i mpossible

for

this project to

be

put into operation.

D

ai

ryi

ny·1fllll!lt~

~Four

comrrunities in the County

witll\ed to take up herd

testing as a project.

The

:Ba.rm Burew.

office

is equipped with

a oaboack tee ting

w tfft._ and the County Agent ee

OJ.

red sui table

barn

record

sheets, and herd record

booAe. The men

wishing to

test their herds were to purchase screw top sample tattles.

With the use of these

·oo

t tle e they cru ld send a sample

of

milli

to the county agent every month to be tested. They

also

planned

to weigh their milk

ev~ry

day, or twice a week.

Five..- rpwn

JU

rchased this equipment, and one man had

his herd

tea ted, and kept up his re co rde for two months. Thi a was

tb:eeextent of

the

work done. Better care and

feeding

yf

·

dairy

cows

would

have been worked into

tr.~.i

s project had it

been more

Sl

cae

ss:tul.

Dairy

Calf C lube.

It was planned to organize three

dairy

calf cJube in

-13-HOME I :M:PROVE:IYrENT •

Poultry.

Feu r oomrruni ties planned work on poumtxy culling at their

comnunity meeting. Mr. Jam.ison poultzy sp•cialist from

the~

college

was

secure for this work. Four poultry ru lling demons

trati one were held

w1

th a total atte nda.nce of about 23 people.

One lady kept the rullls in a pen

by

themselves for two days.

She. promised to keep them for a week, blt a W.yer came along

and she did not hesitate to sell her culls • The three lsders

in the comnu

rd

ties are interesting other women in p rulery work

and next year we hope for same good work along the line of

poultry culling

and feeding.

Boys' md Girls' clubs relative to Home improvement.

~

Two garien clubs and two sewing clubs were organised in

the

coulty.

.

\

~Garden

clubs marketed their produce to some of the

neig1!'bo;;7 and then they furnished the tw rist tfade

~f

Hot

\

Sulphur

Springs,

and

Grand Lake with vegetables

dlrir~

the

\

Slqer. .Three different

boys from the Williams Fork chb

came to Sulpbnr Springs every Sat. that the club had 'produce

ready

for market,

and

sold the produce of the entire

club.

The Grand Lake Garden cJub,which consi&eed mostly of

girls,~

l

sold their produce locally.

J

~ing

clubs were o :rgailiz:ed in Kremmling and

mn

the

/l

Williams Forks. The club on the ],orks was not a success

becw se a competent local leader could not be found. Qng

of the older girls tried though,

'tu t

was no.t well enough

/

versed

in sewing to hold the club together. The club in

.

Krenunling was a

'big

success, and after completion of the

;·

first years work, they p erw aded the school bOard to give

.

them a.n hcur a week to go ahead and centime the s e c y

.nd

1

years WJ)rk. Another local leader was then found to tak

/ /

a alas s of first year

gitls.

- / "

The champion garden clu o member and the champion

/V"'

sewi ng clu b member were

gu

e s ts e o

f

the Colo • state F

ai

r

Commission at the SMee Fair.

In

Nov~ber

Miss

Haynes, State Home Demonstration

Leader, visited

the cm1nty. Three meetings were held, and

work was started along home cheese making and canning lines.

This work in unfinished.

PESTSo

The Wyoming ground squirrel ia the only peat :bn Grand

,...,} / .

ndSCJ,lirrel.

\

~

.. '

C n\y worthy of mention. Three comllllnities in the County

V

planned effective work against

tr~s

rodent. The goal set in

\

each

60Ultnty

was to get

everyone

interested or troubled

with

· the squirrel to poison them

with

po8soned oats.

At

first it

was

planned

to

mix

our own poison in

the

County. Orders for poison were soiicted,

~t

the orders did

not warrant

the

mixing of

our poison,

on

account of the high

price

of

the ingredients used in mixing. A seed

hcu ee in

Craig then offered us the best price on poisoned oats so the

first orders were sent to him.

This

poison a.rrived

in

due

time and was di stri

w ted

by

the Co u

t1ty

Agent. We did not

get the results from it though that we expected so the rest

of the orders were Sent to the College. Three hundred and

ninety

six

pounds of

bait

were used

on a

total of

740 acres.

This

plan was not very successful -becau. se we feu

that

during the summer many

people

wanted poi eon that had not

order-ed When orders

wer e

soilcited.

