This week in Canton history...
CANTON HERALD-July 7, 1960:
Cattle Population is shifting from West to East Texas according to the USDA. Quote cropland is going to grass in the Kaufman-Van Zandt SCD according to district supervisors these are statements that are well known to the people of this area. The Kaufman – Van Zandt SCD supervisors realized several years ago that more and more land in the district were going to grass. Therefore, for the past few years the supervisors have included pasture establishment in the district annual plan of operations. Procedure development would be one of the several soil and water conservation practices that the Kaufman-Van Zandt will stress and put emphasis on in 1960,” Bright Springs, chairman of the board, stated. “In fact that the jobs or objective of the Soil and Water Conservation District cooperatives,” Mr. Freeman Springer said. Assistance by the district is provided by furnishing information sheets telling how and when to establish certain grasses; tours and field days are plan to demonstrate methods of establishing grasses and equipment has been brought by the district to assist operators in pasture development. Also it is through the Soil Conservation District that technical assistance is received from the Soil Conservation Service,” D. L. Boyd, local supervisor states. “After the KVZSCD was organized in 1940 and the supervisors elected, by the people, and annual plan of operations was developed, showing the problems and needs of the farmers and cooperate cooperators. Then by request from the Soil Conservation District the federal government made available soil conservation technician. The job or work of the technicians is to assist the district and cooperatives to carry out their plans in the soil and water conservation field,” Mr. Boyd said. Each farm has a different problem. Soils are different. All soils on a farm might look alike but their might be a lot of difference between the first few pages of the top soil. Cecil Cheney, WUC, states.
One important factor is grassland farming is an established is to establish the grass that is best adapted to the soils on the farm. Some grasses will produce more forage on certain soils than others, Cheney said.
Infertility is another problem. How much fertilizer to apply, when to apply and how often to apply is often asked. “Again that depends a lot on the soils,” Mr. Cheney said. Proper management is very essential to the grasses established to get the maximum production. These are some of the questions and problems that are involved in grassland farming. Therefore the supervisors recommend to district cooperators to use the technical assistance that is available from SCS in planning a soil, water and plant conservation plan for their farm, so that each acre will be used according to his abilities.
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