Where have all the dairy bulls gone? By JERRY WEBB NEWARK, Del. - A catalog of changes that have taken place on America’s farms over the last 40 years would have to include such notable prograss as the adoption of hybrid corn, the disappearance of draft horses, the introduction of the combine and self-tieing baler, and a trend toard bigness. Scientists point proudly to their work with fertilizers and pesticides, and the in ventors and manufacturers beam over the mechanization <?nd automation they have brought to agriculture. But if an agricultural Rip Van Winkle awoke after a 40-year snooze and looked around todays family farm, he’d understand most of what he would see. Tractors would be bigger and better, crops would be more productive. He might not fully un derstand a pipeline milker and he would miss the milk T SEED CORN SPECIALS CONGRATULATIONS ** MUNCY-CHIEF Michigan Virginia Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Illinois I'Acre Massachusetts lAcre Massachusetts 5 Acre New Jersey 1 Acre New Jersey 5 Acre «E»?gw6S NO 1 - 25 ACRES-MIDOLE EASTERN STATES & MIDWEST 3 Bu Muncy Chief 5X777 MR 39.50118.50 3 Bu Muncy Chief 5X662 MR 39.50118.50 « IBu Muncy Chief H 764 MR 29.50 29.50 t *4fa 1 Bu Muncy Chief 3X676 Mh No Charge Gl 266.50 "°0 total savings including Save 24.50 Free Corn $63.00 Total 242.00 All Med. Flats add $20.00 NO 4 -150 ACRES-MIDDLE EASTERN STATES & MIDWEST 20 Bu Muncy Chief 5X777 MR 39.50 790.00 20 Bu Muncy Chief 5X562 MR 39.50 790.00 c . sBu Muncy Chief H 764 MR 29.50147.50 , fa 5 Bu Muncy Chief 3X676 MR No Charge 34} 5 1,727.50 ’ U O total savings including Save 147.50 Free Corn $340.00 Total 1,580.00 All Med Flats add $135.00 NO 7 - 50 ACRES-NEW YORK 4 NEW ENGLAND - SILAGE 6 Bu Muncy Chief 5X662 MR 39.50 237.00 6 Bu Muncy Chief SXSSO MR 39.50 237.00 3Bu Muncy Chief H 270 MR 29.50 88.50 ******£ 2 Bu Muncy Chief 3X553 MR No Charge n* 502.50 " U 0 total savings including Save 50 00 Free Corn $ll9 00 Total 512 50 All Med Flats add $45.00 MUNCY - CHIEF HYBRIDS MUNCY, PENNSYLVANIA 17756 cans. But he wouldn’t be all that baffled - until he was confronted with the problems of how cows have calves with no bulls around. Think about it. Forty years ago, even 30 years ago, every farmer with a few head of dairy or beef animals kept a bull. Or if he didn’t own enough animals to justify the expense of a bull, he relied on a neighbor who did have one. But the bulls are gone from most farms today, replaced by the advances of science. The fiercest, largest old bull I ever saw belonged to one of my boyhood neighbors - a dairy farmer by the rather unusual name of Ray Finkbinder. He operated a Grade A dairy, which meant he produced and bottled milk right there on the farm and delivered it door-to-door in the nearby city. Milk was unpasteurized in those days and all that was added was what accidently made its 1 Acre Butch Falconer 5 Acre Lynwood Pierson 5 Acre Tom Kramer 1 Acre Charles Kramer Matt Schaffner MUNCY-CHIEF SXSSO Jeffrey Bettencourt MUNCY-CHIEF 5X776 John E. Bettencourt MUNCY-CHIEF 5X777 Jack Miller MUNCY-CHIEF 5X662 Bernard Beatty MUNCY-CHIEF 5X662 way into the milk can through a strainer. Ray had a fine herd of Guernsey cows so of course he kept an outstanding Guernsey bull. Maybe it was my age and size at the time that made that old bull seem so large and so mean - and maybe it was the large brass ring old Homer always wore in his nose. Or perhaps it was the electric fence strung around his small compound. Each day on our walk to the one-room school, my brothers and I had to pass that pen - right next to the road, and sometimes'Homer would be there right next to the fence snorting and pawing and acting very bullish. At first it was all we could do to keep from run ning past the pen when he was acting up. But then as time passed we grew used to the old fellow and we started to trust him and the electric fence that kept us apart. Homer stayed in that pen year-round with nothing but MUNCY-CHIEF H 304 245.3 MUNCY-CHIEF SXBOBB 235.3, MUNCY-CHIEF 5X552 234 MUNCY-CHIEF 5X552 SPECIAL PACKAGE DEALS ALL 56 LB. PACK FULL BUSHELS DELIVERED PRICES - EASTERN UNITED STATES ALL ADAPTED HYBRIDS NO 2 - 50 ACRES-MIDDLE EASTERN STATES & MIDWEST 6 Bu Muncy Chief 5X777 MR 39.50 237.00 6 Bu Muncy Chief 5X662 MR 39.50 237.00 _ 3Bu Muncy Chief H 764 MR 29.50 88.50 . Otftfe. 