52—Lancaster Farming Saturday. August 23, 1975
The Berks Co.
has chosen nursing as a career
Sevenlcen-yc*r-old Cathy Yanos haa a list of 4-H ac
tivities which never seems to end. But despite her busy
summers, she was persuaded to enter the Berks County
Dairy Princess contest and came out a winner.
Cathy, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Yanos,
Douglassville R 2, already has some ideas about things she
would like to do as Dairy Princess, so the next year is sure
to be an active one for her.
“I think farmers already know how important milk is,
so we should try to reach others,” Cathy says. She said the
Berks County dairy promotion week at the Berkshire Mall
was very successful and it will be tried again next year,
perhaps adding something special each night. ”1 might
give some demonstrations,” she says.
There are some plans for her to visit elementary school
children in the first, second and third grades. If she does
IV -■*. - t -K; ■ * - •*-•■
Cathy feeds a new calf in the Yanos herd.
Country
Corner
Farms Get Redefined
A recent announcement that reached our office
this week explained that an official redefinition of
farms was about to occur.
The announcement stated that “the official
definition of a farm has been changed to better
reflect today’s agriculture ”
The USDA and the Bureau of Census will now be
defining a farm as “any establishment from which
$lOOO or more of agricultural products is sold or
would normally be sold during a year"
The last definition given for u§e by the census
was given in the late 1950's when a farm was
de'-of-*' as p'ace imde' 10 acres with annual
s d if * 50m or more of agricultural goods or any
place of 10 or more acres selling $5O or more
From that definition posed in the late 50’s it is
startling to see just how much agriculture has
grown and prospered At that particular time, most
of the farms included in the census were family
operations quite a bit smaller than today's farm
Although our Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz
has recently noted that corporate farming is not
increasing as rapidly as it once was, still many
farms in the US are no longer family type
operations
The new definition will no doubt result in a
decreased number of places designated as farms*
But the extent of the decrease will not be entirely
known until the 1974 Census has been published
By Sally Bair
Farm Feature Writer
with; Melissa Piper
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
dairy princess
visit them, she said, “I will emphasize how important
milk Is to drink and give out recipes. That will get their
mothers more aware."
Another idea for promoting milk which was suggested
at the recent dairy princess seminar, Cathy said, is "to
preside at a supermarket dairy case and hand out recipes
and perhaps samples of a dairy product or a milk punch."
This kind of appearance can be especially effective, Cathy
said, if the supermarket can be persuaded to run a special
on a dairy product.
The dairy princess can be valuable, Cathy said.
“Because people will pay attention to a princess."
Hie Van os farm is approximately 260 acres, with 50
milking Holsteins. In addition to Cathy, there are two
boys, Bobby 16, and Glenn, 12 and six-year-old Marianne,
self-proclaimed future Dairy Princess.
Cathy readily admits that she is not a regular farm
worker because she is often too busy. But she does help
with the milking in the evening and if her parents go
away, she and her brothers are capable of taking over all
the chores. But, Cathy, says, "I do a lot of cooking."
Cathy does not have a 4-H dairy project, as one might
expect of a Dairy Princess, but she has been a 4-H
member for nine years and has carried a wide variety of
projects. One project she has had almost continually since
she began is baby beef. She has had Hereford, Charolais
and Angus and has shown at the Reading Fair, the Kutz
town Fair and Oley Fair and in 1973 she showed at the
Pennsylvania State Farm Show. She has also had swine
projects.
Cathy just returned from 4-H State Days at Penn State
where she was a member of the fifth high meat judging
team. She ranked 22 as an individual.
Homestead
Notes
Meat judging sounds like one of those very interesting
things one should know about these and as Cathy
explained it she supported this viewpoint. Part of the
contest is meat identification, she said, and that consists
of knowing wholesale cuts, retail cuts and method of
cooking. She explained that contestants must give oral
reasons on carcasses and must judge which is the best of
several loins. This is the second year Cathy has been on
the team and in 1973 she gave a demonstration on meat
identification, so she said she felt fairly sure of her sub
ject.
Other projects she has had include clothing, child and
family relations, leadership, jellies and jams, freezing,
candle making, bicycling, home environment which in
cludes such things as start with a small change,
terrariums, dish gardens and flower arranging.
Cathy has-had so many projects in the home en
vironment area and has done so well that this year she
was one of three 4-H’ers in the state who were interviewed
at State 4-H days for the possibility of being a Keystone
winner. That would mean a trip to National 4-H Club
Congress in Chicago, and if she wins, it would be a first for
Cathy.
Cathy is currently president of the Exeter Community
Club and is a member of the Berks County Baby Beef
Club. She is vice-president of the Berks County 4-H
Council, which organizes and carries out all county ac
tivities such as the demonstration contest and the county
4-H fair which was held two weeks ago in Kutztown.
A big honor for Cathy this summer was the opportunity
to travel to Washington, D. C. to participate in the
Citizenship Short Course at the National 4-H Club Center.
There were two from Berks County and about 100 from
Pennsylvania attending with her. She was a member of
the Conference committee which helps make rules for the
week and work out any discipline problems. There were
eight states at the conference with 500 4-H’ers totally,
Cathy said the highlight of the week for her was being
asked to host representatives of Sun Oil Company at a
luncheon. Cathy explained that they were considering
making a donation to the 4-H Club Foundation.
The group toured Washington, D. C., as any tourists, of
course, but a special tour of the White House was
arranged and Cathy said they got to see really close-up
how the president lives. Cathy said, “There were no ropes
and the carpets were rolled down. We saw all through the
basement and outside in the gardens. Even though the
President was not there we saw the entrances he uses.”
But the thing she liked best of all, Cathy said, was the
National Zoo. She said, “I had been to Washington twice
before, and had seen a lot of the things But I had never
been to the zoo. I loved the zoo.” She said she considered
attending the conference “an honor.”
Last year Cathy attended the Leadership School at 4-H
Club Congress at Penn State.
In the spring she represented Berks County at Capitol
Days in Harrisburg and was asked to give the invocation
at the breakfast for legislators. She said, “I really liked
Capitol Days. A highlight was learning just what the state
is doing to prepare for the Bicentennial. Many things are
being done in coordination with 4-H, and it made me much
more aware.”
Cathy pours a glass of cold refreshing milk for an
adoring six-year-old sister, Marianne.
At State Days this year Cathy was mistress of
ceremonies for the opening assembly.
Through 4-H Cathy has also become an accomplished
seamstress. The gown she wore for the Dairy Princess
contest was her project this year, and it was so well done
that she received a perfect score in Dress Revue. She said,
“I never did that well in dress revue. I knew this dress was
sewn well, but I didn’t think it was that good.” The dress
was enhanced by hand embroidery, but Cathy added
honestly, “I can’t really say I enjoyed working with it. The
fabric wrinkled a lot, and every pin hole showed.”
Another sad note was that she had elected not to enter the
awards program in dress revue, because she felt she
would not do that well.
For the county dress revue Cathy wrote the com
mentary. She said, “I worked on it for days.”
4-H has obviously played a large part in Cathy’s life, and
her hard work was rewarded last year when she was
named Outstanding 4-H Girl in Berks County. She said',
“The most important thing I gained from 4-H is that I can
talk in front of people and can give demonstrations. I have
also gained a lot of friendships. I have met a lot of im
portant people and a lot of just friends. 4-H has also given
me responsibility. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to serve
on committees.”
Cathy also participated in the summer institute spon
sored by the Pennsylvania Association of Farmer
Cooperatives. She attended two years in a row. As a
second year scholar she said one of the most meaningful
things was helping to run the “mini-co-op.” This is a
cooperative organized with a board of directors and
operated throughout the conference. The co-op promotes
the PAFC Institute, sells group pictures of the conference,
sells T-shirts and organizes and sells tickets for a pizza
party and dance. Each member pays in $l.OO to get
organized and at the end of the week the co-op is dissolved
and the profits divided. Cathy said everyone made an
additional $l.OO profit and there was about $3O left over to
donate to an alumni fund for PAFC.
Cathy said the members were particularly pleased with
[Continued on Page 53]
Cathy is no stranger to the milking parlor. Here
she demonstrates how she helps to hose it down.