—Lancaster Farming. Saturda
20
French Farmers Are
Battling Over A 1 Bulls
The farmers of two neighboring
villages in central France are at
war over their rival operations
for artificial insemination of
cows
One bull has died and several
policemen have been injured.
The municipal council of Lavoux
resigned and farmers armed with
shotguns, scythes and pitchforks
are preparing for the next battle.
The artificial insemination
center at nearby Mignaloux has
the blessing of the government
under regulations to prevent the
proliferation of such centers. The
farmers at Lavoux, which has a
population of 632, set up a
cooperative insemination center
of their own and ignored official
orders to shut it down.
The county prefect, or
governor, sent police to con
fiscate the Lavoux stock of
sperm. The Lavoux farmers
responded by marching across
the fields to kidnap some of the
prize bulls of Mignaloux.
They followed up with a
demonstration outside the
prefect’s office in Poitiers.
Several police were hurt
breaking up the demonstration.
The prefect last week ordered
the seizure of the bulls owned by
the Lavoux farmers. Lavoux
farmers acted first, burning
down a Mignaloux stable and
killing one bull.
On Sunday, the voters of
Lavoux were called to the polls to
elect a new municipal council. All
but 16 boycotted the election in
protest and the vote was declared
void
The normally peaceful coun
tryside east of Poitiers looked
like a battlefield as armed far
July 21, 1973
mcrs equipped with field glasses
stood guard over their in
semination centers and watched
for the enemy’s next move.
A meeting of the mayors of
other villages in the vicinity was
called in Lavoux on Sunday night
to discuss possible mediation.
The mayor of Mignaloux and his
friends were invited but failed to
appear
Pfizer Signs Agreement
To Buy Trojan Seed Co.
Pfizer Inc. announced that it
has agreed in principle to pur
chase Trojan Seed Company, a
subsidiary of Fuqua Industries,
Inc.
R.M. Hendrickson, president of
the Pfizer Agricultural Division,
said Pfizer will pay Fuqua $2l
million for the stock of Trojan.
The proposed acquisition would
mark entry by Pfizer into seed
genetics.
Trojan, which is based in
Olivia, Minn., had sales in excess
of $l7 million in 1972 with net
earnings of about $1.5 million.
Consummation of the tran
saction is subject to several
conditions, including approval of
a formal agreement by the
Boards of Directors of Fuqua and
Pfizer not later than Sept. 10,
1973.
“We consider seed corn to be
one of the most basic of
agricultural input industries,”
Mr. Hendrickson said. “We see
many new developments and
challenges ahead in this area.”
Stay Seated in Boats
Remain seated in your boat as
much as possible to avoid being
tossed overboard. If you must
change seats, do so by keeping
low and moving smoothly and
slowly-one person at a time,
cautions the Cooperative Ex
tension Service Farm and Home
Safety Committee of The Penn
sylvania State University.