This was

caused -ey

the fact

that

in the spring

it

1 s impossible for

the

County

Agent

to

get in personal touch with many men and perruade

them

to use

the

poisoned

oats. Next year we are

going

to

try

and

finance

the

plan

eo that we will have oats on hand all during the

summer.

We wruld

like to

have

pest districts, rut it is imposei

ble

on account of the many acre of State Land in the County. Lack

fo funds from the government also make

it

hard

to organize

pest

districts.

\

\

I

_l

I

I

t

J

J

T he plan

next year

will be

to

have

the

County

Commi

esi onere

finance

the

mixd.ng of the poison, and sell

it

at cost with the

J

cooperation of the local dealers over the County.

,

With the

feeding

of more grain to the livestock in the

I

County the rancbmen will see the need

of

controlli

~

the

Wyo-ming Ground squirrel in the vaJue of the

crops

of

grain

\

roADS.

, Radimn comnu ni ty was the only comnu

.rei

ty

in the Oou n

ty

that planned for

road

work at their comrrunity meetllilg.

Th

ey

planned to

try and get the commi ssi onere to build a road around

a certain parties place. 11'his party insisted upon putting

gates in the County road, and was rather mean to

several peojle

using this road. One man repreee nti

ng

the Comnu

n1

ty visited the

Couo nty Commi ssi onere and was

gtven

the contract to build the

road a.tJound the place mentioned above. Thils

sue

cess fully ended

this project.

They

~leo

planned to pick

a. mile of road and get the

comnunity

out to work on the road

with

financial aid from

the County Commi ssi onere. A mile of road was pi

eked,

and the

plan was put before the County Corilmissioners. They would r1ot

work on the mile pi eked bee au ee it was not a county road • and

they were short of' tfunds. It was then agreed that the County

fu

rveyorz the County Agent, a.nd the

peo~~

in

Radium Comnu ni ty

wou

ld_~et

together and pick another piece of road to work on

a 50-ocp

basis.

The County run out of

funds though before the

County furveyor could get to the comnu ni

ty • and a.s a r eaJ.l

t

MARKET I :t;TG •

A

Dream

That

Did

Not

Come

True.

As

yru

have read from the §eneral description of Grand Co

yru

know

that the great continental divide

iis

a barrier between

Gaand County and Denver, Colo. Denver fUrnishes a market for

practically all the livestock shipped out of this

~ast

grazing

country. Feeders from Grand County go into the feeding pens of

farraere all over the middle west. ·

About

15 years ago David Moffat had completed the Denver

and

Salt Lake through the boundaries

of

Grand County. The

continental diville had been conquered and long trains were

being p.1lled over thi

e

ba. rrier into Denver.

With the

coming

of

the

railroad the pioneelr stoclanan

dreamed that the last blnch of cattle had been trail

d

to

market over the oontinental divide.

He

~s

glad

~because

with

this

new service

he

could load

his

cattle at night and have

them on the market the next

day. He

w~~

not have to

sp~nd

nights of lierding to keep

his

catUe together.

He

would not

have to brave

the

ston:m at high elevations with several

hundred head of cattle • :··

H

e

cruld just tak cs i t easy whi le

the

toil

and

invention

a of man solved his probl ans.

Jfor several ye&re the stockman marvelled

at the service

of

the

railroad, and what it meant to them. Then there come

a

time when the freight rates star ted to climb,

and

service

on the railroad was lacking. It

was

hinted that the railroad

was busted. This meant nothing thrugh becatse with the

in-c reaee in

rail rates cattle were selling higher than anyone

had ever dreamed.

He

shruld worry if the rates were

high.

But the inevi ta ole happened. Cattle hit rock bot tom

prices. Now

the freight rate of

$10-.CO

a car, for a haul of

a

little over

100

miles was a ptint to be carefully

consider-ed.

I

1f

wa e two

high

they

c

tm

ld not make

any

pro

11

t

at all

at that ra..'-te. I t was breaking them. No relei f could be

serured thru the Public Utilities Commission. Service had

also gone "to

the bad". · It took several days, nearly a week,

in

some cases

to

get cars, and get the cattle to market.

-The

Q)lestion was asked; how are

we going

to solve this

problem.

Some one suggeetect that they drive their cattle to market.

It was talked and thot of a great deal. At last one blnch was

on the i'rail.

