A24—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 14,1981
Zimmermans add a little milk to the Boston Tea Party
BY DONNA TOMMELLEO
EAST EARL Dairy families
know all too well that vacations
can be few and far between. The
demands of the herd and field work
must be met first, often leaving
little time for anything else.
As one Guernsey breeder
recently queried, “Vacation?
What’s that’”
But this is the unique story of a
couple of young Holstein breeders
that did manage to get away from
it all for two years, that is. And
although their escapades didn’t
take them to the far comers of the
world, they found the experience of
a lifetime in good old Boston, Mass
and still managed their Lancaster
County farm
Helen and Loren Zimmerman
had been married 11 years and had
been milking Holsteins for nine
years when they moved to Boston
so that Helen could work on a
bachelor of science degree in
nursing from Northeastern
University.
“It wasn’t a fly-by night
decision,’’ Helen explained. She
and and Loren had discussed the
idea for two or three years prior to
the move.
“She (Helen) had been saying all
along that she wants to stay in
nursing and get her degree,”
Loren added. And although Helen
was already a registered nurse,
completing a program at Bucks
County Grandview, she was
anxious to furthur her education.
Helen could have attended Penn
or Villanova but that would have
meant night school or driving back
and forth to Philadelphia. After
much discussion it was Loren that
decided on the area.
“I thought maybe it would be a
good idea to get away from the
form and see how the other half
lives,” he explained. The couple
agreed the decision was not an
easy one and admitted they even
considered the possibility of a herd
dispersal.
Understandably, the move
warranted much preparation. All
the calves were drawn off for
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Animal lover Helen explains the ins and outs of dry cow
management to a recent visitor from Massachusetts.
registration and several cows were
culled.
“Everything was brought up to
date, as much as possible,” Loren
said. He admitted at that point a
few of his friends though he was
about two eggs shy of a dozen.
Despite die negative response
around them, the Zimmermans
moved to Boston where they
recieved a well-rounded education
from not only the university
professors but the “other half” as
well.
Once inside the “Bay State,” the
Zimmermans’s may have felt not
unlike Dorothy shortly after she
piloted her house to Oz a
stranger in a strange land.
While Helen concentrated on her
nursing degree, Loren pursued a,
real estate license and took several
business courses.
Surrounded by “city folks,”
Helen and Loren encountered
many double takes once they told
their new friends they were
bonafide farmers.
“First of all, everyone went mto
shock,” Helen laughed.
“No one believed us,” added
Loren.
People were confused as to how
the farmers financially supported
themselves in the middle of
Boston.
“We were financially supported
by the farm,” explained Helen.
“We knew we’d be draining the
farm for two years because we
planned for it before we went.”
Once the looks of disbelief
subsided, the urbanites began
asking questions.
Loren remembers one such
question and answer session where
he innocently explained that he
bred his own cows.
“ ‘You what!?,” was his friend’s
startled reply. Loren said he then
explained the artificial in
semination process for about an
hour.
“He understood the A.I. concept,
but he was just so far removed
from he didn't know how it hap
pened,” Loren explained.
Helen said that most people were
*r, what’s a nice couple like you, . .?
Loren, irming on his own . ,jpt
close tabs on the farm through telephone calls
really suprised to learn that dairy
farmers no longer hand milked.
“It ]ust goes to show,” said
Loren, “that we’ve got a lot of
work to do.”
They explained that dairy farms
are few and far between in
Massachusetts and projects such
as Farm-City tours are
nonexistent.
To educate their friends, the
Zimmerman’s admitted that at
times they'd talk for hours. Loren
used his farm experience as the
basis for speeches in a speech
class.
But what the Bostonians lacked
in farming knowledge, they made
up for it with milk consumption.
“I saw more milk consumed in
restaraunts up there than here.”
Helen reported. “I couldn’t believe
how much milk the university sold.
That was incredible.”
While the Zimmermans were
busy educatmg their fnends, they
worked just as hard in the
classroom. Helen graduated with
high honors at the end of the two
year period. However, the
amazing feat was that she com
pleted a five-year course in that
time and still managed to hold
down a part-time job. Loren
dabbled in real estate, attended
classes and worked construction.
Meanwhile, business on the farm
commenced as usual. Loren’s
brother Dale and cousin Mervin
managed the farm in the Zim
merman’s absence.
Loren kept close tabs on the
farm’s progress through semi
weekly phone calls and occasional
trips home. He also kept all the
book work in Boston.
“When you have an investment
like that, you can’t get too far away
from it,” he said.
Many of Loren’s visits home,
which lasted three days to a week,
not only benifitted the farm but
Helen’s studies as well.
“He worked his schedule around
my school schedule,” Helen said of
her supportive spouse.
While Helen concentrated during
the exhausting final exam periods,
Loren assured her of the nec
cessary peace and quiet and would
usually retreat to the farm for a
while.
“I was glad to get out of there,”
Loren joked. “She would lock
herself up with her books and that
was it. She didn’t even know I was
there ”
In addition to her nursing
education, Helen research studies
allowed her to work closely with a
state senator, and said she realized
that applying political pressure for
a cause, such as milk promotion,
may not be a difficult as people
think.
and occasional flights home in his two-year
absence.
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Home again! After returning home this past August from
Boston, Loren and Helen Zimmerman agree there's a lot of
work to do to educate the non-farm public about dairying. J
“It can be a matter of sending
the right letter to the right person
at the right time,” she explained.
Loren echoed his wife’s feelings
but added,“Most farmers are too
busy to write letters. ”
The RN expressed dismay at
farmers that request a refund of
their advertising adjustment
contribution from their milk
check.
“I think there is no excuse for
that,” she charged. “Milk is our
product. If we’re selling it we have
to advertise it.”
And in the two years the Zim
mermans spent in Boston, they
advertised the story of milk to
anyone curious enough to learn.
Helen, although pleased with the
new and different environment,
said she missed the animals.
Occasionally„the couple babysat a
friend’s St. Bernard dog, which
made Helen feel a little more at
home.
Back home, they both said they
missed their new friends and the
stimulation one finds in a college
environment. Loren said he
especially missed the feeling of
being away.
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But if their milking herd of 50
Holsteins missed their globe
trotting owners they kept it a well
guarded secret. The Zimmermans
reported no health problems or
dips in the herd average while they
were gone. In fact, things went
smoother than they expected.
“I can’t believe it worked out so
much better than we ever
thought,” said Helen. “Everyone
tells you the worst and I think
people think the worst.”
Meanwhile, normal operations
have returned to the 175-acre
rented farm and Helen has
returned to full-time nursing work
as a supervisor at the Ephrata
hospital.
The registered herd continues to
average almost 15,000 pounds of
milk a year on their diet of high
moisture corn, haylage, corn
silage and a 20 percent soybean
concentrate in pelleted form. -
Loren is a member of a breedi. j
syndicate. Chief Associates
Syndicate and has bred several of
his cows to the syndicate sire,
Marlu Perseus Chief, presently
leased to Select Sires
(Turn to Page A 29)