2 Bu Muncy Chief 3X676 MR No Charge 562.50 'UQ total savings including Save 50.00 Free Corn $127.00 Total 512.50 All Med. Flats add $45.00 NO 5 - 25 ACRES-NEW YORK & NEW ENGLAND - SILAGE AND HIGH ELEVATIONS 3Bu Muncy Chief H 656 MR 29.50 88.50 3 Bu Muncy Chief SXSSO MR 39.50118.50 _ IBu Muncy Chief 5X442 MR 39.50 39.50 . 1 Bu Muncy Chief 3X553 MR No Charge 246.50 ‘VO total savings including Save 24.50 Free Corn $59.00 Total 222 00 All Med. Flats add $20.00 NO 8 - SO ACRES-NEW YORK S NEW ENGLAND - GRAIN AND HIGH ELEVATIONS 6 Bu Muncy Chief SX22O MR 39 50 237.00 6Bu Muncy Chief H 304 MR 29.50177 00 c 3Bu Muncy Chief H 270 MR 29 50 88 50 2 Bu Minn. 806 MR No Charge % J* 502 50 'VQ total savings including Save 50 00 Free Corn $lO5 00 Total 452.50 All Med. Flats add $45 00 an overhanging tree for shade in the Summer and a shelter made of baled straw in the Winter. For years he lived what seemed to be a useful and happy life, never venturing outside that two acre lot. On occasion he would have cow visitors and each morning and evening as we trudged past we would stop to say hello or to test our bravery by venturing under the electric fence and into the pen. It was a game of chicken - or maybe more appropriately, bull - where we would sneak into the pen far away from the bull and see how close we could get to him before the fear of being trampled or gored caused us to run for the safety of the electric fence. We had a lot of faith in that fence; it never occured to us what might happen if in a fit of thrift old Finkbinder decided not to spring for the elec tricity needed to keep that fence hot. Like so many good bulls of West Virginia West Virginia New York Ohio North Carolina lAcre North Carolina 5 Acre Connecticut I Acre Maryland 1 Acre Maryland 5 Acre 234 221.4 228.7 221.2 218.7 207.9 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 17,1979 that tune Homer went ott to become hamburger and was replaced by artificial breeding. That technological breakthrough gave dairy farmers everywhere access to the finest bulls in the,, country and did more to improve milk ouput than anything before or since. It also freed up some land and eliminated the hazards associated with keeping a bull. Today huge breeding organizations keep the few outstanding bulls needed to breed most of the nation’s dairy cows. Through science and a vast organization of technicians, the average dairyman is only a phone call away from the services of bulls that have proven their ability to sire top milk UA'ik Vo Some say a girl whose eyebrows meet will have a happy marriage. 1 Acre 5 Acre 1 Acre 5 Acre Dave Hedrick MUNCY-CHIEF 5X442 Ralph G. Layton MUNCY-CHIEF 5X777 Steve Klips MUNCY-CHIEF 5X662 Gerald Hauke MUNCY-CHIEF 5X777 Pam Reynolds MUNCY-CHIEF 5X777 Ervin Long MUNCY-CHIEF 5X777 Kathy Spielman MUNCY-CHIEF 5X662 George Bowman, Jr. MUNCY-CHIEF SXB7B George Bowman MUNCY-CHIEF SXB7B NO 3 -100 ACRES-MIDDLE EASTERN STATES S MIDWEST 15 Bu Muncy Chief 5X777 MR 39.50 592.50 12 Bu Muncy Chief 5X662 MR 39 50 474.00 c 4Bu Muncy Chief H 764 MR'J.SOIIB.OO 3 Bu Muncy Chief 3X676 MR No Charge 1,184.50 'VQ total savings including Save 104.50 Free Corn $220.00 Total 1,080.00 All Med. Flats add $90.00 NO 6 - 25 ACRES-'NEW YORK & NEW ENGLAND - GRAIN AND HIGH ELEVATIONS 3 Bu Muncy Chief SX22O MR 39.50118.50 3Bu Muncy Chief H 270 MR 29.50 88.50 IBu Muncy Chief H 304 MR 29.50 29 50 C A , 1 Bu Minn. 806 MR No Charge 236.50 °<Qn total savings including Save 24.50 v Free Corn $52.00 Total 212.00 All Med. Flats add $20.00 1 j CLIP l MAIL I MUNCY-CH EF HYBRIDS - MUNCY, PA. j □ Please Send Free Catalog and Price List. • Address I Phone ! PLEASE BOOK ORDER FOR I Acres Farmed DELIVERED PRICES EASTERN U.S. SPRING 1979 OR MARCH, APRIL, MAY, AS NEEDED producers. For a fee, a dairyman can introduce top bloodlines and steadily improve the genetic quality of his herd. Unlike the racehorse business, the dairyman spends only a few dollars for the services of a sire that might have cost many thousands - a sire that might have proven himself by producing hundreds of top milking cows. The trend toward artificial breeding has been so complete that many of today’s dairymen have never owned a mature bull and most city people don’t even know what one looks like. That’s sort of strange when you consider that about half of the dairy calves bom each year are bulls. % Po-'T:; 237.1 224.4 190.3 210.2 218.5 225.6 202 222.3 218.1 xres Corn 145
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers