NORTHERN ILLINOIS FARM LIFE IN WARTIME WWII FOOD & FARM PRODUCTION FILM 55464

[Music] Northern Illinois worth working and fighting for full of serene beauty and promises the sky over the good productive earth no bright blotting fliers in the summer air no bands are playing yet here free men women and their children are working from Sun to Sun working against shortages and many of their essentials but working with a grim resolute courage and typical American ingenuity to make out with what they have to win a total war to bring victory and peace to a troubled world [Music] it's a beautiful day in northern Illinois well here's a typical Illinois farmer one of the men our armed forces and we at home depend upon for food and oil boy is he busy his machinery scarce his gasoline is rationed the tires on his truck are wearing down his hired man's working in a defense plant his son is on a fighting front 2,000 miles away well it's time for chores it's always time for something he says when armies in fleets demand that every American farm produce to a Thutmose so let's look around and see what's going on [Music] a vital importance is the rising production of milk from herds like this in northern Illinois air sure Jersey Holstein Brown Twiss and Guernsey go get them Toby we're on the wild rose farm you've seen child let's stop right here for a minute and watch farm manager Roy sharps dogs bring in the cows while Roy goes ahead with his chores totally brings him up from a mile away Toby's a border collie with plenty of sense notice the slow easy way he brings them in this electric doorway sprayer saves a lot of time it disinfects and rid the herd of pests as they enter the barn here's a little tip for you bothered by flies in your barn color the windows blue and presto no flies they don't like the blue light try it and see let's drop in here and see if we can learn something here is Doug night with Benny his former high school AG teacher from sandwich Ben has helped him develop one of the state's best hold Steinberg dub grind speed as does eh Ellingson or poplar grove way by machinery here's the before and after back at nights again this is night in her daughter Eleanor feed the cows while dub jr. demonstrates a really effective home-built sprayer [Music] it completely sprays the barn kills all the Flies Doug helps control mastitis by carefully washing the others before milk he washes and milks two cows at a time so that the milk does not start prematurely [Music] dub dips the teats in chlorine water after milking as an extra precaution against the spread of mastitis [Music] Miriam mcCormick Tessa for the Dairy Herd Improvement Association takes care of testing for 24 herds in the south county recommends proper feeding and gives advice on control of dairy diseases by weighing and taking a sample of the milk from each cow the farmer has an exact record of what his herd is producing miss McCormack by the way has taken the place of a man who's gone off to war [Music] milk is cooled in this combination cooler strainer to a temperature of 55 degrees by keeping his milk in this walk-in cooler he holds the temperature down around 36 degrees low enough to keep down bacteria content on the Marvin Eriksen farm near Kankakee is the milk stir designed by The Electric Company a 1/4 horsepower motor does the job George what you can do with a little ingenuity but it's easy this way doesn't it here's another chore familiar to every dairy farmer when it comes to washing milking equipment as glorified be over near Palatine can tell you there's nothing like a good automatic supply of hot water [Music] it doesn't take long when you're set up to do it right and when you get through you know your milker and all the equipment is really clean ready for use the next time F Streeter leo Faust and one hired man handles sixty-five columns and that takes plenty of practical know-how on planning Leo devised a lot of work savers among them is this manure voice operated by a quarter horsepower electric motor the whole thing was designed and built right here [Music] it used to take two men just to spray this her the old-fashioned way but Leo does the job alone now an incidentally uses only five gallons of spray where it used to take 30 gallons every three months some spray how do you like it Leo uses the same type combination milk cooler and strainer that dub night does milk is brought down to about 40 degrees in this cooler strainer [Music] he gets his low temperature by pumping cold water from cooler tank to cooler strainer our Derry story wouldn't be complete without the head man or I should say the head man this exerciser works off excess energy for Bulls of the Illinois Holstein breeding Association at Dundee [Music] how do Northern Illinois farms meet the challenge of rising wartime quotas in beef well they meet it with famous fires like mercury white Shorthorn bull on the ed.elyn farm with fine Black Angus cattle like these on the red top farm with white faced Erfurt that purse emeritus farm near Maple Park here's the Hereford bull Angus bull Shorthorn bull and a whole herd of good Shorthorn [Music] one answer to a steady supply of fresh water for the stock the five brothers of capron salvaged the mercury switch from an old oil burner and it really works as an automatic control for the stock tank the brothers use a one horsepower motor to grind feed direct into a cut bed [Music] they grind for 300 head of feeders minerals and proteins are sprinkled over it the truck is driven to the feed bunks and the load shoveled in as simple as that and it doesn't tie up a tractor either [Music] remember Toby a dog you saw bringing in the cows well here's his famous mother Rosie it's a pleasure to watch your work [Music] oh don't forget that one way back there Rosie had a girl no matter how careful you are when you're raising sheep bills broke there's you always get a little backed off from mother man hey what you doing to my baby oh it's alright she'll be well taken care of it's cozy and warm in there under that electric brooder mary had a little lamb and the result is a picture nice enough to warm anybody's heart this is Mary but it's louise james middlecoff Hugh got a hairy Fisher and his father built this lambing house there are 10 lamb fans in there it was one of Harry's projects worked out like this lamb