Ready Built Equipment For Farms

By Max Cook, Fannstead Engineer, Cdifornia Redwood Association.

(Adress at First Calif ornia Farm Buitd,ing Conf erence held Septernbcr 2I, Ign, under auspices Sacramento Valley Lunr,berrnenis Club ond, Unipersity of California at Uni,aersity Form, Dntis, Californio. (Introductory to inspocti,ng, erhibit of Ready-Built Equipment and discussing construction features of d,ernonstration firtures rnade by H. L. Belton. Division of Agricultural Engi,neering, of Redwood, Pine and Fir furnished, by Daais Lurnber Co.)

Most of us listen more or less patiently to those who tell us HOW to do a thing, but we^prefer io be SHOWN. This is particularly true of the farmer. Most good farmers as well as lumbermen have to be shown-they are "from Missouri."

Exhibiting ready-built farm building equipment at the yard and elsewhere is worth many times the cost and effort, if only to bring such .uggesiionr to the farmer's attention to remind him of his needs and identifv vou as one catering to his wants. This has been amply [e-on- strated and almost invariably wherever tried his stirred the farmer to action in purchasing much needed equip- ment either ready-built or ready-cul, as well as additionil material.for him to cut and for use otherwise.

Ready-built equipment on exhibit arouses interest and prompts inquiries, not only for the particular type of equipm-ent d_isplayed but for other bullding sugglstions as .well. It is -to you, his local retailer of building materials, more than all other agencies combined, that the farmer more often than otherwise looks for counsel and suggestions in solving his building problems. He logic- ally expects this co-operation from you-modern merchandising demands it. That you are awake to this obligation is evidenced by your attendance here in such good numbers.

I could cite you dozens of dealers who have, bv building and displaying farm building equipment and iccessories, not only rendered a real service to their farm trade bu,t have kept their yard clear of a "bone-pi1e"-have developed. outlets for.sl.ow.moving itenrs-found opportunity to use "shorts" and random lengths-kept yard men occu- pied to best advantage-and made good profits while at the same time enabling- the farmer to make a highly profit- able investment in useful and much needed equ-ipri-rent.

As__typical of results, Fran_k Wells, until recently manager, West Turlock Lumber Company (now Merced Lumber Co.) built three or four types of Redwood mash feeders and lgpp.rc from Bulletins included in our Agricultural Series. He built them primarily for display but he had an order the..fi-rst-.day for*five ready-built. The next night someone "lifted" one. Demand was thus convincingly-indicated and Frank told me two days ago that he has-sold literally hundreds of these and similar poultry feeders.

The Modesto Lumber C_ompany's yard at Keyes, in charge of Charles Sloane, who has perfected construciion details of a mash feeder of Redwood, can't make therh fast enough to keep up with orders from his poultrymen customers. In the past two years Sloane's sales on this type'of equipment alone amounts to over $1200.00. He received an order the day I called for twenty-two feeders. I saw three on display in the main yard at Modesto anil two in the Turlock yard. All were sold awaiting delivery.

A Santa Rosa dealer built demonstration fixtures and sold three carloads of Redwood (principally "shorts") in the spring of the year to fill orders for equipment on display. A Bakersfield dealer sold 78 Redwood septic tanks utilizing over 30 M BM the first six months of last year. He made these available with ready-built ends and readycut sides, top and bottom. He always has at least one made up and ready to load-a staple item with him.

Between 40 and 50 dealers in the State (subscribers to our Agricultural Service) have secured similar results. The price received for ready-built equipment is many times the cost of the material and often $1.00 is received for a nail-

Rabbit hutches ofrer great undez.teloped possibilities for dealers. ing up job that a high school boy would be glad to do f.or 25c.

There is nothing new in the idea of making available ready-built equipment for the farmer. Half the dealers in Nebraska build and sell ready-built equipment such as brooder houses, hog houses, feeders, etc. Last year, according to estimate by Ivan D: Wood, Agricultural Engineer, Nebraska College of Agriculture, not less than 15,000 individual hog houses were marketed in Nebraska, consuming 3,375,W0 board feet of lumber and representing a gross income of $225,000 for this item alone. Dealers in

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