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About The news-review. (Roseburg, Or.) 1948-1994 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1950)
dr ay-; o .- " - ' . ,, "saws Dream Realized; Routledge Now Has Model Northwest Turkey Ranch, Hatchery STOCKMEN! BUY- -NOW Young Purebred -Corriedale Rams, ready for the range. Price $50. V. K. H0LC0MB, Oakland, Oregon (at Kellogg) RED LAIR BOMBED Thi It Mi Mcond of I w , articles telling the story f weorgo KOUfieag., nil Tum.y hatchery and farm and h I ' firm belief that turkey railing may, in tima, bacoma Douglas county's number on i n. dustry.) By WARREN MACK Atwi-R.vitw SUft Wrlltr Mon., Aug. 14, 19S0 The News-Review, Roteburf, Or. 7 BRUSSELS -BPl-Aimil bomb was hurled .at the-Belgian Communist party headquarters' building here early today. The front was damaged and several windows smashed. Cf-1E TOTHE Douglas County Fair Grounds THURSDAY FRIDAY - SATURDAY Aug. 17, 18, 19 fife All Day i- o r 3 FulljDays IIS CARN I VAU 'J r ARM EXHIBITS - GRANGE EXHIBITS Livestock Judjlnt FOOD EXHIBITS - CAHH IHG CONTESTS Stylo Shoo - F F A Exhibits Clothing and H en e- a k I n g DEMONSTRATIONS So Rose burg Rod Gun Clubs BIG WHO ANIMAL EXHIBITION Bears - Fish - Gono Birds HCIUB exhibits! BIG AMATEUR SHOW ! Sponsored by Roseburg Active Club SCNCS! DANCES! ACTS! Croup Numbe r s ! OPEN AIR STAGE See ond Hear Dorens of Coir testonts Vie for Prises! THURS. ,FRI. .SAT. NIGHTS Don't Miss the .Amateur Show! Auditions 7-10 p.m. .Monday. Aug. 14. Jr. High Auditorium. COME TO THE FAIR George L. Routledee realized a lifelong ambition in 194$ when he boufcht land he now operates near the Garden Valley district north west of Roseburg. He had visions ot oeing tne owner of a model turkey ranch and hatchery one that would attract ooultrv exnerts from all over the country, would give him an opportunity to im prove turkey raising methods and wouia oiler tne dunce to do some thing constructive for the Rose burg community he has come to love. He paid no attention to scoff ing oldtimera who laughed at the idea of raising turkeys on land covered with scrub oak and slash. With his experience and b a c k- ground, all George needed was cheap land (preferably logged over timber land), proper drain age, natural rain shelters and the kind of climate noted in Douglas county. The oldtimers stopped scoffing when they saw for them selves that the Houtledae farm was the best of its kind in the county and derision changed to respect when the farm was classed as one of the finest n Oregon. Acreage Told Koutledec now has 185 acres de voted almost exclusively to rais ing lurxeys ana tneir eggs. Forty acres on the west side of t h e county road extending to the Umn. qua river bank include three broodor and pullet ranges, brooder yards and i. field all crammed to the hilt with turkeys in varying stages of development. Home for the newly-born birds is the 10,000 r-apacity brooder house, measuring 340 by 25 feet. It is equipped with 31 oil and gas stoves, with a constant temper ature guaranteed by thermostats. Automatic water founts assure an adequate and fresh supply of water, both in the brooder and on all ranges. Cleanliness of the brooder is an outstanding feature, with little uf the smell from drop pings present. Routledge admits being something of a pioneer in the use of wood slat flooring, a type of flooring which does away with contamination and greatly re duces cleaning time and expense. Hatchery Large Attached to the comfortable liv ing quarters, and nearly ' twice their size, are the incubator and hatchery rooms and a small of fice. Two, 35,000-capacity and six, 4,000-capacity incubators operat ing on a 28-day basis prepare the eggs for the next step. Eggs are then put in the six, 4,000-capacity hatchers and "come to life" in two to three days. - After the birds have loft the brooder and two of the three west side ranges, they are moved across the road to the hillside range and breeder yards, their last stay on the Routledge farm. The remainder of the 145 acres on the east side of the road is being developed as fitting habitation for more turkeys. One well is dug and another is in the process and carpenters are completing a barn and feed sheds. When information for this article was being gathered, the R o u t ledge farm had as tenants nearly 25,000 turkeys, ranging from two-week-old Broad Breasted Beltsville Whites to three-month-old Broad Breasted Bronze birds. But George declared this was something of a slack period and suggested a dif ferent time when brooder, ranges and hillsides were literally swarm ing with turkeys, was quite a sight to see. To the uninitiated, one of the most amazing things about the farm is that it employs only five people and those fivi do every job there is to be done on the ranch. George's son, Waldcn, and the hired man, Herb Finch, d o most of the manual labor and the routine chores. His daughter, Helen Routledge Sparks, and Mrs. Finch handle the bookkeeping, serve as cashiers and take charge of the hatchery. George says he just "putters around, keep ing fingers in everything," but it is he who keeps the smoothly functioning organization operating in the proper channels. He also oversees the innoculations, ar ranges for shipments and dreams up the little twists which have made the Routledge farm a model in the Northwest. An important sidelight is t h e raising of cattle on the ranch. It is done on a modest scale but George