— Uncaster July 8, 1976
16
Getting caf.'es and heifers m their places is all in a days work for Schwartzbeck on the farm she and husband Joe own west of
Baltimore Maryland
Dawn finds the workday of Joe and Nona
Schwartzbeck already two hours old as the
young Maryland couple move their herd of nearly
90 dairy cows on the first of two daily trips
through the milking parlor
Across America, another 300,000 dairy
farmers, under 300,000 different circumstances,
have started their days also Within hours, 3 1 /2
million gallons of milk and milk products will be
delivered to children and their parents in cities,
large and small, across the country
Dairying ties people down The cows
be milked twico-||ciay, 365 £
Between milkings there’s what most folks
would_ consider a full days work Depending on
the season, it’s either planting corn, making hay,
or harvesting gram Repairing and cleaning
equipment Tending the animals Plowing to
raise a new crop of feed.
And dairying takes a big investment The
average family dairy operation has more cows
than one of a generation ago And more mech
anization Expensive mechanization The
Schwartzbecks have five tractors, seven hay
wagons, three -siiage wagonsr two Trucks, and
various planters, mulchers, lifters, spreaders,
dryers, balers, and rakes Altogether—land,
Dairy keeps him busy
Drs. William S. Gardner,
Christopher Carroll Barton
and Robert J. Munson
Are pleased to announce the
formations of a group practice
limited to large animaj* medicine
and surgery.
717-569-5650 717-397-7885
buildings, animals, and equipment—they have
about $300,000 rnvested in dairying While
this is above the national average of $175,000
total investment on a U S dairy farm, it is rep
resentative of the future direction many dairymen
will be going
Why do people stay in dairying where the in
vestment and risks are high, the hours are long,
and work goes on 365 days a year'?
They stay, they say, because it’s a way of
life, not a j-gb, A good way of life They like
.working for themselves They think it’s a good
way to bring up kids But no matter how they
feel about the virtues of thedifestyle, they have
to make a living at dairying in order to stay If
they can’t make a living, they have to-quit and
go into something else. And that will mean less
milk and milk products coming into cities
Many, like the Schwartzbecks find that by
using their income to pay interest on their in
debtedness for land and equipment, by nibbling
away at their mortgage, they some day expect
to be able to pass on a considerable equity to
their children —depending on the weather, good
management, and adequate prices for their
milk
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Indians used .to’believe that eating milkweed roots would
help them hunt deer.
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