Renville County, Minnesota - Chapter 32: Swine Industry in Renville County, 1916

Chapter 32: Swine Industry in Renville County

Pioneer Breeders and Their Experiences - The Four Great Outbreaks of Cholera in Renville County - Swine Breeders' Association Organized at Bird Island to Fill a Vital Need - Scarcity of Serum - Government Cooperation Secured - Swine Census - Government Veterinarians Arrive and Begin Work - Their Success - Results and Advice - Prepared by Ralph Loomis with the Cooperation of H. W. Leindecker and the Renville County Swine Breeders' Association.

The development of the swine industry in Renville county has been largely dependent upon two factors : markets and amount of corn grown. Prices were uncertain in the early days. While generally low, they sometimes became quite high. The building of the Milwaukee Railway through the county in 1878 and the St. Louis Railway in 1881 helped to steady the market. Selling by weight instead of by guess became general after the coming of the railroads. It is not long since stockbuyers would pay one farmer a dollar a hundred more for his hogs than they would offer another farmer in an adjoining township. As communication has become better by road and by telephone, this practice is gradually ceasing.

In the early days, flint corn was raised, but the grain used for fattening hogs was more likely to be barley or oats, or even wheat. As dent corn was adapted to Minnesota, and the acreage increased, more hogs were kept and fed for market with profit. Before the railroads were built, pork was sent to market dressed. After the coming of the railroads this practice was gradually discontinued as the packing industry at South St. Paul developed.

Wm. H. Jewell, now a resident of the village of Bird Island, saw good fat hogs sell in Beaver Falls for fifty dollars each before he had been in Renville county three years. Mr. Jewell came to Renville county in 1867, residing in Birch Cooley township thirty years. He was an early sheriff of Renville county. Mr. Jewell says that few hogs were raised in the early days because of the lack of corn. Apparently, corn was not grown successfully when the country was new. He testifies as to the difficulty of growing corn in Wisconsin when that state was first settled. Mr. Jewell's old home in Wisconsin was ten miles west of Appleton. On account of the lack of corn and markets cattle were kept on a more extensive scale than hogs, finding a more ready sale.

Ole Anderson, a resident of Bird Island, settled one and onehalf miles east of the present site of Franklin in 1866. Mr. Anderson's testimony is that more cattle than hogs were kept at first. After 1875 more corn and hogs were gradually introduced on his place. Hogs were worth about two cents per pound live weight in 1878. They were worth around three cents per pound most of the time. One fall, the fall of 1886 or 1887, hogs went to six cents per pound live weight. In two weeks the price dropped back to three and one-half cents.

D. J. Hanlon homesteaded a quarter section of land in section 1, Birch Cooler township in 1868. Mr. Hanlon used to haul his wheat to New Ulm. While in New Ulm delivering wheat he got his first start in hogs, paying ten dollars for two six-weeks' old pigs. This was considered a very reasonable price at that time. Mr. Hanlon and his brother, Wm. Hanlon, hauled two loads of hogs, Hi head in all, to Redwood Falls in 1881. A buyer there paid five cents a pound for them, shipping to South St. Paul. The Hanlons were ferried across the river at North Redwood on the old Wilcox Ferry. The ferryman was having a bard time to keep the ferry open on account of ice. On the return trip they drove across the river on the ice.

Andrew Danielson, now a resident of Palmyra, settled in Birch Cooley in 1870. That year Mr. Danielson paid nine dollars for three hundred pounds of dressed pork for his own use. ('has. Zupke came to Melville township in 1880 from Jefferson county, Wisconsin. The first year only enough hogs were kept by Mr. Zupke to produce pork for home use. By 1890 he was raising enough hogs to have a load or two to spare each year. Mr. Zupke sold one loud of seven hogs to a local buyer for fifty-two dollars. He thought they would weigh 300 pounds each. He was paid on the basis of 221 pounds. This was before the days of scale testing.

Mrs. Jos. Haggett, one of the early settlers of Melville township, states that two and one-half cents was a big price for hogs in the early nineties - the time of the panic. Farmers were accustomed to butcher and haul their pork to town for $2.75 per hundred weight. Mrs. Haggett sold lard for from ten cents to a shilling a pound to private parties. At the J. Richardson Company store in Bird Island, lard was worth nine cents in trade. Eight or nine dollars was a common price for a fat hog in those days. In 1896 the Haggetts paid Ed Keenan of Melville Stock Farm $28.00 for a purebred Poland China sow.

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Mr. and Mrs. E. B. Wolff settled in section 32, Melville township, in 1879. They shipped some dressed pork to Minneapolis where friends disposed of it for them at four cents per pound. These people, as did many others, found it hard to dispose of pork except in the fall of the year when the butchers wanted it. They fattened their hogs on barley. Mrs. Wolff says that the hogs got many a pail of wheat when wheat was worth less than fifty cents per bushel.

Patrick O'Brien, now a well-to-do resident of Renville, settled in Flora township in the early seventies. To the O'Briens probably belongs the honor of bringing the first pure-bred hogs into Renville county. In 1869, while Mr. O'Brien still lived in Dakota county, he purchased two pure-bred Chester Whites of John S. Waite, Empire township, Dakota county. These were sent to his brother, John O'Brien, in Renville county. This stock gave satisfaction in every way to the purchasers. It was not bred pure and finally disapeared. Patrick O'Brien sold pork for three cents a pound dressed, making a business of turning three-cent pork into five-dollar land. As Mr. O'Brien expresses his sentiment in regard to this good business: "I thought I was raising Hell in those days. Guess I was. too." Mr. O'Brien retired from the farm in 1904.

But the pork producing business was not to be the simple process of feeding cheap corn to healthy hogs and loading the finished product on the cars for South St. Paul. With the increase in the number of hogs kept hog cholera became one of the determining factors of profitable hog raising. There was a serious outbreak of hog cholera in Minnesota in the years 1894- 1896. During this period cholera came into Renville county. probably for the first time, and since then the infection has probably always been in the county. The disease appears to come and go in cycles. Cholera prevails in a community for two or three years. Disappears and then seems to come to life again in four or five years. In this county it seems that the disease has generally become epidemic first in the north and west townships of the county, gradually spreading to the east and finally to the southeast.

L. J. Kuske, now an officer of the Farmers' State Bank of Olivia, had cholera on his farm in Troy township in 1897. ( 'holera was general throughout the west end of the county that year. Mi-. Kuske says that in 1897 and 1898 there was great loss in Winfield and Emmet townships, many farmers losing all their hogs. Farmers in the vicinity of Fairfax prided themselves on the care of their hogs. They were inclined to boast, upon being told of the losses north of Olivia and Renville, that their hogs being better taken care of were immune to cholera. They even dared to haul corn from the infected areas of the county. Knowl- edge of The infectiousness of the disease was not general in those days. Cholera was in full swing about Fairfax in 1899. In the epidemic of 1912-1915, cholera losses were not large in 1912 except in the north and west townships; in 1913 cholera prevailed in all the townships of the county except those of the extreme south and east; in 1914 the townships about Fairfax were the hardest hit of all. while the townships about Renville were recovering.

Probably cholera infection has existed in this county continuously since 1S94. There seems to have been four principal outbreaks occurring in the following periods of years: 1894-1899, 1901-1903, 1907-1909 and 1912-1915.

The First Cholera Outbreak in Renville County. Probably cholera first broke out among the hogs of Renville county in 1894. Information as to this outbreak comes from Michael Holden, at that time chairman of the town board of Ilenryville township, and now a stockbuyer at Morton. Two farmers from Flora township went to New Ulm for a visit. Cholera prevailed in the country about New Ulm. Not long after the visitors return home cholera broke out in Flora township. The first year the disease was confined to five or six farms. Mr. Holden. as chairman of his town board, wrote to Dr. M. H. Reynolds, then as now with the Veterinary Division of the Minnesota Agricultural Col- Lege, asking for quarantine blanks. These blanks were posted on infected premises in Henryville township.

A meeting to spread the knowledge of hog cholera prevention was held in Redwood Falls about 1895. Mr. Holden attended this meeting. It was addressed by Dr. Reynolds and by Dr. Bracken, the latter of the State Board of Health.

An incident occurred in Henryville township which shows that some men acted then as now when their premises were under quarantine. Mr. Holden had quarantined the Schultz farm on account of cholera and had warned Mr. Schultz to keep away from the premises of his neighbors. Mr. Holden was traveling on the road one day when a shower forced him to take shelter at the Herman Goose farm. There he found Schultz, who had come in ahead of him. also to escape the rain. His horse was already in the barn. Goose had twelve head of hoys in the barn, which he had come within rive cents a head of selling;- to Tom Leary. Holden nave Schultz a deserved scolding for thus exposing his neighbor's hogs to cholera. Goose made no objection to the risk he was running, saying that the prevention of cholera was merely a matter of feeding. In about ten days Holden was called to quarantine the Goose farm. It was too late to accept Leary 's offer. Goose lost all of his twelve fat hogs. Mr. Holden testifies as to the great difficulty of getting people to observe quarantine regulations at that early date.

In many cases hogs have been sick and the diagnosis as to the disease has been very uncertain. Trouble from worms and other causes has been called cholera and trouble from cholera has often been laid to some other ailment. One instance of this is furnished by the first cholera epidemic. Emil Breutkreutz had a sickness among his hogs that was popularly called Lumbago and rheumatism. The symptoms shown we now know to be those of cholera.

The initial outbreak of cholera did not seem to be serious the first year or two. From 1896 to 1899 it was doing its worst. Win. O'Connor of Sacred Heart says that O'Connor Bros, lost 300 hogs in those years. Most of these hogs were pure-bred Poland Chinas. What few hogs that were spared in the epidemic were shipped. The O'Connor Bros, started breeding Poland Chinas in 1892, shipping in their foundation stock from Illinois, where as much as seventy-dollars per head was paid for some hogs.

Patrick O'Brien, the man who first imported pure-bred hogs into Renville county, lost 86 out of 111 hogs in 1894. The next year he lost 84 and in 1896 his losses were 40.

In 1896 the cholera epidemic became general about Hector. Geo. Johnson, now of the firm of Johnson Bros., hardware and implement dealers of Hector, owned a farm in Hector township at the time and lost over 60 hogs. Joe Nicke, who lived on the Geo. Eichmiller farm in Osceola, now owned by August Beske, lost 80 fat hogs in 1896. Nicke had bought hogs from various parties to fatten. He told Chas. Wolff, then a farmer of Melville township, that his hogs would not get cholera because he was dosing them with turpentine and asafoetida. Evidently his experience did not back up his theory. Mr. Nicke let his hogs run loose. From this practice, Albert Wulkan. a neighbor, lost 18 out of 20 hogs by the cholera route.

Mule foot hogs have often been advertised as immune to cholera. As far back as 1896 this theory was proved false in Renville county. A farmer living not far west of Hector hauled off his mule foot hogs after cholera had commenced on them.

During this general epidemic of cholera about Hector an effort was made to make some use of the cholera infected hogs. Three men, Gus Lunder, Oscar Peterson and Wells Thompson started a steam rendering plant. One cent a pound was paid for the carcasses of hogs that had died from cholera. The rendered fat was mixed with beef tallow from the butcher shop in which these men were interested, and the resulting product was sold for lubricant to a Minneapolis concern who paid from two and one-half to three cents per pound for it. It was closed after it had run about a year.

Cholera existed in the county about Buffalo Lake in 1895, staying in the county two or three years. Wm. Carrigan, now deputy sheriff of Renville county, was working for his uncle, Michael

Carrigan, at that time. The elder Carrigan had a herd of forty or fifty hogs siek with cholera. He heard in town that if oue of the cholera hogs was roasted and fed to the others they would recover. This was thought worth trying, but the proposed remedy was found to be of no more use than all the other remedies prescribed for cholera. Mr. Carrigan saved eight or ten hogs. They had cholera in the worst form, the ears and tails of some sloughing off. Cholera did not visit Boon Lake township again until 1913. However, there was a sprinkling of cholera about Buffalo Lake in 1907 ami 1908.

In 1898 cholera became epidemic in the vicinity of Fairfax and Franklin. A. J. Anderson of Camp township lost all of his hogs save one, the boar. Sam Lee saved seven out of 50 in 1S99. It is doubtful whether this epidemic was entirely due to the disease having existed in the northern part of the county. Whenever there was a crop failure in Nebraska and Iowa hogs were shipped from those states to Minnesota for fattening and invariably cholera came with them. The hogs came through the large stock yards of Sioux City and Omaha, always centers of infection.

Andrew Danielson, a resident of Palmyra since 1875, lost hogs from cholera in October. 1897. The disease came into Palmyra by way of Norfolk township. Forty of his forty-seven hogs had died of cholera. T. Geisner of Bird Island was going through Palmyra dehorning cattle. He offered to save the remaining seven by vaccination. Gleisner made an incision in the skin of each hog, packed the wound with a greaselike substance, and charged two dollars per head for his services. Six out of seven survived this treatment. With our present knowledge of cholera we may know that these hogs were on the road to recovery without treatment. This is just one of the many instances where farmers have been imposed on with a "cure" for hog cholera. E. B. Wolff and Geo. Muench had cholera on their Melville farms the same year. The next year the disease was quite bad north of Bird Island and Olivia.

In 1899 H. M. Noach of the Morton firm of Noaeh & Orth bought a small farm near town and stocked it with hogs from "all over" as Mr. Orth stated the ease. Then, as Mr. Orth put it. "there was Hell to pay." The worst form of cholera was introduced into the townships of Beaver Falls and Birch Cooley. The outbreak was very violent, few farms escaping the disease and few hogs being saved. Robt. Simmons, a prominent farmer living about two miles east of Morton, was one of those who lost 100 head of hogs at this time.

Outbreak of 1901-1903. For a time the county seems to have been comparatively free from heavy cholera losses, though the disease was yet present in the county. Ed Paulson, now county commissioner, was buying stock at Sacred Heart in 1902. In those days when a herd of hogs showed signs of cholera they were hustled to South St. Paul. Mr. Paulson took down a load of exposed hogs that were showing symptoms of the disease when unloaded at South St. Paul. His commission man said, "Keep them moving or they will lay down and die on you." By brisk exercise of the whip, the hogs were kept on their feet until a buyer was found.

Outbreak of 1907-1908. - In 1907 and 1908 a good deal of cholera prevailed in the county. Certain proprietary remedies were sold as a cure, none proving to be of any value as a cholera preventive or as a cure. The buyers were simply out that much money. J. W. Rusch of Buffalo Lake states that there were scattered cases of cholera about Buffalo Lake in those years. The disease existed on some farms near Hector. Chas. Torbert of Hector township saved only five out of his herd. F. Hagermeister of Melville township saved four out of twelve. This epidemic of cholera about Fairfax was not so general as the one of 1898-99.

Nowhere was the disease any worse in 1908 than it was in Winfield township. Ulriek Julson lost all of his herd of 100 hogs. R. Peterson and Oust Tolzman lost all of their hogs. Others suffered in about the same proportion. Martin Peterson of Crooks township lost his hogs every year from 1898 to 1909 whether from cholera or not is a doubtful question. Since 1909 Mr. Peterson has not been troubled. He ascribes this happy circumstances tn his having gotten in Duroc Jerseys for foundation stock.

Outbreak of 1912-1915. - The most serious outbreak of cholera in the history of the county commenced in 1912. The first year this epidemic was worst in the townships centering about Renville. Emmet township lost about 1.500 hogs the first year (1912) and Crooks almost as many. O'Connor Bros., farmers and bankers of Renville, made the first move toward the only known means of saving hogs in a cholera infected country. In July, 1912, they vaccinated fifty hogs on their farm with virus and antihog cholera serum, the so-called double treatment. In May, 1913, 720 hogs were double treated in the vicinity of Renville, O'Connor Bros, having secured the cooperation of the Live Stock Sanitary Board and of the agricultural department of the local high school in which F. Krause, a graduate of Iowa Agricultural College, was instructor. These 720 hogs belonged to sixteen farmers. All passed through the cohlera epidemic that year save one that died of blood poisoning following the breaking of a needle while being vaccinated. All summer hogs were dying like flies on neighboring farms while 719 hogs on sixteen farms not only thrived but proved immune to the disease when placed in lots where carcasses of hogs dead from cholera were lying about. It was thus conclusively shown by this local demonstration that cholera could be prevented, a large part of the risk thus being eliminated from the swine raising business. It remained to bring this knowledge home to the people raising hogs, and to devise ways and means for making use of this knowledge. The following year (1913) was the worst year for swine breeders since hogs were raised in the county. In this year a movement was launched that will forever prevent the recurrence of an epidemic similar to the disastrous one of 1913.