The eyes

of the stockme.n were on this

lblnch

of cat

Ue~

Vlha.t

were~

they going

to

mn into on the other side of the

range where land aad been taken

up

and fenced since the last

herd went

over~

They

had

aplm.did

grass,

becw

se

of plenty

of

rain during the summer.

They

were

early

enough

to

avoi4

sto

m.e

on the

big

hump.

It

wru

ld

take

them

9 days

to

make

-17-At

the

la.st the cattle hit

the

market.

The

price

received was good. Shriltkabout l? pounds lJ)er head.

6o st of driving

about

$1.!0

per heaci.

Hard

work

rut

highly

successful.

This

was

a

good

demonstration to the

Fe..rm

Bu.

reau.

They

ta~ked

with

these

men,

and decided

some

more work sho1lld

be done.

They

sent a man

with

the County Agent

to look

over

the

trail.

On

this trip pas1llres were located

on

the eastern

slope of

the divide,

watering places

were

looked

after .

in

fact

a road

log

vas

made

of

the

trail from Kremml mg,

t

to

Denver.

This l:oad log was

published

in both of the

County

papers.

Plans were made

for driving many cattle to

the Denver

J&:rket.

It

was decided that it would not

be

profitable to drive

feeders to market

on account of

the

fact

that

many feeders

are

sold

with

f'reigh

t

to

the

river.

In case

the cattle welfl! trailed

they

would not

be

sold

wi

tb freight,

and

.tk4

nothing would

be

gained.

A

late haying season

eela.yed

the gathering of

the

catue

from

the

ranges,

and made it

rather

J.a.te

for them

to

try

to

get

over

the range.

Many

people forgot

vmat

the pioneers

had

gone

th

ru

and lo

st

their

nerve, and shipped their

cat tle

to market.

A to

1al

of

66o

head

were

dfri

ven

over the range to market.

The

cost

of

the freight would have

been$2,

?04 .CO. The cost

of driving was $792.00. The

estimated

shrink

·by

rail is

not less

that

60

pounds

per head.

By

driving it proved to

be

abou.

t

20 pounds per head. A saving of 40 pounds

per

h~d.

Now you will realize that fig1res of this

na1ure

ai:e very

hard

to secure,

w

t let us

value

the

beef

at an average of

4

cents per

pound.

We

are certain they

brought

more

than

that,

1:u

t to

be squ

a.re

with

ou

reel vee

we will

value

1

t

at

that. The Value

of the shrinkage ·saved would

then

be

$1

,o56 .00. Now yru

can easily

.til&

that at

any

r•iai the

value in shrinkage •ka•

saved would pi.J: for the

cost

of

driving, and the sto ckm.en that had nerve enw gh

to take

to

the

trail

saved

themselves a

great freight bill.

-Putting

th~

J'ellow

With

iomethi

ng

to

iell

in Touch with the

]allow

that

wants

to

Buy.

The farm

blreau

office has had a

card

index system

in

operation

that covers

the

alax>Ye.

The

"wants"

and"for-e aland"for-es" havand"for-e band"for-eand"for-en advand"for-ertisand"for-ed in thand"for-e Fann

fu

reau

News at

different times. We have no definite

figures

on this

project as

it

has been impossible to get the men to

drop

us

a.

card when

they

ha•e

-bou

g)l

t or sold an arti ole thru

OTHER WORK.

lh ral Education.

Movies

for

Mountain Folks Provided

by

Farm

I\1

reau.

/

Western Farm Life .hlg. l,

1921. ) /,

/

urand County, Colorado, better kno n as Middle Parli,

Y

!} /

a

mountainou

e

eecti on

famous

for the qua.li ty of its hay and

.~

cattle, has only two moving picture theaters, these being

~,,

located at Hot Sulphur Spr1.ngs, and Tabernash,

and

access-

~

i ble to o

P~Y

a small part of the population. There are many

children in the County who

have

never seen a movie,

tu

t thanks

to

the

enterprise of the Grand County

Farm

furew, they are

now becoming fami l.iar with thi

e

form of entertainment. At

the

smae

time

they

are

getting the benefit of educational

.

pictures such as are not usually shown at the ordinary picture

house.

From Arthur A. Kroll, county agent, comes the info nnation

concerning this project, which ie unique of its kind in the

we at. He e tates that the

..11•

arm

.ru

re

ru

purchased the outfit

from a Denv

~

supply hmse, the projector co sting $175, the

gene ra.tor $135, and the screen

t10.

