1949 Annual Narrative Report Pinal County

Item Type text; Report

Authors University of Arizona. Agricultural Extension Service. CountyAgricultural Agents.; Bever, Robert J.

Publisher University of Arizona

Rights Permission to use or to order reproductions must be obtainedfrom the University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections.Contact us at askspecialcollections@u.library.arizona.edu, or(520) 621-6423.

Download date 28/04/2021 19:27:40

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/580674

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Robert ;r BErf'er

Assistant County Agricultural Agent

PinalCoun'tJ

Arizona

;rune 6, 1949 to November 30. 1949

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. - Cover Page

II - Table of Contents

III - Narrative Summary

IV - 4-H Club Work and Organization

A. Methods EmployedB. LeadersC. ResultsD. Goals

V - Projects

A. Improved Condition of Tight SoilsB. 4-H Club Work

1. Livestock (Beef, Dairy, Swine)2. Poultry and Rabbits). Garden4. Handicraft5. Predatory Animal Control

C. Seed ImprovementD. Rodent ControlE. Feeding LivestockF. Agricultural Survey of Pinal CountyG. Poultry Feeding and ManagementH. Plant Diseases and Insect ControlI. Miscellaneous

1. Home Yard Improvement2. Radio Programs3. Conferences

VI - Plan of Work for 1950

VII - Pictures of County Extension Work

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ARIZONA AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICEiIS.

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III - NARRATIVE S��RY

The work of the assistant agent in PinalCounty is divided into two classes - organizingand conducting all agricultural 4-H Club Workand carrying on all administrative work for bothAgricultural and Home Economic 4-H Club Work andsecondly conducting general agricultural, what­ever it may be.

During the last 5 3/4 months of service theassistant has spent 80 days working with 4-H Clubwork and 56 days on general agricultural work.Ninety days were spent in the office and 46 daysin the field. There were 163 farm and home visitsand 70 visits to different farms and homes. Therewere 46 phone calls and 231 office calls received.The assistant agent wrote 6 articles for localnewspapers.

The assistant agent began his work with theExtension on the 6th of June. The 4-H club yearwas completed in April and all enrollment recordshad been approved by Mr. Bill Brechan, formerassistant county agent in Pinal County. Theassistant agent attended the State 4-H Roundupin June, the summer 4-H Camp and 4-H LeadersTraining School in August.

The assistant agent with the help of Mr. K.K. Henness, Pinal County Agent, visited the variouscommunities throughout the county and attempted to

acquaint himself with the county in general and4-H club leaders. Getting acquainted with the 4-Hclubs and leaders was rather difficult due to thefact that the former assistant agent had left priorto the assistant agent's assignment to the county.

There has been a considerable drop in 4-Hclub membership because handicraft has been drop­ped as a project unless carried in conjunctionwith another agricultural project. This has beena severe blow to our 4-H club work and has causedconsiderable criticism to our county 4-H program.

The State 4-H Roundup was held in Tucson inJune. The county delegation consisted of 13 girlsand 8 boys. A county girl again won the StateDress Revue and 4 other blue ribbons in the Statecompetition. The trip to the Roundup was free tothe club members who had been blue ribbon winnersat the local county 4-H Fair.

The annual summer 4-H camp was held at MountLemmon, Tucson, this year- and there were 22 boysand girls from Pinal County attending. The campwas composed of club members from Pinal, Cochise,Pima, Greenlee, and Graham Counties. A total of82 club members attended the camp. The cost forthe week camp was $9.50 to our County club members.The high school in Casa Grande was very cooperativeand let us use their bus for this trip.

The summer cotton insect control program was

conducted by the assistant agent under the super­vision of the Pinal County Agent, Mr. K. K. Henness.There were 174,000 acres of cotton in this countyand several fields were selected in the Stanfield­Maricopa area, Casa Grande area, Eloy area, Coolidgearea, and Florence-Magma area and these were checkedweekly by the assistant agent. This program gaveus an over-alI-picture of the insect populationand served to give us a check of the various in­secticide companies who have checkers in the areas.

