A 26—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, June 16,1984
(Continued from Page Al)
at the base during the weekends
and writing letters instead of going
into town and spending money.
When his Army time was over,
Calvin had saved enough money to
get his dairy operation underway.
“I didn’t have enough money for
everything,” he said, “but I had
enough to get started.”
“To get started” included a herd
of 20 registered Guernseys, 53
acres of farmland and a 2,000-bird
laying hen operation. The poultry
enterprise helped out financially,
Calvin said, as he ran an egg route
in town.
When son Terry was bom, Calvin
and his wife, Betty, decided to
concentrate their efforts soley on
dairying. Calvin, who stepped into
his father’s shoes when he retired
from the farm, wanted to share his
fanning dream with his family.
Calvin’s inspiration to dairy
Calvin Mauser, right, is confident of son Terry's future
success as a dairy farmer.
Terlin Farms, located in upper Dauphin County, is the end-product of Calvin Mauser s
pal *«i haw “a hMiiMui farm and a beautiful herd of Guernseys.”
MM 9 ®
Whatever
it’s
farm, particularly to raise
Guernsey cattle, came as a young
boy. As Calvin explained, he and
his father would go around to see
Guernsey farms. This was during
the time they still lived in town.
One day, they went to visit a man
at the other end of the valley.
“We went to a fella that lived at
the end of the valley who had what
was known as the ‘show place of
the valley,’” Calvin reminisced.
“It was the most beautiful farm
you ever saw.
“I was there on a cool, winter
day on a Saturday about noon. We
came there and of course he had
the bam cleaned up and the cows
cleaned up, and the cows looked
beautiful. That is what I wanted - a
beautiful farm and a herd of
Guernseys.”
Thus was the setting for Calvin’s
own farm which now houses 70
head of registered Guernseys that
raws
it holds,
in your hands
had a peak production of 14,000
pounds of milk. This was one
achievement that surpirsed the
Mausers.
When Calvin and Betty started
farming, most Guernsey herds
reached the 8,000- or 9,000-pound
production mark. “At that time I
had absolutely no idea that we’d hit
14,000 pounds,” Calvin said. “Of
course, I had no idea how big a
herd I’d have since I only had 35
acres here. I had no idea we’d
expand the way we did.”
And expand they did - from 35
acres to 200 acres. “I had several
opportunities to buy ground,”
Calvin said, “so I took the gam
ble.”
For the most part, all was
looking bright for the Mausers, but
as fanning goes, setbacks do oc
cur. For Calvin, the major setback
concerned his health.
In 1960, Calvin met up with an
inner ear infection called
Meniere’s syndrome. The in
fection, which causes dizziness,
ringing in the ears and vomiting,
struck him during the most
productive part of his farming
career.
“When I should have been
making money, I could hardly do
it,” Calvin remembered. “I could
hardly survive. I was tempted to
give up farming but I had a family
and debts to pay so I stuck it out.”
Fortunately for Calvin, the
disease, which has a 50-50 chance
of clearing up, left him. “Thank
the Lord it left me after about 10
years,” he said. “But during those
years, I made absolutely no
progress. That was the worst
thing.”
The lack of progress was soon
turned around when Calvin’s good
health returned, but he credits
Terry with much of the help.
“Terry was able to help,” Calvin
said of the end of his 10-year or
deal. “Then we were able to farm
the way we should have. ”
With Terry’s help and interest,
Calvin said he was able to keep the
farm going - going long enough
that the farm now belongs to
Terry. “The beginning of this
year,” Calvin said, “I turned the
complete operation over to him
(Terry). Terry’s been with me and
running the operation and doing a
very good job.”
The farm operation now in the
Temporary Setback
Terry’s Future
For Clavin Mauser, his heart was In farming and in
Guernseys.
hands of Terry, 32, his wife Becci
and son Brandon, Calvin is able to
have a little more free time to
himself, but he’d just as soon spend
time with the Guernseys.
“I couldn’t get away from the
Guernseys, and I couldn’t get away
from the fields,” Calvin admitted.
“I’m doing almost as much as I did
before, but I don’t make any of the
decisions.”
“Terry has taken all of the hard
work off of me,” he continued.
“Actually, it’s a paradise for me. I
can still work with the cows.”
While dairy farming now is a
paradise for him, Calvin realizes
that tough times will be ahead for
Terry, particularly in the next two
to three years.
Of the current dairy situation,
Calvin said he hopes it will only be
rough for two or three years. “I
feel all phases of farming have
their ups and downs, but dairying
has been real good lately,” he said.
“I guess it’s our turn to be down.”
Calvin added that with the way
the dairy situation is, rough times
are unavoidable. “Of course it’s
going to be rough for Terry,” he
said, “but I think he’s got enough
going for him - the attitude that he
has, the ability and the health. I
feel confident that he can do it.”
Turning the reins over to Terry,
Calvin said, “I feel I have given
him a good deal, and he in turn has
given me a good deal.”
Milk Promotion
Even though a “good deal”
between himself and Terry will
help Terry to weather the rough
times, Calvin believes that far
mers, themselves, must work
together to help each other survive
the times. To do this, Calvin said
farmers must take an active role in
milk promotion.
“I’m a strong believer in
promotion,” he said, “and we have
to raise the standards of a bottle of
milk we’re selling. As long as we
do not put a good bottle of milk on
the market, we cannot get rid of
the milk.”
Calvin said he is in favor of
current promotion plans as he was
in favor of the Milk Referendum
proposed a few years ago. “My
only objection (of the Referen
dum) was that it should have been
nationwide,” he said. “For one
little area to do it is ineffective. I
think it should have been nation-
wide and everyone helps to pay for
it.”
With a nationwide milk
promotion program now in effect,
stemming from the milk diversion
program, Calvin is more satisfied
but still finds some fault with the
line of thinking concerning the
Referendum. “I was bitterly op
posed to those people that asked to
have their promotion money
returned to them,” he said.
‘‘Milk promotion takes money,"
Calvin stressed, “and people have
to realize that and go along with
the promotion.”
Calvin said be was also upset at
that time with organizations that
encouraged their young farmer
members not to participate in
promotion.
“I thought that line of thinking
was all wrong,” Calvin said of
organizations saying that young
farmers couldn’t afford to give 10
cents for promotion. “They could
have afforded that more than
giving the current 50-cent
deduction to the government which
does absolutely nothing for him. ”
Calvin said he doesn’t like to
depend on the government to do
everything for dairy farmers. “I
don’t think its up to the govern
ment,” he said. “We should be
handling this ourselves. ’ ’
Promotion, Calvin pointed out,
has been successful for others,
especially the soft drink industry.
A strong promotion campaign
could do the same for milk.
“We all know the fact that milk
is no longer the number one
drink,” Calvin said. “It’s our own
fault."
Calvin said he can’t stress
enough the importance of milk
promotion; however, he realizes
that farmers have enough, worries
just producing the milk.
“I feel we should promote milk,
however, I have enough work
producing it,” he said. “I don’t
have time to go out and promote it.
That’s why I’m willing to let them
have 10 or 15 cents and let them
hire someone who will do the job. ”
With a promotion program
backing up the dairy industry and,
at the same time, more con
centration placed on milk quality,
Calvin sees a continuing future for
the dairy industry. But, as he
stresses, the future is in the hands
of the farmer.