In August, 1913, a farmer of Osceola township paid eight dollars and forty cents to have two hogs vaccinated with anti-hog cholera serum. That Avas reason for the beginning of the Renville County Swine Breeders' Association. This farmer, H. W. Leindecker, conceived the idea that if the farmers would organize and buy their serum collectively, hiring a veterinarian to work for the club, good serum would be obtained with a smaller margin of profit to the manufacturer, since the serum would lie bought in wholesale quantities, and the veterinarian working by the day would be willing and could afford to set a price easier mi the farmer.

This was in the fall of 1913, a. year when, as subsequent enumeration showed, more than one-half of the hogs of the county died of cholera. Two-thirds of the hogs raised in Bird [sland township died from the disease. In Osceola the loss was a little less than half, in Kingman a little more than half, in Melville, two-thirds, and in Norfolk and Birch Cooley townships fully fourfifths of the hogs on farms in 1913 died from cholera. The number of farms in the vicinity of Bird Island on which hogs were raised and not visited by cholera could be counted on the ringers of one hand.

A meeting, to be held at the Bird Island Village Hall, of those interested in handling the cholera situation collectively instead of as individuals, was called for Saturday, October 4. Not enough were present at the first meeting to organize. Another meeting was called for the following Saturday. W. E. Morris, county agent, presided as temporary chairman. An organization was formed with the following officers: H. W. Leindecker (Osceola), president; Geo. W. Wolff (Melville), vice-president; Ralph Loomis (Agricultural Teacher. Bird Island public schools), secretary-treasurer. Directors were not chosen until the following Saturday. The first directors were: -Joe Kienholz, E. -I. Wilson, Nels Mattson, Arthur Patrick and H. J. Jungclaus. The name adopted for the organization at the meeting of the 11th was the "Renville County Swine Breeders' Club." Its object was declared to be "to get and keep a supply of serum on hand, and by other means to further the interests of swine growers." Those present at the first meeting were H. W. Leindecker, Joe Kienholz, August Zupke, Geo. W. Wolff, Fred Koelker, P. D. Boyland, Jas. Murray, Henry Krueger, W. E. Morris, Ed Kienholz, R. J. Porter, Jas. Lucas and Ralph Looinis.

The task before the newly organized club was two-fold. The first phase of its work was educational. The part that serum might play in controlling cholera had to be made plain. Serum was a new thing to the people of the county. Many regarded it as a cure while it is only of value as a preventive. Many had lost faith in serum because it had not cured their hogs. Since serum had not been in common use in the county before 1913, unscrupulous people were able to market large quantities of impotent serum in the county, serum that was of no more value than so much water, and often more dangerous. It is said on good authority that prune juice was sold as serum in one Minnesota locality.

Then there was the harm done by giving important serum with virus. Why the results were disastrous had to be explained. Hogs vaccinated with good serum by the single treatment lose their immunity after four or five weeks. How these hogs might die after vaccination and still vaccination be of any use had to be explained. That the organization was successful in its educational work is shown by its membership in the year 1914. Over seven hundred people of the county became so convinced in the efficacy of serum as a cholera preventive as to each invest a dollar for membership in the Renville County Swine Breeders' Association. About one hundred more joined the Association in 1915.

The second part of the organization's work was the active resistance to hog cholera - hog cholera control. How that was handled will be shown later in this article.

Throughout the fall and winter meetings were held regularly on the first Saturday of each month in the Bird Island Village Hall. Special meetings were also held. Always the principal questions were hog cholera, when would serum prevent it, how could good serum be obtained, what was the best treatment, and what was the possibility of introducing cholera into the herd if virus were used? The agricultural teachers of Hector and Renville told the club of the work in their own communities. The results at Renville were as given above. At Hector, the agricultural teacher. O. M. Kiser, vaccinated about one thousand hogs with a saving of about 70 per cent of all treated in non-infected and infected herds. Mr. Kiser used the serum-only treatment.

By mid-winter the club had a membership of forty. A similar club was organized at Fairfax. During the cholera epidemic, hogs Avere bought in Bird Island at a margin of two dollars on the South St. Paul market, and "bought subject." That is, if the hogs died of cholera or were condemned at the market, the farmer who raised them stood the loss. If the hog's were all right when the market was reached, the shipper had the benefit of a two-dollar margin rather than the usual one of fifty cents per hundred pounds. This condition brought about the organization of the Bird Island Stock Shipping Association. The organization was formed at a meeting of the Swine Breeders' Association. This Stock Shipping Association shipped forty-six cars of live stock the first six months of its existence. Its business has greatly increased as cholera is brought under control and there are more hogs to ship.

Since cholera was so generally present in 1913, a return of the epidemic was expected in 1914. The club expected to meet the situation in 191-1 with plenty of serum on hand. In 1913 it was almost impossible to get good serum from any source. The state serum plant was able to fill only a fraction of the orders given it. Assurance had been given the club that the state's serum plant was to be enlarged to take care of the increased demand made on it for serum. State serum sold at one-third of a cent per cubic centimeter while other serum cost from one and one-half to three cents.

A meeting was called for February 21, 1914, Secretary Loomis sending out a circular letter to all the members asking them to come in on that day to place an order for serum in proportion to the number of hogs they expected to keep. Eighty farmers ordered about 145,000 cubic centimeters of serum on that day - enough serum to vaccinate four thousand young hogs. This serum was ordered and paid for at the state price of one-third of a cent. The Secretary of the club, Ralph Loomis, and the President. H. W. Leindecker, constituted the committee to go to the cities and place the order for serum. The committee went to the cities on February '25 and went first to the state serum plant. The state serum plant is located on the grounds of the Agricultural College in St. Anthony Park. St. Paul. It is operated by the College's Veterinary Division of which Dr. M. H. Reynolds is Chief.

