AlB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 28,19&1
Golden
BY DEBBIE KOONTZ
LANCASTER - The Golden
Guernseys truly are golden tlus
year as the Pennsylvania Guern
sey Breeders’ Association
celebrates its fifieth year of
promoting and producing milk
On March 20 and 21 the
Association will be holding their
fiftieth anniversary meeting at the
Brunswick Motor Inn in Lancaster
But what led to this celebration
is a history full of ups and downs
according to Ginger Secnst Myers,
past secretary to current business
manager, Lee Yost
The Association was founded in
the midst of the depression -1931,
when Emil Oleson of Wisconsin
became first field representative
This made the Pennsylvania
Association the second association
ever to have started in the United
States It was located in the
Hamsburg-Camp Hill area until
1978 when it moved to Lancaster off
Route 30 east
“The Association was started
during this time because there was
a demand for prime stock and
quality milk,” Myers explained
“It may seem odd but the gover
nment and the people began to
recognize a need for quality
products at the time of the
depression ”
The drive to solicit pledges to
assure enough money for a
working organization which took
place in 1930, resulted in a total
subscription in the underwriting
fund of $11,450 By 1935 when R C
Wiggins of Butler became business
manager. 25 percent of the money
called in to support the fund was
returned to the subscribers The
rest of the money was all payed
back within ten years of the
founding date It was also in the
‘3o’s that the 'Golden Guernsey"
seal and promotion began
William Juzi was employed as
business manager in 1939 after
Wiggins died In a recent letter to
the Golden Guernsey News (the
Association’s newsletter), Juzi
writes, “We built up to 115 dealers
of Golden Guernsey and were
selling 52,000,000 quarts of Golden
Guernsey milk in Pennsylvania,
and led all the other territories in
sales for years We were an im
porting state of Guernseys for
many years We got cattle from all
the surrounding states, even as far
as Kansas and Georgia, to be sold
in Lancaster ”
The second decade of the
Association was a time for growth
in cow numbers and members
Milk sales showed a sizeable in
crease yearly and were promoted
in national magazines such as
Ladle’s Home Journal and
broadcasts throughout the coun
try
In 1941 the Pennsylvania Junior
Guernsey Breeder’s Association
was established It has grown to be
the largest Guernsey youth
organization in the country
In 1947 membership of the
BY LAUREL SCHAEFFER
Staff Correspondent
BERNVILLE Pa Guernsey
breeders from Berks and
surrounding counties met last
Saturday for their annual banquet
and organizational meeting at the
Grange Hall Following a luncheon
prepared by the Grangers, the
dairymen held an election of of
ficers and directors and heard
from Pennsylvania Guernsey
Field Representative Ruth Ann
Benedict
Benedict reported on the
Guernsey sale held in January She
noted that even though there were
only 25 head sold at the sale the
organization was very pleased
with the results All animals sold
were registered except for two,
and the average price per animal
was $1,346
Benedict urged the dairymen to
attend the association’s 50th an-
Guernseys mark golden anniversary
Association totaled 1007 members,
making it the largest state breed
association regardless of breed
anywhere in the United States
Sales were 22 1 million quarts
Also in 1947, the Guernsey sales
pavilion in Lancaster County was
constructed Since then have come
many changes according to Myers,
including a paved driveway, a
washroom for cattle and a cement
floor
‘The barn is sort of a landmark
around here,” says Ruth Ann
Benedict, current secretary to Lee
Yost Tt was a very substantial
investment for the Association ’’
During the fifties, the Penn
sylvania Guernsey set a world
champion Guernsey record
Haddon’s M Ida, owned by Robert
E , Grace and Robert Y Moffat of
Dalton, produced 28 787 pound f
milk with 1235 pounds of fat
The sixties will long be
remembered as a bad time for the
Guernseys According to Myers
the membership dropped at a
steady rate until the ‘7o’s
“But that’s no blame on the cow,
of course,” she explained ‘The
‘6o’s was the time of the great
cholesterol scare, but we' as an
association didn’t take it seriously
Therefore we dropped behind in
the changes and the campaigning
other associations for other breeds
did Now we’re trying to catch up
Our Guernsey milk is quality, good
rich milk but consumers are sold
products on the cholesterol idea as
well as on the taste and nutrients it
contains ”
In 1967 the sales pavilion held its
20th anniversary sale According
to the Guernsey newsletter, during
those first 20 years the Association
had 407 Guernsey sales in the
pavilion, selling 22,250 head for a
total of $6,375,945
In the seventies the Association
changed its location to
and changed faces in the business
office William Juzi and John
Blyholder retired and Lee Yost
became business manager
From 1979 to 1980 the mem
bership increased 22 percent Says
Myers, “We are moving on our
way up again We fell short due to
milk pricing which is by quantity
We haven’t kept up with that but
we have in the sense that our
components are higher By this I
mean solids, not fats and we’re not
just counting butter We have a
long way to go yet, but we must get
going or we must get out ’ ’
Today the Association has a
membership of nearly 350 with 12
directors in designated areas
Joseph Fava of Scenery Hill now
serves as president
“Not enough Guernsey milkers
are Association members,” Myers
smiles We’d like to see the
membership increase greatly this
year ”
The Guernsey Breeder’s
Association currently has ten
distributors carrying four different
trademarks
Berks Guernsey breeders
niversary meeting and briefly
described the events planned
Scheduled for the two-day event
at the Brunswick Motor Inn,
Lancaster, March 20-21 are a
business meeting, awards
banquet, MAGS meeting, sale
luncheon, and three Guernsey
sales
The field representative ex
plained that due to the large
number of animals consigned a
third sale was added Ihe Thud
Blue Halter Call hale will begin at
12 30 p m March 21 Youths will
receive a 10 percent discount on
animals they purchase This sale
will be immediately followed by
the 50th Anniversary hale
The sales will be conducted at
the Pa Guernsey hales Pavilion
Presently there aie 110 animals
consigned
Also addiessing tne dairymen
(Turn to PageAl9)
The Lancaster Guernsey sales pavilion has special events and shows besides being use
become a landmark in this county It was to sell Guernseys
constructed in 1947 and today is the site for
“To carry a “Golden Guernsey”
seal, 3 7 percent or more butterfat
is required A percent of 3 2 is
Guernsey Royal, the largest seller
for a single dairy Most of our
dairies’ largest seller is Golden
Guernsey milk, however” Myers
explained
But despite the brief decrease in
membership during the 60’s,
Pennsylvania has sold and
registered more Guernseys than
any other state except Wisconsin
These two states are the only ones
still with Association offices today
And Wisconsin’s office is in the
director’s home,” Myers explained
proudly “We’re the only state with
its own designated office ”
Other points to be made in favor
of Pennsylvania’s Assocation are
-The National Guernsey Queen
resides in County She is
Millie Linde of Oxford, crowned
queen at the American Guernsey
Cattle Club meeting in Rochester,
MN in 1980
-Jeff Harding of Brookville has
been named National Outstanding
Guernsey Youth
-Rodney Stuff of Mercersburg is
nationally recognized as the Young
Farmer for the Pennsylvania Field
Area
-Pennsylvania ties with
California for the number of Gold
Star Breeder awards by the
national office
-In October of 1980, the sales
pavilion saw the highest average
Guernsey sale (monetarily» in the
country The average was $3,039
per head This sale marked the
55th Renewal of the Guernsey Sale
Consignments were catalogued
from 10 states and buyers were
from 8 states and Canada
In conjunction with the an
niversary celebration in March
will be the 21st Blue Halter Calf
Sale Members are asked to pre
register for the annual meeting
and join in the sale
Participtmg m the annual Berks Guernsey queen, and Ruth Ann Benedict, field
breeders meeting were, from the left, Robert representative for the Pa. Guernsey Breeders
Smith, Annville, Millie Linde, Lancaster, Association.
Lee Yost is the business manager for the Pennsylvania
Guernsey Breeders’ Association. He works fulltime from his
office above the Dairy Queen
Ginger Myers (right) and Ruth Ann Benedict work with Yost
in promoting and organizing the Association. Ruth Ann took
over Ginger s job who is back now temjiorarily for the an
niversary.
hold meeting
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