The

projector is known

at the .Modelll. The films beingused are furnished

by

the

Colorado Agri cu.l1u ral Col leg , the U • S? Department of

Agri-culture and several commercial

fl.

nr1s

which make a

bus

in ss

of sending out educational material that has an advertising

feature, rut is unobjec tiona. ole. Short ommedy films are also

shown, su ch a

:Wil

t

t

and Jeff and .bri ngi

ng

Up Father •

County Agent Kroll says:

"The ], arm

fu

reqJ. purchased this

outfit with help of the county comnissioners, the idea being

to give

eru ca tional moving picture sh me in our rural

comnu-ni ties. The two moving picture theaters, one at Hot

Ell

lphur

and the other

at

.labernash, r

~ch

only a small portion of

ou r population. Since we have pur chased this outfit we

ha

e

had chi .iiren at our shows that had never heard of a moving

pi c1ll re before and

m.8l1J7

more that had neve_. seen a show.

"We plan

to

use this machine to get people out to our

meetings when we have eometni

ng

of interest to the farmers

and

r~hmen.

Social life in our conmunitiu also will be

benefitl..ed and

we

will find our mral people getting

to-gether oftener as a result of the moving pi cturee. In some

cases a soci a 4 dance follows our show. When Walter Freeman

assistant club iader, was here recently organizing

boys'

and girls' we used the machine to bring

o~~in~ng

people. At four meetings

we

had a total(

I

a

tten-da roe of 187. This may not eeem like a oig figure,

tu

t when

you consider that we showed only in frur comnunities and that

the to tal pmpu la ti on of the county

i

6

les

6

than 3,000 yru

can see that we reached a large percentage of the yOlng

people.

-19-u'lhe equipment

we have enables u

a

to give

a motion

picture

show at

any

place where a

~~ord

car i e avai

lab•e.

The au tomo'bi le

generator fits on the

xunring

·board of

the

car. We

jack up

the hind wheel

and away we

gp.

The

generator furnishes

a

stand-ard

110

volts. We hope for ·big thi

rg

s as a result of

thi

a Xi

ea..

We believe tha·t the Grand County

.Blann

Bureau

is

the

first in

the·

west

to purchase a machine

of

thi

a kind

for

the.

development of

education along agricultural lines

in

rural comnuni

ties.,.~.

A

total

of

22 educational

shows

have been

given

in

various

comrru

ni

ties over the County.

·The

to tal at

tenda.nce

has been 1266.

Fa.~m

gement:

Two farm account

sbhoola were held

iLl

the

County at the

b

ginning

of the year. At one of the schools the cost of

production of a 3yr. steer was figureli. At the

other topics

ocmcerni

ng

size, production

p

~

acre of farms

was

taken

up.

The :Banks in the County

di.etri

bl ted Farm Account

·books·~

Twenty

F~

ve -oo oks ·eere

di

s

t

ri

bu

ted, bl t to date only l

book

has

been kept

up.

.

Orgairuiation of Middle

Park

National

lf

1

arm Loan Association.

This as so cia ti on was organized during the first part of

the

summer. P.

s.

Elting Sec.

of

the Grand County Farm

Bureau did most of'

the

organization work, and is Sec. of the

Loan Association.

6Q~eoo

in approved loans has been

the

result of

thi

e organization. This will do a great deal to

solve fi nanoi al problems in the County.

Vet erian a:y Association:

.

At the anrual meeting of the

Fatzm

Bureau it

was

de

oided

to lay

plans

for the fonnation o!

a veterinary association

so

that we c ru ld

have

a man

prac

ti

sing

in

the

County •

The

fi

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK IN AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE State Agricultural College and County Farm Bureau

Cooperating.

STATES RELATIONS SERVICE Office of Extension Work North and West

WASHINGTON, D. C.

ANNUAL REPORT OF COUNTY AGRICULTURAL AGENT

(Due November 30, 1921)

Stale

of---~~"---•

County

of--~-~-~---·---·

-~

--- County Agriculiural Agent

From_i~/_/f_a_<i_

__ ,

to-~

__

(2 __________ ,

1921

If agent has not been employed entire year, indicate exact period. Agents resigning during

year should :make out this report before quitting the service.

(For map of State showing location of county, photograph illustrating some phase of county agent work, or brief summary of outstanding features of the work.)

, • . r l

Approved:

~d

(Name)

---7---A - ---

_{Ptesident of Farm Buteau.}

Date ________________

---(Address) _________ ·---__________________________________ _