"When the order was handed to Dr. Reynolds, he was informed that the club was only asking for one-fourteenth of the state's annual output ! The idea of the entire order being filled by the state was laughed at, the report that the state serum plant was to be enlarged at once to take care of the current year's demand proving erroneous. This meant that the club could not get all the serum wanted at the state's reduced price. Eventually, the state promised to give the club 50,000 c. c, about one-third of the original order. The balance, 95.000 c. c, would have to be purchased from commercial plants at about one and one-half cents per c. c. The committee visited various commercial houses making arrangements to order serum in whoesale lots.

A few days before going to the cities as a member of the Serum Committee President Leindecker read a newspaper article to the effect that Congress had appropriated half a million dollars for work in hog cholera control, the plan being to take one county in each of the hog raising states for a demonstration county. Free serum and free veterinary service were to be furnished in the respective counties, to demonstrate what could be done in the way of cholera control. The committee verified this newspaper story while at the agricultural college, and sought to have Renville County made the Demonstration County for Minnesota. An organization in the county was one of the requirements of the government for the county chosen as a demonstration county. This organization was needed to carry on the work of education, take a census of the hogs and of the cholera losses, encourage sanitation, etc. Our argument for Renville county was that we were already organized, having organizations of swine breeders at both Bird Island and Fairfax. Furthermore, Mr. Loomis and Mr. Leindecker promised that if the county were made the demonstration county for Minnesota, the remainder of the county would be brought into the organization.

These arguments impressed the authorities. Dean Woods promised that he would do what he could for Renville county. Dr. "Ward of the Live Stock Sanitary Board, Governor Eberhart and Dr. Reynolds were interviewed in behalf of Renville county. The committee was informed that it would receive word by letter as to the decision of the Bureau of Animal Industry at Washington with whom final authority rested.

The following week was an anxious one for the officers of the Renville County Swine Breeders' Club. Since the entire amount of serum ordered could not be obtained at the price of one-third of a cent per c. c, it was necessary to send out a circular letter to those ordering serum telling them of this circumstance, and that in order to maintain the size of their respective serum orders more money would be needed. Since the decision of the Bureau of Animal Industry was not yet known, nothing was said about it in this letter. When the secretary of the club was infoimied by letter that Renville county was chosen as the demonstration county for Minnesota, money was still received for serum until it was definitely known that the government men would commence work before summer.

On March 13, Ralph Loomis, Secretary of the Renville County Swine Breeders' Club, was notified by letter that Renville county had been chosen as Minnesota's demonstration county. This letter from Dean Woods was read at the Swine Breeders' meeting of March 14. Plans were at once laid to make the organization county wide. Representatives of all the commercial clubs of the county were summoned by phone to meet in the Bird Island Com- mercial Club Rooms the following Monday, the sixteenth. Representative business men were thus summoned because through them the farmers of their respective communities could be reached most rapidly. At the meeting on the following Monday, all the towns in the county were represented save Fairfax. The car bringing the Fairfax delegation broke down before reaching Bird Island. At this meeting, the necessity of organization and census taking under the government requirements was explained and dates set for organization meetings in the various towns of the county. The following article was sent to the newspapers of the county to acquaint the people with the project that was being launched for the benefit of all Renville county :

"Renville county has been designated by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and by the Minnesota Agricultural College as the official demonstration county for federal work in hog cholera control. This means that the federal government will furnish serum so far as it is able to supply it. The balance will probably be furnished by the state at present prices. A campaign will be waged against cholera until the job is done - until there is no more cholera in the county. The work will be started some time this season. Before the government veterinarians are administering serum, much preliminary work will be done, the county must be organized into districts and a committee in charge of each district. There will be an organization for each district - an Anti-Hog Cholera Club. These clubs are to lie used in spreading knowledge as to how the disease may best be fought. A census of the hogs in the county and of the losses occurring the first season will be taken. All farmers are urged to give their active support to this work which means so much to the whole county.

"Renville county was designated as the demonstration county of .Minnesota for two reasons. First, no other comity of the state suffered heavier losses from cholera. Second, the state agricultural college authorities were shown that Renville county had the best organization for a successful fight against hog cholera. The education and co-operative work of the Renville County Swine Breeders' Club secured for Renville County the aid of the U. S. Government in fighting hog cholera.

"The Renville County Swine Breeders' Club has headquarters at Bird Island. It was organized in October, 1913. to promote the swine raising industry, and particularly to fight cholera. Meetings were held each month to hear speakers from the agricultural college speak on cholera and its control. The organization has a membership of 115. The club has members at Danube, Ren- ^ ill.-. Olivia, Hector, and Franklin. A similar club was organized at Fairfax by the President of the club at Bird Island. At a meeting held February 21, the club members deposited money with the Secretary for 145,000 cubic centimeters of serum. The President of the club, H. W. Leindecker, a farmer of Osceola township, and the Secretary, Ralph Loomis, Instructor in Agriculture, Bird Island Public Schools, were named as a committee to arrange for the serum.

"The committee went to St. Paul to interview those in charge of the State Serum Plan. Dr. Reynolds, head of the Veterinary Division of the Agricultural College, stated that the Renville county plan for organizing against cholera was the best he had heard of and was the most proper way to fight hog cholera. However, the 145,000 cubic centimeters of serum asked for was onefourteenth of the state plant's output. He could not furnish the club that amount. In the end the state promised to furnish the Swine Breeders' Club with 50,000 cubic centimeters.

"Dean A. F. Woods told the committee that the Bird Island plan was the best he had seen put up yet and that he wished that all the counties of the state woidd organize in a similar manner. Dean Woods, Dr. Reynolds and Dr. Ward of the Live Stock Sanitary Board were interviewed by the committee in behalf of having Renville county designated as the demonstration county. Dean Woods promised to recommend this county to the government authorities because this county was organized.