prides the farm for being able to support 15 head of regist ered Galloway cows and 13 calves, in addition to that thousands o I turkeys raised each year. H i s formula goes something like this: First, the cattle are allowed to eat their fill in the high grass land. The turkeys follow the cows and gobble up the short, green grass the cows left behind. At the same time, the land is fertilized by tons of turkey droppings so that by the time the cows return a year later, a luxuriant crop o f green, belly-high grass awaits them. Then the process is r e peated. Has Solution Routledge is convinced he owns land in the "best damned turkey country in the world." His answer to the question, what to do when Douglas county timber is gone, is best illustrated by his own sue cess. To him, there is no other solution than to raise turkeys on the hilly, logged-over land. "Because of our climate, w e have none of the diseases, air borne germs, heat and dust that plague those poor fellows in Calif ornia," he declared. "Our birds are hea'thier and their eggs are tthe best." Proof that turkey raising is big business can be gained from the annual Routledge feed bill $100, 000. It can also be noted by the number of orders for turkey eggs that George has to turn down each year. The reason he had to say no. to a recent request for 10,000 eggs weekly is lack of transportation. Citos Air Needs Routledge .is outspoken in his campaign for air transportation and an airport which Roseburg is in the process of acquiring. His conversations are sprinkled with allusions to the people who think an airport is a luxury instead of a necessity to an ever-growing community. He is convinced that his own business would be three times its present size if Roseburg could have air freight. He hates to fill orders for thousands o f eggs by trucking them to Med ford or Eugene before being able to fly them out. Shipping poults any distance by rail is out ot the question, Routledge says, "be cause the birds would starve to death before they left the depot." As far as Routledge is con cerned. no business in the world beats turkey raising and no land is better fitted than Douglas county. But utilization of the log-eed-off timber land will never ex pand to its fullest extent until cargo planes can fly eggs and poults to markets which now are clamoring for them. And until that happens, the turkey business will remain what it is a vocation well down the .list of those which en rich Douglas county and a bus iness followed by only a few hardy souls like George L. Rout ledge, who know that hard work, combiner, with a good mind and general know how, still pays off in dollars and cents. :0 i ".TfhjWf S9' if,'r; V best available, is used exclusively i his daughter, Mrs. Helen Routledge Sparks, examining one of MODERN EQUIPMENT, the best available, is used exclusively throughout the hatchery, brooder house and on the ranges at the Koutledge Hatchery and lurkey farm. Abovt photo shows a portion of the 340-by-25-foot brooder house, inhabited at the moment by 4,000 birds. Wood 'slat floors avoid litter, con tamination, result in better quality birds. Brooder is heated by 31 oil and gas stoves. Picture at upper left shows Routledge and his daughter, Mrs. Helen Routledge Sparks, examining one of the trays in the 35,000-capacity incubators. Photo at lower left seas Mrs. Sparks check a hatcher for cleanliness. The hatchery and incubating plant easily cla:sify as among the largest and most modern in the state, with 40,000 eggs handled weekly. (Staff Photos) West's Lamb Crop Smallest On Record DENVER UP) The 1 9 5 0 western lamb crop is the smallest on record, the U.S. Agriculture department's bureau of economics reported. The records, the bureau added, date back to 1920. However, it noted that the de- I cline which started in 1942 seems to be slowing down. It said the cut from last year "is the smallest decline" since the cut down started eight years ago. The lamb crop was estimated at 12,188,000 head this year com pared to 12,241,000 head in 1949, in 13 western range sheep states. 'Larger lamb crops than last are reported from Wyoming and Texas." the bureau said, "with only small increases in Uth, Wash ington, Idaho and Oregon, Large reductions are indicated for Mon tana, South Dakota,' New Mexico and Arizona, with small reductions in Colorado, California and Ne vada, It reported Texas has 3,416,000 head of lambs. Wyoming 1.255.000 I California 1,186,000 end Montana 1,004,000. INDICTED FOR MURDER PORTLAND -tm A Multno mah county grand jury has in dicted William G. Jordan, 55, on a first degree murder charge stem ming from the AFL Labor temple shooting of Joseph N. Taylor, 42, on Aug. 3. Jordan, who is married to Tay lor's former wife, asserted Taylor had threatened him several times. Will li lie NEW SHIPMENT! Figurines, green ware, paint and supplies, finished articles, lamps, rafia shades. Instructions in Dresden Craft and Ceramics ARTS & CRAFTS STUDIO 736 South Stephens St. A BARGAIN at TWICE the PRICE! the HOLT Farm Dozer Tested, Proven and Accepted by Hundreds of Pacific Northwest Farmers. INomtl On RoQiaartt) Plenty o f firkins la-nlsslen: Adlte, it Cfi I I area, tit Entitle Ton Ts Sn Everything J I HIGH IN QUALITY LOW IN COST... Now for the first time farmers can bur low-cost, top-quality hydrau-lically-operated dozer blade engi neered expressly for use with smaller crawler tractors. 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