The weekly 15 minute radio broadcast over Sta­tion KCKY Casa Grande-Coolidge, has been carriedon by the assistant agent. The program is airedweekly at 12:15 P. M. on Sunday. On this programthe assistant agent has discussed horticulturalwork, 4-H club work, and agriculture highlights.All the broadcasts are tape recorded and numerous

have been "on the spot" transcriptions of inter­esting agricultural happenings.

The agricultural work conducted by theassistant agent is as follows:

Cooperative Agricultural Planning - 25 daysCrop Production - 25 daysLivestock Production - 20 daysConservation of Natural Resources - 2 daysFarm Management 4 daysGeneral Economic AgriculturalProblemsMarketing and DistributionHousing, Farmstead Improvement,and EquipmentNutrition and HealthClothing, Recreation & CommunityLife 5 daysCotton Insects and Plant Diseases - 22 daysMiscellaneous - 14 days

1 day3 days

- 13 days2 days

IV - 4-H ORGANIZATION

A - Methods Employed

Pinal County is a peculiar county as far as

4-H club work is concerned. Cotton is the princi­ple,crop and.the only crop of any importance inthis county. Most of our farms consist of 200-600acres with no farm house and a few cotton picker'sshacks; the farmer and family living in town. Veryfew farms where livestock and poultry are raisedcan be found'in this county. The problem that facesus is how can we conduct a good county 4-H programunder these circumstances. Through weekly publicityby newspapers and radio the assistant agent isattempting to make the people of this county more

4-H conscious. Our "out of school" clubs haveincreased greatly and this is the type club we are

striving to establish. Our school clubs are doinga wonderful job, namely, because the leaders, whoare school teachers, see the advantages of good4-H club work and consequently take a great dealof interest rather than the attitude that this is

just another burden on them.

B - Leaders

Finding good leaders for new clubs and keepingour leaders is a real problem. Working with our

leaders by showing active interest in their cluband visiting their club meetings are the principlemethods employed by the assistant agent in formingand keeping the good will of our leaders. Leadertraining and leader recognition are quite necessary;the former is rather difficult to carry out but hasproven itself quite successful as shown by a county4-H leader training meeting held in Coolidge inOctober of this year. Twenty two leaders were pre­sent and only three of our county leaders were notin attendance. The Sacaton Indian Reservation (inPinal County) was incorporated into our county 4-Hgroup and the leaders of the four clubs there are

very well qualified and very interested in theirclub work.

C - Results

The results for the club of the 194$-1949 were

in the report of Mr. Bill Brechan, former AssistantCounty Agent.

D - Goals

Cannot emphasize publicity too much as means

of bettering our 4-H club work. Radio, newspapers,and achievement days are means of gaining biggerand better support throughout the county. Althoughour fair exhibits will not be as many as in thepast (no handicraft), our livestock, poultry andgardening exhibits will be more numerous.

Support of all communities in the county forour 4-H county club work is absolute necessary andworking through the Chamber of Commerce and mer­

chants of the various towns is not only a monetarymeans of help but is very good method of publicity.

Will strive to see a greater percentage ofcompletions in our 4-H club projects. This willbe accomplished because of the greater number of"out of school" clubs and the fact that most ofour leaders have now been in club work for severalyears and know the importance of completion ofprojects.

V - AGRICULTURAL WORK PROJECTS

A - Improved Conditions of Tight Soils

Deep plowing has become an established practicethroughout the county as a means of alleviating tightsoils. This tends to break up the hard pan thatexists and allows air penetration into the soil.Where barnyard manure is available, farmers spreadthis on the ground by means of a manure spreader.

B - 4-H Club Work

1. Livestock (Beef, Dairy, Swine)

At the state 4-H Round-up in Tucson, our JuniorLivestock Judging Team placed 1st in the Junior Live­stock Judging and 3rd in the Junior Dairy Judging.We had no Senior Team and did not compete in Poultry,Rabbits and Vegetable Judging. At the State Fairheld in Phoenix in November, our Senior LivestockTeam placed 1st in the Senior Livestock Judging andthe Junior Team placed 4th in Livestock Judging.Both Senior and Junior Dairy Judging Teams placedlow and it will necessitate a lot more emphasis on

Dairy Judging by the Assistant Agent.

2. Poultry and Rabbits

Two poultry clubs have been organized at our

new clubs at Casa Blanca and San Tan; this willgive us more poultry projects than has ever beencarried before 1n this county. Several poultryand rabbit projects are being carried by club mem­

bers in our mixed livestock clubs.

3. Garden

Several garden projects are being carried atCasa Blanca and Red Rock. At Red Rock the gardenplots are located at the school because the clubmembers do not have facilities to carry a gardenproject at home. The gardening projects at CasaBlanca are done at home because they each have thenecessary ground and water facilities.

4. Handicraft

There were 70 completions in handicraft thispast club year in the county. With the new regula­tions governing handicraft all of our handicraftwork in the schools ceased. It may be well to notehere that all or practically all of our handicraftwork was done in our school clubs. Whether thenew regulation is detrimental to 4-H club work inArizona remains to be seen, but it has been a ratherbitter blow to our particular county.

5. Predatory Animal Control

At our new club in Oracle, seven of the clubmembers have chosen Predatory Animal Control as a

project or one of their projects. It will be inter­esting to see how many completions we have there.

C - Seed Improvement

The assistant agent spent several afternoonswith Mr. Harold Jacka, Secretary of the Crop Im­provement Association. Sorghum fields were checkedto see if they met with the regulations for raisingpure seed. Several fields were planted late, some

were in dire need of water and several had infesta­tions of Johnson grass. Very few of the fieldschecked met with the regulations of the Crop Im­provement Association.

D - Rodent Control

No program was conducted by the assistant agent

but with the interest created by members of our4-H Club in Oracle, the assistant agent hopes toestablish some rodent control measures among thefarmers and ranchers of that area.

E - Feeding Livestock

Working through some of our local cattlemenand 4-H Club Members (carrying beef calves as a

project), the assistant agent has endeavored to

impress upon them the importance of balancing ra­

tions. Cattle feeding is not a major industry inPinal County but we do have one of the most modernand efficient feeding operations in Arizona. TheClemans Cattle Co. of Florence yearly feeds thous­ands of cattle and they feed a ration consistingof ensilage (hegari), alfalfa hay, barley, andcottonseed meal. All of the feeds with the excep­tion of the cottonseed meal are grown on their own

farm.

F - Agricultural Survey of Pinal County

Daily information is given to visitors or new

farmers in this county pertaining to the agricul­ture resources. The assistant agent has spent sev­

eral days acquainting himself with the communities,land, and water resources throughout the county.Several farms were visited by the assistant byrequest and the assistant agent has attempted to

help them plan long range farming operation or

crop rotations.

G - Poultry Feeding and Management

Poultry diseases were minor this summer butnumerous cases of chicken mites infestations were

reported. These responded well to a treatment ofcrude oil (sprayed into the crevices and alloverthe wood) on the chicken houses.

H - Plant Diseases and Insect Control

Most of our plant diseases were caused by alkaliwhich is very prevalent in our soil. Most people heredo not take any precautions in their plantings andconsequently numerous plants suffered from alkaliburning. We recommended on the planting of trees andshrubs to have a sufficiently large basin surroundingthem that a large quantity of water can be applied soas to wet the ground thoroughly and this also serves

to wash the alkali down into the earth away from theroot zone. If there was ever any question in our

minds as to what might be wrong with some plant,they were sent to the Plant Pathology Departmentat the University for analysis.