"The Serum Committee returned from St. Paul the last day of February. On the thirteenth day of March the Secretary was notified that Renville county had been designated as the demonstration county. Plans for organizing the county have been formulated. Members of all commercial clubs in the county were requested by telephone to meet with the Bird Island Commercial Club March 16 to get the matter before them. Since it is not known when the government will get to the actual work of administering serum, the Swine Breeders' Club is receiving money for serum in the event that the government does not get the preliminary work done before early summer. Dr. Reynolds of the Agricultural College thinks that the work will be under way at that time. The Renville County Swine Breeders' Club secured the designation of this county as the Government Demonstration County. Residents of Renville county can show their appreciation of this service and help the work of organizing the county by joining the club. The membership fee is one dollar and the dues are fifty cents a year. Those wishing to join, sign an application card and send it to the Secretary of the Renville County Swine Breeders' Club, Bird Island, Minnesota."

Then commenced a vigorous campaign on the part of the officers of the club in organizing the county. In two months, organization work was done that would ordinarily have taken two years. It is a fact to be wondered at that so muc'i was accomplished with so little friction. Mr. Leindecker put in forty-six days and a good many nights, without pay, in organizing the county. He knew what it was to lose his hogs. To him is credit due for directly saving thirteen thousand hogs by vaccination in 1914, with an indirect saving of twice as many more. The sacrifice and bravery of Mrs. Leindecker should be remembered. Mrs. Leindecker stayed on the farm alone with three small children while her husband was serving the people of the county that the government might find a county efficiently organized when it came to take up the work.

The directors of the Swine Breeders' Club ordered that the expenses of the work of organization should be paid out of the Club's treasury, so long as the club was not run into debt. The program of the president and secretary in organizing the county was as follows: March 19, Hector: March 20, Franklin; March 21, Bird Island ; March 23, Buffalo Lake ; March 24, Sacred Heart ; March 25, Renville ; March 26, Morton ; March 28, Fairfax. Danube and Olivia organized early in April. Several township organizations were formed in the period of greatest activity, among them the Farmers' Clubs of Norfolk, Hawk Creek and Melville. At all meetings the officers and County Agent Morris explained the requirements of the government for organization, taking the census of hogs, etc.

At first separate clubs were not formed in each town. To A. J. Olin, of Franklin, credit is due for the plan of organizing the county by trading points. Fairfax had such a club. Franklin organized its own club as a branch of the Renville county organization. Similar clubs were organized in Olivia and Danube in April, 1914. Branches of the county organization, now incorporated as the Renville County Swine Breeders' Association, were organized in Sacred Heart and Buffalo Lake in the spring of 1915. Every town in the county should have its local club affiliated with the Association. When the government demonstration is discontinued, the county will be thrown upon its own resources in controlling cholera.

The government veterinarians, with Dr. G. S. Weaver as Inspector-in-Charge, established headquarters in Olivia, April 8, 1914. Immediately after the selection of Renville county as a demonstration county, the Secretary of the association commenced to bombard the Bureau of Animal Industry at Washington with telegrams informing the officials of that bureau that the county was organized and asking for the form to be used in getting the census. When no form was sent, the questions used on the census card in Pettis county, Missouri, Missouri's demonstration county in 1913, were telegraphed for and then submitted to Washington. In every possible way were the authorities impressed with the readiness of the county for the work and the willingness to cooperate in making the work a success.

The proper form for taking the census was not obtained until seeding time when the farmers were all busy. To rush the taking of the census, each town of the county was visited by an officer of the association, Dr. Weaver and County Agent Morris. In the respective towns, business men co-operated in getting men to take the census of the hogs. In the towns having agricultural teachers, Olivia, Renville and Hector, the census was left to these men. For taking the census, one committeeman was appointed for each four sections, making nine for each township. One of the nine was designated as chairman of his township. Each committeeman visited the farms in his four sections filling out a census card for each farm. Below is given a copy of the census card and a set of instructions such as were given out to committeemen.

Before the federal men can commence vaccinating hogs and practicing other control methods against cholera in Renville county, it will be necessary that a hog census be taken. The sooner this is taken, the better it will be for all concerned. It is, therefore, desirable that your heartiest co-operation be given in this work.

As a committeeman, you will serve permanently without salary- Your duty is to take a hog census of the four sections allotted to you. In taking this census, fill out the cards and return them to the chairman of the township committee. Cards must be filled out for every farmer whether he is a swine raiser or not. Secure all the information asked for on these cards. Have each man give you definite answers to all questions and write plainly.

After the census is completed, your duty will be to keep the United States Inspector-in-Charge advised concerning the conditions in your territory, such as cholera outbreaks, negligence, etc. The Inspector may be reached by telephone in his office in the Court House at Olivia.

The results of the census are here given by townships. In 1915, there were sixteen United States Government demonstration areas for work in hog cholera control, similar to that of Renville county. The census taken in Renville county was probably the most complete of all.

A meeting of all interested in hog cholera control was held at the Armory in Olivia, April 30, 1914. Dean Woods of the College of Agriculture, Dr. Reynolds of the Veterinary Division, Dr. Niles of the Bureau of Animal Industry and Dr. Ward of the Live Stock Sanitary Board were present and spoke.

The following is taken from an article written by William A. Si'liummers of Olivia, an excellent account of the Bureau of Animal Industry's work:

"'The Minnesota station in Renville county is in charge of Dr. G. S. Weaver, who is assisted by three veterinary inspectors, Dr. L. R. Smith, Dr. H. L. Duell and Dr. Morris Zurkow. The State Live Stock Sanitary Board has a local representative, Dr. H. Evenson, also located at Olivia, and the State Agricultural College is represented by W. E. Morris, Agricultural Agent of Renville county. These agencies co-operate in the county work. Generally, the vaccination and the treatment of deceased hogs is taken care of by the federal authorities. Sanitary conditions and quarantine are enforced by the representative of the State Sanitary Board, and the educational work in the matter of hog cholera prevention is in charge of the County Agent.

