—Umctittr Farming. Saturday, August 30, 1975
52
South Africans visit
By Silly Biir
Farm Feature Writer
Lancaster County Holstein breeders have been hosting
tours to their farms for a long time. But in the past five
years they have added another dimension to the average
farm tour by opening their homes to Holstein breeders
from other states and other countries. They offer an
evening of good food, fellowship and a companiablc
discussion of Holstein cattle.
This week local breeders played host to eighteen
dairymen from the Union of South Africa who are here to
leam a lot about dairy cows - and particularly dairy bulls.
Their tour was arranged under the auspices of the
Friesland Cattle Breeders Association in South Africa in
cooperation with the Holstein Friesian Association of
America. They have a sire selector who is traveling with
them.
Two of the South African visitors spent the evening at
the home of Elam Bollinger, Manhelm R 7, and talked
about dairying in South Africa. They also asked many
intelligent questions about dairying in this country, and
were eager to leam. One of the men, Mamo Meyer said,
"We’re deciding if we want to import cattle."
Although they apologized for their lack of ability with
English, both visitors at the Bollingers communicated
very well. Their native language is Afrikaans, and when
they were not sure of a question or a response they held a
quick discussion in that tongue. The language sounded a
lot like Pennsylvania Dutch, and sometimes the
Bollingers understood a few words.
Meyer and Jurie Geldenhuys agreed that dairying in the
Union of South Africa, located on the southern tip of the
continent of Africa, is not too much different from here,
but fanning itself is quite different.
The farms are quite a lot larger than what we are ac
customed to in Lancaster County. Meyer described his
farm as having about 5,500 morgen. According to Web
ster’s, one morgen is equal to two acres. These 5,500
morgen are farmed jointly by a “company” which con
sists of his father, two brothers and himself. His own farm
where he resides is nearly 1300 morgens. This farm is not
just a dairy farm. In fact, Meyer says, they have a total of
60 dairy animals, including calves, but they also graze
about 1,000 ewes and raise nearly 650 vealers.
Meyer’s dairy animals are primarily Frieslands, which
are black and white animals of Dutch extraction. The
Friesland cattle are dual-purpose animals, Meyer said,
meaning they are used both for meal and milk production.
His cows are registered with their Friesland Breeding
Association. He said he also has imported some Dutch
cattle.
June Geldenhuys on the other hand is a great Holstein
enthusiast. He said, “Holsteins give more milk.”
Geldenhuys says he has had Holstein cattle for about
three years and he became interested because, “1 read
production records for them and they give so much more
milk than Dutch cattle.” As a result he inseminated his
Dutch cattle with Holsteins “for more milk.”
There ensued a friendly discussion between the two men
as to whether the Holsteins were indeed superior and
Country Comer
A summer day spent down on the farm
These last few days in August have brought with
them a lingering warmth from July coupled with
the fresh breezes of the Fall months yet to come.
And while the area farmers have been busy
preparing the wagons and machinery for that
annual.fete of silo f'llmg, farm wives have been
busy reaping the lose produce from their gardens
and preserving it for the winter days ahead.
As a child, I remember my mother on days such
as these busily coordinating efforts in the kitchen
to can quarts of ripe red tomatoes and golden
peaches My younger sister and I would watch the
whole process from peeling the fruit to dunking the
jars in thecanner. But we knew the job wasn’t done
until we'd hear the pop of the lids sealing later in
the day
Either a case of homesickness or nostalgia (I
think the former) prompted me this week, to visit a
Lancaster County farm wife who was in the midst
of canning a basketful of peaches Joining her for a
day of canning on Wednesday was quite interesting
although I hope she didn't mind a novice cluttering
her kitchen 1
Canning Day Revisited
The early afternoon sun was already quite warm
as I drove to a farm in the eastern portion of
Lancaster County And as I turned off the mam
roads and onto the winding farm roads, the thickly
leaved trees offered a little more shade.
When I arrived at the farm, I felt as if I had made
a trip home as few other houses were m sight and
only the squawking of a few birds and muffled
noises from the barn were evident.
The inside of the farm house was cool with
breezes playfully whipping at the curtains and the
by: Melissa Piper
Lancaster farmers
Meyer wu of the opinion that they muat first prove
themselves. If they ore, in fact, better producers, he could
be persuaded to accept them, he said.
Geldenhuys has 60-90 milking cows and farms about
1400 morgen with his father and brother. The dairy herd is
presently a mixture of Friesland and Holsteins. His
average production is about 2.8 gallons per day per cow,
he says, but he claims that his Holsteins average about 3.5
gallons per day, thereby being superior.
Geldenhuys said his dairy cows arc fed a ration of com
silage, which is stored in a bunker, lucerne hay and a
concentrate with IS percent fishmeal protein.
The main agricultural income is from maize, and they
make a lot of hay to feed the animals.
Geldenhuys also grazes about 1,000 sheep and has about
200 Africander beef animals, which he described as being
much like a Brahmin.
The Geldenhuys' cows are milked in a double-six
milking parlor, manufactured by Alfa Laval. He uses
weigh Jars to help with his production records.
Milk is sold through a “milk board" which bottles and
markets it for the farmer. Geldenhuys. whose milk is sold
for drinking, said his milk is sold “Just by volume, not by
bufferfat." He stores his milk in a bulk tank, and is paid
about 67cents per gallon.
Homestead Notes
Meyer, on the other hand, sells his milk for manufac
tured milk, and receives 47 cents per gallon for 3.5 test.
His cows are milked by hand and the milk stored in cans.
In the winter, he said, it is cold enough so that he does not
have to cool the milk, but in the summer he cools the af
ternoon milking and the milk is picked up just after the
morning milking.
There is a testing association, called the “Milk Record
Scheme,” with the samples being taken by the individual
dairymen. Inspections can come at any time the men said.
Semen is available through artificial breeding stations
in South Africa and Geldenhuys says that he uses semen
from an imported Canadian bull for his Holsteins. Meyer
said, “Artificial insemination is just at the beginning of its
development. Only the bigger farmers want it.” Both men
do their own insemination work.
The starkest difference between South Africa and this
part of the country, according to Meyer, is the climate.
There are seven months of summer there, and while it
gets a lot hotter, there is not the humidity that we have
here. It is now winter in South Africa. The landscape is
flat, “more or less,” and there is not the abundance of
trees they find here in Lancaster County. The native tree,
Meyer says, is a thorn tree. Both men hail from the Free
State, one of four provinces in the Union of South Africa.
The average annual rainfall is 26-30 inches, but this year
smell of peaches was faintly floating through the
air,
The first process of canning the fruit was to sort
through the basket and find only those peaches
which were not too ripe but not too hard. This was
The last few days in Lancaster County have been
busy ones for farmers as well as their wives. Filling
silo and canning the last produce from the garden
has kept everyone on the go.
Meyer Marno and Jurie Geldenhuy look over the
OHIA records with Elam Bollinger.
they have had 35-40.” Meyer said that farms in South
Africa are “not that mechanized.” Some people are highly
mechanized, but the average farmer works with small
tractors and small equipment.
Because of the diversity and largeness of the farms,
these men consider themselves primarily “supervisors.”
The work is done by approximately 60 laborers on the
Meyer farm and 25 on Geldenhuys. The laborers are given
housing and food. Because of this, Meyer said, “Farming
is so different here. We must have laborers.”
Bollinger noted, “Labor here is out of reach. If we can’t
do it ourselves we don’t do it.”
After some consultation in the native tongue, it was
agreed that a tractor costs about the same in South Africa
as here, but an automobile is “much more expensive.”
Cars are all imported, and gasoline costs about 70 cents
per gallon.
The primary income in South Africa comes from gold,
and the second highest is agriculture, including wool and
corn, a lot of which is exported. The visitors raised some
excitement when they said they live very close to gold
mines and diamond mines, but they quickly explained
that diamonds are not so readily available, and possession
of an uncut diamond could mean a jail sentence.
The group of South Africans had spent one week in the
Netherlands and one week in Canada, prior to coming to
the United States for a week. Before returning home they
will spend one week in Great Britain.
In the United States they visited the National Holstein
Association headquarters in Brattleboro, Vermont and
were in Washington, D.C. Locally they visited the farm of
J. Mowery Frey, Jr., Lancaster and the Atlantic Breeders
Cooperative stud.
According to Bollinger, local Holstein club members
host four or five tours annually.
done skillfully by the farm wife and her daughter.
Before long, a small kettle of boiling water was
bubbling on the stove and the peaches, a few at a
time were being dipped into the liquid just long
enough for the skins to loosen. From there the
peaches found a temporary home in a basin of cool
water and waited there to be skinned and halted.
The farm wife had lined up seven wide-mouth
jars and was steadily filling them with peach halves
as we talked. A hunt for lids brought the con
versation around to the availability of canning lids
which prompted many thoughts on the issue.
When asked if she had noted any shortage, the
farm wife replied that she had bought most of hers
during the last season but that finding them m
Lancaster County sure “had been a chore" this
year.
My thoughts quickly flashed to conversations I
had had earlier in the year with consumer officials
in Washington concerning the shortage. Most of
that particular talk had centered around the fact
that lids were being hoarded.
Both the farm wife and I agreed though that
hoarding hadn't seemed as much as a problem as
just plain shortages. For after speaking with many
merchants in Lancaster County we both realized
that lids just hadn't been delivered or at least were
not making it into the stores.
By that time, the peaches had been loaded into
the jars and packed tightly. The syrup that had
been slowly cooking on the stove was ready and we
were beginning to pour it evenly into the jars. A
quick reminder to get the air bubbles from the
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