brooder with donald hands from the vocational AG teacher at Alito high school they've used the washbasin for a reflector wool sacking for the curtain mr. Hanson and Harry examine one of Harry's prize-winning lamb four-footed proof of the value of his homemade bruiser the modern sheep man uses electric Clippers but even so shearing a sheet is a real art watchdog Madeira do his stuff [Music] FN Parkinson the vocational AG teacher over at Lena is help to students build several hundred pig rulers for the farmers in the neighborhood these students are Dwayne Allen Byrne Norman Wagner and Dwight behringer mrs. NS mcnaught uses about 40 of these brooders on her farm near West Chicago a thermostat controls the temperature how's this for a really well equipped hog house one of the man is feeding the Hogs the things are placed here as soon as they can be taken from the community hog house the Hogs will stay out on the range to be finished or when they're 5 months old they're moved up to the central hog house for the finish of the feeding period many farmers are following the McLain system of swine sanitation colony type hog houses on clean Lots there plenty of uses for running water on a hog farm concrete feeding floors periodically flush down with warm water mean healthier animals get over there this plan works for many well-known hog racers start creep feeding at two weeks with a special type feed castrated for weeks vaccinate at six laverne shovel and Bob barracks are learning how from their AG instructor leaf line of Stillman Valley with this plan you we nominate weeks were m'm and gentlemen lime sulfur no later than 10 weeks Laura Nelson FFA and 4-h member of varna barrel 25 pigs in 2 litters and thanks to the brooder he made himself and all 25 to market 114th big litter weighed 30 135 pounds at 180 days and topped all Illinois 4h Pig clubbers who made the wartime teleport goal you might be interested in the feed of this champion litter [Music] twelve thousand chickens a year raised and dressed over near sweeter by Marian Schneider and since he runs his business with only one man to help him he too depends largely upon electrical equipment here's how he does it two horsepower motor grinds his feed and this one horsepower does the mixing power works for the poultry men all right [Music] he uses the immersion type water warmer to heat water for his chickens mr. Schneider says hens kept in this well I to scroll off henhouse late for one to two dozen more eggs apiece during the winter months that's a homemade Brewer with a commercially built electric heating unit if you've ever hand-picked the chicken you'll get a kick out of this picker used by the Kankakee poultry company four times as fast as an expert can do it by hand oh [Music] don't forget those last two feathers atta boy here's a good gadget this alarm clock was adapted to the job of turning on the lights bye Ralph maker under the direction of Emory hold his bag teacher at feat old high school Ralph attributes' much of his outstanding production record to his homemade automatic lighting system it's simple and it worked he too uses an immersion water warmer [Music] Ralph made his own brooder last year raised 400 boilers by the way notice the eggs [Music] Ralph believes in keeping records [Music] John Hoekstra operates the club harmony richard has been using irrigation since 1935 he reports unusually good success here are the two five horsepower motors that irrigate this twenty acre field of bust melons with 200 gallons a minute oh yes something to remember if you're going in for open ditch irrigation a fair old place like this will keep the water from washing away the soil [Music] if you ought to get cabbages to market you can save a lot of labor in time like the hook stirs do by hitching up a half horsepower motor to a home-built conveyor there are a lot of uses for a conveyor around the farm and here at loads cabbages into a crop careful there little fella you'd better give that one the big brother whoops don't drop it okay he made it to illustrate another type irrigation Harold hungry bored of moments has had excellent results from this sprinkler pipe irrigation [Music] you this three horsepower motor saves time speeds up work for Peter Botwin out in West Chicago a twist of the wrist as there she goes [Music] that handy wagons shoot is another idea of mr. Vaman ideas become tools in well-equipped farm workshops like Carroll middle tops there's Harold with his father just to show you what can be done the floor on this board came from an old oil burner and 1/4 horsepower motor drives pH bunker near LaFox made this seat inoculator out of a 60 gallon drop no separator gear reduction a cast off turn wield a vacuum cleaner switch and the homemade wooden pulley you want to see it work a small amount of water is added to the feed to make the inoculants stick [Music] then the inoculant goes in and we're ready to go [Music] not only is it easier but it does a far more thorough job of inoculating each seed [Music] this old facking device has been in use in this family for better than a half a century think of that then winland and his father-in-law feed approximately fifty thousand bushels of green a year we buy the green from nearby farmers Hall is portable elevator to load from the farmers crib to the truck there's some difference between lifting a scoop of corn over into the little hopper and pitching it away up eight feet into the truck look how effortlessly this half horsepower motor does the job [Music] here's another kind of conveyor on the census brick file oats are elevated by using a three horsepower motor on a portable truck [Music] Leonard sell meyer of solomon took a discarded differential for the speed reduction of his three horsepower job he just flips the switch and the green elevator does the rest well it's just going to show you all partners made a unique arrangement for grinding his feet this one horsepower motor operates the mill heat is delivered from the loss and comes down the chute through the grinder and into the dustbin ready for sake with this installation the barn stays clean and in one year Paulin son Rex Brown 3,500 bushels of peat Jerome sell Meyer and his brother James both well-known 4-h plumbers are fanning oats with a quarter horsepower motor you see that wooden pulley there dad turned it