SEGMENT: LIVESTOCK, FOOD & MEALS, & TRANSPORTATION
Ewell Brauer>UIS Collection B's>UIS Collection B's, Segment 2
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- LIVESTOCK
- Kept a variety of animals on the farm. Sold young chickens in the fall for income. Had between 4 and 10 horses depending on the farming. Cream sold for a higher price in the 1920's. Families either churned cream into butter and sold it or sold the cream to a creamery. A five-gallon can of cream would pay $7-$8. Kept about 100 chickens which mother raised. Raised 200-300 young chickens each year. Sold most of the chickens as fryers. Less productive in the 1920's. Sold surplus eggs in spring and summer. Young chickens took a little work; otherwise, chickens were loose and ate what they could find. Had 45-50 pigs & fed them corn until the 1930's when good commercial feed came out. Most pigs went to market. Butchering was a community project and meat was salted and smoked in a smokehouse after being butchered. Butchered a steer in the winter for fresh meat, and then cold packed remainders.
- FOOD & MEALS
- Bought fresh meat from store for threshing dinners. Also ate potatoes, beans, vegetables, pie, and cake. Served 25-30 men and the cooks. Neighbors' wives would all contribute and help to fix the dinner. Cooked on wood range or coal.
- TRANSPORTATION
- There were a couple horses to ride, but most were used in the field until corn shucking. Prepared horses for work season in March, and after shucking they were turned loose in the fields to eat stalks. Parents got first car in 1916. Did not use cars in winter because there was no anti-freeze and was difficult to start car in winter. Inside the car it was cold. Most trips in winter were made by buggy or wagon.
- LIVESTOCK
- Kept different mixed breeds of draft horses. Also had about 6 mules, but some farmers did not like mules. Mules had more common sense than horses and would not get caught in fences. Most pigs were Durocs or Chester whites. No specialized breeding. Cattle were mostly shorthorn. No one breed was any better than another.