"Veterinary science has not yet produced a specific that will cure hog cholera. The method of treatment is an immunity producing process. Serum is prepared in the federal laboratory from the blood of hogs that have recovered from the disease. It is found that such hogs have in their blood immune bodies which transmitted into the blood of other swine offer resistance to infection or minimize the severity of the disease if already contracted. This immunity is of a temporary nature. Permanent immunity usually follows an attack of the disease if the animal recovers. The administration of the immunizing serum is usually referred to as the single treatment. For the purposes of producing permanent immunity a double treatment is employed, which consists of giving the immunizing serum, together with active virus from afflicted hogs, with the intention of producing a mild form of the disease, which will be so controlled by the- immune bodies that the hog will recover without serious results, and then will have permanent immunity. The single treatment is the method employed in most cases among the afflicted and exposed herds, whereas the double treatment is sometimes used on valuable blooded stock and stock for shipment out of the county. A very great objection to the double method is the danger of starting an epidemic of the disease where it is not already prevalent, which results at times from the infection getting beyond the control of the serums used to restrict it.

"It is probably true that the occasional cases where the single treatment has failed and resulted in great mortality are mainly those in which defect or impurity in the serum has resulted in giving tbe vaccinated hogs blood poisoning, and the mortality in these cases is usually from that cause rather than from cholera.

"On one of the walls of the Federal Station at Olivia hangs a map of Renville county with colored tacks to indicate the presence of the disease. In August, 1915, only half a dozen of these tacks adorned the map at various points. It affords a striking illustration of the success of the government fight against hog cholera. Tbe disease has practically disappeared, but quarantines are being maintained to prevent a recurrence of the outbreak.

"This free government aid has been of immense value to the farmers of Renville county engaged in the production of pork. Every dollar spent has brought manifold returns in hogs saved. As an educational campaign for the prevention of this disease, its benefits will be projected many years into the future."

Statement of the Work of the Bureau of Animal Industry in Renville County (Furnished the Renville County Swine Breeders' Association by Dr. G. S. Weaver). I. General statement: 1. Number of hogs raised in Renville county in 1912, 65,790. 2. Number of hogs raised in Renville county in 1913, 85,699. 3. Number of hogs that died of hog cholera in Renville county in 1912 (this number is included in the number raised in 1912), 8,998. 4. Number of hogs that died of hog cholera in Renville county in 1913 (this number is included in the number raised in 1913). 5. Date headquarters were established in Renville county. April S, 1914. 6. Date on which first herd was treated, May 8, 1914. 7. Number of outbreaks in Renville county from January 1, 1914, to time of treatment of first herd, 135. 8. Number of hogs that died from hog cholera from January 1, 1914, to time of treatment of first herd, 1,960. 9. Total number of outbreaks of hog cholera in Renville county since treatment of first herd, 481. 10. Total number of hogs that died of hog cholera in Renville county since treatment of first herd, 3,109. 11. Number of hogs raised in Renville county in 1914 (estimated), 100,722. 12. Number of farms in Renville county on which active infection existed at time of treatment of first herd, 13. IT. Results in infected herds treated exclusively with serum alone: 1. Number of herds treated, 456. 2. Number of hogs treated, 13,524. 3. Number of hogs showing high temperatures (above 104 degrees) or other symptoms when treated. 3.246. 4. Number of hogs showing high temperatures (above 104 degrees) or other symptoms when treated thai have died, 873. 5. Total number of treated hogs that have died, 1.094. III. Results in exposed herds treated exclusively with serum alone: 1. Number of herds treated, 13. 2. Number of hogs treated, 165. 3. Number of hogs showing high temperatures (above 104 degrees) or other symptoms when treated, 1. 4. Number of hogs showing high temperatures (above 104 degrees) or other symptoms when treated that have died, 0. 5. Total number of treated hogs that have died, 0. IV. Results in infected herds following the use of serum alone on pregnant sows : 1 . Total number of pregnant sows treated, 72. 2. Total number of treated sows that aborted, 11. V". Miscellaneous data : 1. Number of infected herds treated with serum alone in which cholera later reappeared, 20. (If cholera reappeared a number of times in the same herd, each reappearance should be classed as a herd.) 2. Number of exposed herds treated with serum alone in which hog cholera reappeared later in the season, 1. 3. Percentage of abscesses resulting from treatment, 4 10 of 1 per cent. 4. Total number of hogs left untreated on account of advanced disease, 2,419. 5. Number of hogs left untreated on account of advanced disease that have died, 1,956. VI. Sources of infection or ways in which bog cholera is spread : 1. Exchanging labor and visiting neighbors, 104 cases, 21.62' J . 2. Exposure to sick hogs in adjoining pens or pastures, 14 cases, 2.91%. 3. Infection harbored on premises, 141 cases, 29.31', . 4. Carried by dogs, 31 cases, 6.44%. 5. Infected cars and public highways, 1 case, .21%. 6. Purchase of new stock, 7 eases. 1.4.V, . 7. Contaminated streams, 6 eases, 1.25%. 8. Birds, 14 cases, 2.91%. 9. Hogs running at large, 6 cases, 1.25';. 10. Result of double treatment, 2 cases. .42' , . 11. Visiting stockyards, 6 cases. 1.25' , . 12. Indefinite sources, 149 cases, 30.98', .

Other counties are adopting the Renville county plan of controlling hog cholera. In April, 1914, President Leindecker organized a Swine Breeders' Club at Gleneoe, McLeod county, which was the only factor preventing a general outbreak of cholera in that county that year. That club used forty-five thousand cubic centimeters of serum, saving 83.6 per cent of all hogs treated.