Starting in September, the county had an in­festation of salt marsh caterpillars ("wooly worms").Many cotton fields' were completely defoliated andmuch young alfalfa and barley were destroyed. Thedamage to cotton was very slight but could have beenquite disastrous if it had been any earlier. Nodusting was done for cotton and other crops. Athomes throughout the county, a dust of 5% DDT, 15%Toxaphane, and 40% Sulphur were used to keep theworms from destroying flowers and shrubs.

The cotton insects seemed to arrive very earlythis past summer and this necessitated many earlydustings. Fields scattered throughout the countywere checked weekly by the assistant agent and weeklyreports of our findings were sent to Dr. J. N. Roney,State Extension Entomologist, for his weekly state­wide report. These checks gave us a general ideaof the insect population in the county and alsoserved as a check on the insecticide companies'workers in the county. Lygus were the most pre­dominate harmful insect but stink bugs were alsonumerous in some areas in the county. Where lygusalone were found a dust consisting of 5% DDT and75% sulphur was recommended; if there were any stinkbugs present, a dust of 5% DDT, 2% Benzene hexa-

,

chloride and 50% sulphur. All these dusts are

applied at rate of 20 pounds per acre and most allthe dusting is done by plane. Late in the season,few fields were infested in spots with aphids butthese were never in large enough quantities towarrant extra dustings.

x - Miscellapeous Work

1. Home Yard Improvement

Numerous office and phone calls were receivedconcerning flowers, shrubs, trees, and lawns. Theassistant made many visits to various homes in thecounty and made suggestions on landscaping, flowerand shrub plantings. Much interest was created inhorticulture by Mr. Bill Brechan, former AssistantCounty Agent, and many people have become veryconscious of their home surroundings.

2. Radio Program

The assistant agent has conducted three (15

minutes) radio broadcast a month over Station KCKY,Casa Grande-Coolidge. These programs give the listen�information on all flower, shrub and tree plantingand management. Important 4-H activities and awards;latest information on fertilizers and insecticides;general agriculture information. Broadcast time forprogram is 12:15 P. M., Sundays and these series ofprograms begin in September and end in June.

3. Conferences

The assistant agent attended two conferencessince his assignment in June. A three day confer­ence (County Agent's Conference) was held at Prescottin September and the Annual Extension Conference atTucson in November.

VI - PLAN OF WORK FOR 1950

Decembe"r - Attend 4-H Leaders Recreation School atTucson for 3 days.Visit all agricultural 4-H Club projects.Home Yard Improvement work.Weekly Radio Braodcasts.

January - Start work on 14th Annual 4-H County Fair.Work on county 4�H demonstrations.Home Yard Improvement Work and WeeklyRadio Broadcasts.

February - Continue 4-H Club Demonstrations, andCounty 4-H Fair Work.Home Yard Improvement Work and WeeklyRadio Broadcasts.

March - Conclude all County 4-H Fair Work.Visit 4-H Club projects.Home Yard Improvement Work and WeeklyRadio Braadcasts.

April - Hold 14th Annual 4-H County Fair.Conclude all 4-H work and county and issuepins and certificates.Home Yard Improvement and Weekly RadioBroadcasts

- Prepare county winners for State RoundUp.Home Yard Improvement and Weekly RadioBroadcasts.

- Attend Round Up.Preparation for Summer Camp.Cotton Insect Program.

August

- Cotton Insect Program.

- Cotton Insect Program.4-H Summer Camp.Annual Leave

September- Start fall 4-H club organizationHome Yard Improvement and Weekly radiobroadcasts.

October - 4-H Club OrganizationHome Yard Improvement Work and Weeklyradio broadcasts

November - Train Judging teams for State FairHome Yard Improvement work and Weeklyradio broadcasts.Complete 4-H club organization.

3tate 4-H Round Up -- Pinal County Grou�

�tate 4-R Roun�UpPinal County Livestock Demonstration Team