D3o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 28,1981
Neither rain nor snow stops milk haulers
PHILADELPHIA - five
degrees outside with icy road
conditions. For those who must get
moving, it’s 8 05. Now, here s
more music.”
It’s going to be rough enough
struggling from the house to the
barn this morning
Briefly the dairyman wonders if
Jim will be showing up today, then
the thought skips from his mind
Jim always seems to make it
All across the Mid-Atlantic dairy
belt other farmers struggle out of
bed and cast a brief thought tor
their milk hauler who’ll brave
rotten weather on deteriorating
roads to empty the bulk tanks on
their farms
The most important link between
the dairy farmer and dairy
processing plant is the hauler-the
tiuck driver who picks up milk
from farms and unloads it at the
dairy.
Jim Wood, Jr , is such a haulei
At 5 a m he is ready to begin his
day, rain or shine, snow or sleet
For those farms with daily service,
his visits are more punctual and
constant than the postman's
He readies his International
truck checking fuel, making
certain he has enough sample
bottles, inspecting hoses and
pump today he will pick up milk
from 13 dairy farms in Delaware
and Maryland before deliverying
the load to Abbot Is Dairies in
Philadelphia
The big rig lumbers along in the
c
j
pre-dawn light, then slows down as
Wood steers the tractor-trailer into
a lane leading to his first farm
Backing the trailer to a cement
block milk house, Wood explains
the procedure
First, 1 wash my hands before
checking the smell of the milk in
the tank Then I check the tem
perature to make sure the milk is
less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit,
Wood explained
Next he uses an instrument that
resembles a metal yardstick to
determine the amount of milk in
the tank He dips the stick into the
tank of milk, then lifts it out and
notes the measure
A chart located nearby in the
milk room converts the reading to
pounds of milk Wood marks the
poundage for the farmer s records
as well as his own
Before taking the butterfat and
bacteroiological sample, Wood
engages an agitator inside the
tank
This device insures that but
terfat in the milk is properly
mixed—otherwise, the sample
could incorrectly reflect the milk s
buttertat content That buttertat
percentage is extremely unportanl
in detei mining the value of the
milk On the average, hulk is thi ee
and one-half pei cent buttertat
While the agitator is working.
Wood attaches gummed labels
bear mg the tai m name onto plastic
sample bottles He then uses a long
dipper to pull a sample horn the
idiiK, uiJmg and empty mg iin i_i v
two or three tunes before filling the
bottle
All's ready to load the truck As
the pump kicks in, milk is rapidly
inhaled by the tanker Leaving
only the gurgling sound of thirsty
vacuum before Wood kills the
switch
Although the milk truck is now
ready for departure, Wood’s job is
not finished He must rinse the
milk tank, his dipper and his hands
before leaving the milk house as
neat and clean aa he found it. Then
he curls the hose into the reai
compartment of the tanker-truck,
packs the milk sample and dippei,
and drives away
The entire procedure takes from
12 to 20 minutes
That s the way it is, from one
dairy taim to the next Pick up,
milk drive to the next farm,
repeat Then finally, drive to
Philadelphia—neat Veteian s
Madium and the Spectrum -
unload and wash the tankei, then
head home
loday, the 19,00 U pound truck
hauled about 48,000 jpounds of
milk—or in other terms, 5600
gallons
That s the lite ot a haulei -
lepetition Repetition, that is,
telieved by sunrises morning
chats with easy-going
FISHER AND STOLTZFUS TRAILER SALES
GRAIN TRAILER COMES B'xl6' & HAS 40" GRAIN SIDES
Capacity Diameter Length Gauge Weight Price FOB
(Gallons) (Thickness) (Pounds) Quarryville
285 . 3’o” l2 278 114.00'
550 4’o" 6’o" 10 549 210.00'
550 4’o” 6’o’’ 7 751 262.00'
1.000 4'o” 10'8” 10 827 310.00'
1.000 4’o" 10’8” 7 1,129 390.00'
1.000 5'4" 6'o" 7 1,028 362.00'
1,500 5’4" 9’o" 7 1,388 486.00'
2.000 5'4" 12'0” 7 1,735 593.00'
3.000 5’4" 17'11” 7 2,432 800.00'
4.000 5’4” 23’ 10” 7 3,130 1009,00
5.000 8'0” 13’7” 1/4" 4,484 1645.00
6.000 8'0” 16’2" 1/4” 5,123 1800.00
8.000 8’0” 21’6” 1/4” 6,475 2230.00
10.000 8’0” 26’10” 1/4" 7,825 2660.00
10.000 lO’O" 17'0” 1/4” 6,956 2405.00
12.000 lO’O” 20’6” 1/4” 8,074 2800.00
12.000 10’6” 18'7” 1/4” 7,900 2690.00'
15.000 10’6” 23’2” 5/16” 11,857 4130.00
20.000 10'6” 31’0” 5/16" 15,105 5160.00
25.000 10’6" 38'7" 3/8” 22,115 8135.00'
30.000 10’6" 46’4” 3/8” 25,999 9430.00
Tanks all bear Underwriters’ Label, and are coated with black asphaltum
paint We can provide timely delivery from Quarryville, PA (15 miles from the
Pennsylvania Maryland line) to Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, New Jersey &
New York Contact us for delivery costs We invite inquiries by phone or mail
danymen ueacheious ice pat
ches that can cause a tractor
trailei to jack-knife watching the
woild wake each morning, that
steaming cup of coffee and donut
supplied by a luendly farm
wife a relief farm tractor that
assists the rig through an un
plowed winter Jane weekend
tiattic jams caused by
Philadelphia sports tans
Jim, Jr , has known no othei life
His father broke into the hauling
business undei his father, who
began hauling in 1929 Back then,
milk was hauled in cans—and milk
was not as sanitary and the tem
perature could not be controlled as
well as today
Now, the Newark-based hauling
operation utilizes three trailers
and four tractois to serve dairy
Call 717-768-3832 between 7 a.m & 9 a.m.
or call 717-354-0723 after 6 p.m. East of New Holland, Pa
NEW UNDERGROUND STEEL FUEL STORAGE TANKS
FHULr RIT E & GAS BOY • F’UMBS
HOWARD E. GROFF CO.
Over Forty Years of Reliable Service
Fuel Oil, Gasoline, and Coal
111 E. State Street, Quarryville, PA 17566
Phone: 717-786-2166
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farmer members of Inter-Stale
Milk Producers Cooperative
Wood is a licensed weigher and
sampler—as are all his driveis
These days, he operates as the
i eliet driver He doesn t try to run
trucks trom behind a desk, in
stead, he sees every farmer at
least once a week
If the farmer has any com
plaints, Wood can either handle it
or refer the farmer to a fieldman
He feels it is important to maintain
a face-to-face relationship with the
people whose milk he handles
Because of his conscientiousness
and dedication—and that of all the
people involved in supplying
milk—consumers are able to drive
down to a cornel slot e and buy that
carton of milk in both ice and
sunny weathei
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CHEESE ON
BURGERS
a picnic
delight