January of 1918 brought a plea from the U.S. government to farmers across America: Get some sheep.

Sheep, it was noted, provide wool for the uniforms of American soldiers fighting World War I. The wool from 20 sheep supplied one uniform. Sheep also supplied meat, and meat and clothing were both badly needed by the troops.

An article in the Jan. 6, 1918, Kansas Farmer noted that six of seven U.S. farms did not have sheep, even though almost every farm could support sheep.

“If you have no sheep, you are failing to do all that is in your power to help win the war,” the article chastised.

70 years ago
Everything was new at one time or another. In February of 1948, it was 2,4-D.

T. F. Yost, director of the Noxious Weed Division for the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, was suggesting that farmers try to chemically kill weeds in growing wheat. Yost said he was not able to make specific recommendations for its use, since “there has been little experimental and no known field-scale work conducted in Kansas” up to that time.

Experiments in Nebraska had shown that the best time for treatment was just as jointing begins or right after bloom. Yost recommended that farmers use the treatment only when weeds were serious enough to reduce yields.

50 years ago
John Deere mounted an aggressive program of tractor safety in January of 1968, advocating for roll bar protection on tractors. Researchers had developed a roll bar protocol that placed a steel frame around and over the tractor operator. The “Roll-Gard” in many cases not only protected the operator, but limited rolls to 90 degrees rather than a complete turnover.

The program involved giving away a Roll-Gard to each of 3,000 farm communities in hopes of calling attention to the technology. The company also sent out information leaflets to 1.5 million farms, explaining the protective frame.

In 1968, the National Safety Council estimated that tractor overturn accidents annually claimed about 500 lives in the U.S.

20 years ago
There was “pioneering” technology emerging 20 years ago in January of 1998. It was called “precision agriculture” and involved innovative ideas such as yield monitors on combines. Farmers moving toward adopting that technology were encouraged to share their ideas and data with neighboring farmers in the hope of getting a better handle on how it could profitably be used.

Goerzen is executive director of Old Cowtown Museum in Wichita, where she lives with her husband, Matt, their four children, three cats and a dog.