80 years ago this week. A U.S. circuit court of appeals ruled that the Ohio Improved Chesters, or OIC, swine breed is a distinct and separate breed from the Chester Whites. The case was brought by the L.B. Silver Company of Salem, Ohio, against the Federal Trade Commission, which had ruled that the company could not advertise the O.I.C. hog as a distinct breed. The FTC order that the Silver company stop advertising its swine as more disease resistant than other breeds was upheld. The ruling was of great interest to breeders in Columbiana and Mahoning counties, as all of the stock sold by the L.B. Silver Company is bred on contract by farmers in this territory.
A new dairy barn has been built at the state prison farm in London, Ohio. It is the largest, most modern dairy barn in Ohio, erected entirely of brick and concrete by prison labor. Stanchion room is furnished for 250 milk cows.
50 years ago this week. Livestock and poultry on U.S. farms showed a net increase of 1 percent last year, according to the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.
The increase resulted from the substantial rise in the number of cattle since the numbers of all other species are down.
The 93.7 million head of cattle and calves on Jan. 1 represented an increase of about six million head, or 7 percent, during 1952.
Hog numbers at 54.6 million head were down 9 million head, or 14 percent, from a year ago. Sheep numbers declined 477,000 head.
25 years ago this week. The family of William Lyden Jr. started a farm business raising polled Herefords on My Way Farm in central Mahoning County. Mike Bishop is farm manager on the former G.F. Howard farmstead. The Lyden family, known for it’s dealings in the oil business, said they hope to contribute something to the purebred cattle industry and to agriculture in the county. “We don’t want to get the image of this farm being a plaything, a tax dodge. It is a business, just like the oil business,” Bishop said.