out on a lathe in his workshop the motor is portable and Jimmy shells corn with the two [Music] it's surprising what you can do with one of these portables this one belongs to Harold Anderson near Batavia and it mixes concrete fast enough to keep a four-man crew busy [Music] a feeding platform is well worth the trouble it is easy to keep clean and makes for better feeding conditions all the way around over near wodsworth another farmer painted his new barn and buildings with this motor driven compressor on buildings or farm machinery it's a mighty handy little gadget isn't that a nice looking compressor ease got there and speaking of handy gadget back again at the middle tops near Mount Morris Harold uses a special carriage to speed up the sharpening of his cutter bar and incidentally that's good light for after dark works [Music] Illinois uses battling shortages at home and in school they mean man thighs problems with real Northern Illinois ingenuity an electric company man is demonstrating to Harold Thunder forks moment AG class how to make a small motor portable by using a broomstick a couple of pieces of wood and the handles of an old flat iron there's any number of uses here you see the grinder putting a sharp edge on the cold sizzle firm shop classes in more men build a combination chicken feeder and waterer warmer mr. hungar Ford uses a four slim socket [Music] the water container is placed over the light the apron keeps the water from dripping down into the feeder the roller on the top discourages roosting here's the Phelps home near Plainfield a good example of one farm family in wartime Norma's doing her bit as the Warner's isn't that a colorful mantle over here is brother John's while somewhere in a combat area marries her own dress designer which along with her other achievements won her the distinction of being the outstanding 4h girl in Illinois her mother mrs. Howard Phelps has been a leader in 4h club work for years sister nappy fans to carry on and of course while the women are busy with their jobs the man father and son bill are out in the field producing food for freedom how's that for an all-american smile Mary Francis Phil Meyers at work on her 4-h project this sawing machine is a big help in her Club work [Music] Virgil Smith of Oswego or 4-h club winner for the past few years is seen with a prize winning cow and the plaques given him by the whole Stein Regis Association bird too has won several scholarships and a lot of ribbons for his outstanding work in the gone farm home near Cedar Maryland chose her brother John and sister Norma some interesting information in the National 4-h club news they're getting some ideas to help them out in their projects this scene was taken at the McHenry County 4-h club achievement show [Music] hello Joe what do you know not much Wilbur goki Secretary of the Illinois Holstein breeders Association judges the dairy entries [Music] it's amazing how much some people can make out of so little the middle cops took five dollars worth of bricks towers from the filling station and built this tiled shower stall that's Patricia and Jane in the shower waiting for mother to hand them a towel both hot and cold running water a pump through the automatic electric heater to all parts of the farm everybody's busier nowadays than they ever were but woman's worked as much of the drudgery taken out except for occasional outdoor chores during the manpower shortage life with a modern farm woman is no different from any other active woman there's mrs. middlecoff senior on the freeze unit more and more food is being processed this way all the time it's the way we'd all like to do it oh boy look at all those points canning food is about the same but a good pressure cooker makes scanning a lot easier and Laura spicy gives us a really pretty exhibition of a very old art another way to preserve wartime food is by dehydration spread shelf fresh peas on the tray and we'll put in a tray of carrots to start the motor close the door let the warm air circulates to the dehydrator and they're ready take them out and they look like this here's the peas spinach and carrot you can be hydrated in an oven too another colorful attractive kitchen with good light and plenty of practical modern conveniences at the max summers near Belvidere hope that's me she's tuning in I need my listeners it'd be a pleasure to sit down at a pretty table like that now wouldn't it no two ways about it good light and power can speed up a woman busy hours and take out a lot of a backache - there's no reason is there wife Patsy middlecoff should look like a movie starlet you can do a lot of important things better even to coloring picture books under a swingarm lamp reach level Tommie breaker of geneva lessons and reading for any purpose come easier under a properly designed bridge lamp like the one mrs. ed Bricker and daughter robert are enjoying war breakers Louise Loretta and Mary Ann studying under an Aes student plant doesn't grandmother door look attractive and comfortable look at what they're building in these high school farm shops these handy gadgets are finding a widest in Illinois mr. hungar Ford presents a review of some of the labors favors that the farm boys in his classes have built useful services are performed by all of these home conveniences they make farm life easier they deserve exceptionally good care these days I dunno it's hard to replace them but a lot of them can be repaired in your own workshop without using critical materials [Music] you somehow know as you look across the clean productive fields of northern Illinois that these people are meeting their wartime problems that this harvest brings not only booth for freedom but to our fighting funds and daughters this is what they are fighting for the land where the folks live it is what we feel when we say this is home and once again as in our earliest struggles for independence American farmers are swinging the balance in our favor [Music] by the rude bridge that arts the flood their flag to April's freeze on through here once the embattled farmers stood and fired the shot heard round the world [Music]

Channel: PeriscopeFilm

Views: 77,640

Keywords: Periscope Film, Stock Footage, 4K, HD, 2K

Id: oFccoeCIfkI

Length: 30min 48sec (1848 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 29 2019