In February, 1915. Mr. Leindecker was called to Mankato to present the Renville county plan before a two days' meeting of the Southern Minnesota Seed Growers' Association. The plan was adopted by that association. The plan was similarly adopted in clubs organized by Mr. Leindecker at Litchfield, Meeker county, and Stewart, McLeod county. In the four above named places, the local agricultural teachers are serving as secretaries of the respective clubs. In the summer of 1915, the agricultural teacher at Stewart vaccinated about six hundred hogs with a sav- ing of ninety per cent. Each member in joining a club under the Renville county plan pays a fee of two dollars. Of this sum, fifty cents goes toward the running expenses of the club and one dollar and fifty cents is placed in a revolving fund for the purchase of serum. Serum is kept on hand at the trading points of members. If a member's hogs become sick with cholera or are exposed to the disease, the member goes to the secretary of the club for serum, paying cost price for it.

Fourteen local farmers' organizations supplementing the work of the Swine Breeders' Association in the county have been formed. This number includes two stock shipping associations.

Two University "Weeks were conducted by the Swine Breeders* Association in 1914 and again in 1915. These programs were given in the towns of Bird Island and Sacred Heart. The profits from these enterprises have been placed in a fund to be used for the benefit of the entire county. When the Bureau of Animal Industry discontinues its work in the county, this money will be spent for a supply of serum, to be kept on hand against cholera outbreaks.

In the fall of 1914, a movement to build a creamery in Bird Island was launched in a Swine Breeders' meeting. This movement bore fruit in the fall of 1915, when a modern creamery was erected in Bird Island by a cooperative association formed for that purpose.

"When the association was organized, it was the natural desire of the farmers to find a "cure" for cholera. Now it is known that there is no "cure." But the work of the association has demonstrated and is demonstrating, here and in other counties. that there are successful methods of controlling the disease. The principal elements in this control are : Organization. Education. Sanitation and Vaccination. These elements are of importance in the order named. The swine industry of Renville county lias been greatly benefited, and the way has been opened for a great saving to be made in the raising of swine in the state and nation, forestalling the great losses that are now incurred each year from cholera.

The great risks involved in raising hogs in Renville county have been eliminated. This is the experience of E. J. Butler, for many years a prominent citizen of Martinsburg township. The first time cholera was epidemic in the county, Mr. Butler lost thirty-eight hogs, saving only one. In the epidemic of 190S, he lost eighty-three, saving eighteen. When the epidemic of 1914 reached Martinsburg, Mr. Butler had eighty-one hogs on hand. Cholera appeared in his herd. The government veterinarians were called. One hog was killed to make a positive diagnosis of the disease. Five more were too sick to treat with serum. Seventy-five were vaccinated. All of the five too sick to treat died. All of the seventy-five treated were saved.

An annual sale of pure-bred hogs has been instituted. These sales greatly encourage the raising of pure-bred hogs in the county. In 1913, not a hog was shown at the county fair on account of the cholera epidemic. In 1914, one hundred and twenty hogs were shown, all pure-bred, and fifty were sold. Among those making a specialty of pure-bred Duroc-Jerseys the past few years arc: E. J. Wilson and H. S. Hanson of Renville, F. H. Manderfeld of Olivia, and Porter Bros., R. V. Frakes, Jos. Kienholz, Ed Kienholz, John S. Johnson, John Boyland, A. Ziller and Jos. Ziller of Bird Island. Breeders of the Chester White hogs are : 0 'Connor Bros, of Renville, G. I. Pregler of Morton, H. W. Leindecker and II. J. Broderius, Jr., of Bird Island, F. Hagermeister of Hector, anil Elwin Borden of Buffalo Lake. Wellknown breeders of Poland Chinas are C. F. Gummert and Gustav Grabow of Renville, Hems Bros, of Olivia, and Heikka Bros, of Franklin. Wright McEwen of Buffalo Lake is the leading Berkshire breeder of Renville county.

These are the suggestions coming from Renville county's experience in controlling cholera. They are adopted as rules for guidance in all counties accepting Renville county's plan:

Efficient hog cholera control depends on four factors, namely : (1) Organization. (2) Education, (3) Sanitation and (4) Vaccination. If we have organization, it is easier to spread a knowledge of necessary sanitary and preventive measures. This lessens the amount of serum required. By organization, the serum that has to be used can be obtained of guaranteed quality at a fair price, and it can be administered efficiently.

4. Don't violate the regulations of the Live Stock Sanitary Board. Get a copy of the Sanitary Board s rules from your local agricultural teacher or County Agent.

9. Don't use any serum except that furnished by the State Agricultural College or serum known to be reliable. If you are in doubt, ask the Secretary of the Renville County Swine Breeders' Association (Address, Bird Island, Minnesota) for a list of reliable firms manufacturing serum.

10. Don't use double vaccination unless you are taking a herd of hogs out on the show circuit. Other occasions where double vaccination is justifiable are seldom found. Get the approval of the Swine Breeders' Association before double vaccinating.

11. Don't buy the so-called "cholera cures" so often sold by fakers through the country. The only known preventive for cholera is serum prepared from the blood of a specially treated hog.

12. Don't take everybody's advice when you get sickness in your herd of hogs, if you can get expert advice from people that have made a study of cholera.

13. Don't forget that organization is necessary to handle a cholera outbreak efficiently. Organization is the first step toward controlling the disease and it may lead to eradication.

14. Do you have an agricultural department in your local schools'? If you don't, get one. Most of the agricultural teacher's salary will be paid by the state. He is the logical man for Secretary. The agricultural teacher is paid by the state and by the school district to do such work. You would never get better returns from any man than you would if you used him for Secretary. Such a plan has been tried with success and satisfaction to all parties concerned.