38 —Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 12, 1975 Sandy Evans Will Represent by: Sally Bair Farm Feature Writer Sandra Lee Evans needs only to talk for a few minutes before it becomes quite obvious that she truly loves the out of doors and living on a farm. Sandy, 17, is the new Chester County Dairy Princess, and she makes il very clear that she has no plans to live anywhere but on a farm. Pretty, freckled and deeply tanned, she is the picture of Sandy just enjoyed a rubber raft trip with her Ecology Club, and now is trying to learn the finer points of canoeing. a healthy farm girl and will be a good commercial for the dairy products she will speak up for in the coming year. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I. Newton Evans, Chester Springs R 2, Sandy was selected over a field of six con testants. The Evans family lives on a 130-acre farm with additional rented land to total about 400 acres. They milk about 70 Holsteins and have nearly 180 head altogether. Sandy’s brother, Freeman, 23, works on the farm, and she has a married sister LuAnn, 21, and a sister Yvonne, 26, whojs in the Peace Corps in Africa. When asked what she is doing now that summer vacation is here she said, “My father takes care of that.” Then she said her job is mostly feeding and cleaning up around die barn, with her chores beginning at 6:30 a.m. when she starts feeding the silage. She also helps in the fields when necessary, sometimes raking hay, but mostly she says she just helps to unload hay. Later Sandy said that it is her responsibility to keep up Country Corner “The Tie That Binds" by: Melissa Piper During a press conference earlier this week, several newspeople heard the Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, relate a concern over the declining per capita consumption of milk in the United States. For in his words, the agriculture official stated, “this decrease in per capita consumption has become a real concern for the dairy farmer." Being of interest in just how much of a con cern this might be, I checked into the matter by calling an area dairy co-op and found the following information to be quite interesting. It is true that in the last few years, the per capita consumption of total fluid milk has decreased, but not by astounding leaps and bounds as we have been led to believe. For example in 1969 the per capita consumption was 138 quarts per person (milk and milk products) while last year that figure was 132.2 quarts per person. A slightly different aspect can be seen in the whole milk consumption however. In 1955, the per capita consumption for milk was 134.9 quarts per person while in 1969 it had dropped to 110.2 quarts and last year recorded at 93 A Look at the Dairy Industry Chester County’s Dairy Enterprise the grounds around their home, which involves quite a lot of mowing. She said, “You never consider yourself done, you just keep mowing and mowing. I really pride myself in a well-kept lawn that is well trimmed.” Sandy is emphatic about the matter of living in the country: “There’s no way you’re going to get me to live in a city.” And she said she’d like to live on a dairy farm when she’s older, despite her love of horses. “I don’t know how you make enough money to live otherwise.” Sandy also had a few comments on the state of farming in her area. She said she really-feels like “people are closing in, and I hate to see it. The ground here is so well suited for agriculture it would seem they should choose some poorer locations to build houses, and let the agricultural land stand. I love the country.” In talking about the things she really enjoys, she became very enthusiastic about her quarterhorse, Myrtle. Sandy said that when she was thirteen she thought she wanted a motorcycle. Instead her father got her a horse, and it’s been a “real love affair” ever since, according to her mother. She uses her horse for hunting, and is a junior member of the Belwood Hunt Club. Sandy patiently explained what a “hunt” is. The season, she said, extends from sometime after Labor Day until. May 31, at which time the hunts are stopped to allow the foxes to raise their young. She said they never shoot a fox - Homestead the purpose of the hunt is primarily for the exercise and the enjoyment of being outdoors. The hunts begin somewhere around 9:00 a.m. and often continue until mid or late afternoon. To prepare her horse for this rigorous riding, she exercises him daily in the winter months, but she admits that in the summer she slacks off and then slowly builds him up again. But what about the dairying that she’s to represent? She’s been a member of the 4-H Black and White Club, having been a member for the past three years. She also belonged for a few years when she was younger. She has three cows and two calves and will be showing an in termediate calf this year. Last year Sandy was the winner in the Chester County Milk and Fat contest with one of her cows who was milking 19,000 pounds. Although keeping the records was a lot of work, she said she was really glad for a contest like that “for people like me who can’t do very well at shows.” She usually shows at the Goshen and Kimberton Fairs and at her 4-H Round-Up. A new 4-H activity for her this summer is dairy cattle judging. “It’s a whole new thing,” she said, and indicated that she’s a little unsure of herself. She said she thinks she needs a few more years of practice before things fall into quarts. This may seem like a frightening drop and yet there are many factors which must be con sidered. In the past several years many people have turned from drinking fresh whole milk to the low-fat milk in the wake of the cholestrol scare and weight conciousness. This explains most of the drop, since the per capita con sumption of fluid low milk has increased by 439 percent over the last 10 years. There have also been substantial increases in the use of yogurt and other dairy products over the last ten years which seems to ease the fears just a little. While it is true however, that milk has not been able to compete with “the real thing” and other carbonated drinks, at least here in the Notes f r : <r* *k\ t- * place for her. Sandy will be a senior at the Owen J. Roberts High School in Pottstown and one of her major interests is the Ecology Club. The Club’s primary reason for existing is to recycle paper, glass and tin cans. Every Friday club members collect the paper from the ecology containers which they’ve placed in every room in the school and ship it to be recycled. On Saturdays, they work at the Norco Mall where they have placed containers for glass and tin cans. The glass must be sorted according to clear and colored glass and things like soda bottles must have the rings taken off because even though people are asked to remove them before discarding the bottles, many don’t bother, ac cording to Sandy. The clear bottles go to Diamond Glass and the colored ones are sent to New Jersey, Sandy said. Of course, the plants which recycle the products pay the club for supplying them, and with their money the club went on a rubber raft trip. For Sandy, it was a thrilling experience which she thoroughly enjoyed. Sandy is also a member of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church and a member of their youth group as well as a tri church youth group. Sandy entered the Dairy Princess contest because some friends of hers convinced her she should. She said, “Tina Acker (the 1974 Dairy Princess and a neighbor and fellow 4-H member) brought the contestant forms along to a 4-H [Continued on Page 40) Sandy Evans leads “Cornie” the intermediate calf she plans to show this summer. Middle Atlantic Milk Marketing region, the trend has been less of a decrease in consumption, something which area dairy farmers can be proud of. Sure, in the last few months there have been those “independents" who feel that the nickel for each hundredweight of milk which is voluntarily taken out of their milk check for advertising has done little for their operations. But their money must have been doing some good in allowing this region to buck the national trend in decreasing consumption. Although many people dairy farmers have voiced strong opinions against the “milk is a natural” campaign which they find too unoriginal, may m the long run be hurting themselves as the advertising campaign has proven successful according to dairy authorities. Perhaps to many,.it may not seem to be the best approach; yet, it has been effective in helping to curb the “consumption blues." I'm sure there will always be controversies in the dairy business and yet everyone concerned has a common tie - making sure consumers buy their product. If that cannot be the tie that binds we may soon find ourselves having the "real thing” on our cereal for breakfast.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers