America’s dairy farmers are finding out firsthand whether or not it pays to advertise. They’re part of a mandatory check-off program that is creating a $2OO million advertising budget for their products. It’s dairy farmer money, 15 cents per hun dredweight of milk sold, that’s being spent to promote dairy products- milk, cheese, ice cream, and all the rest. The advertising campaign is just getting under way and the industry is excited to say the least. There’s been a running debate for years about whether or not dairymen and other farmers could advertise their unbranded products. There have been some efforts, but not enough money was ever spent to really prove the point. But now the nation’s dairy farmers, through the new National Dairy Promotion and Research Board, will spend enough money - enough to rank them in the top 100 advertisers, according to Ad vertising Age magazine. Of the $2OO million that will be available for advertising and promotion, only $66 million will be spent by the national board while., the will go to regional and state programs. The national Fresh feeder cattle arriving daily at our Leola yards. Give us a call to see what we have on hand. Main Office 717-397-1411 Hog Division Bill McCoy’s Home 717-569-5044 (Mon., lues., Wed. & Sat. A.M.) Pat McCoy’s Home 717-656-8076 717-291-8912 Ed Prosser’s Home 717-367-2368 Farm Talk Jerry Webb board has committed slightly more than $5O million, mostly ftr* magazine and TV advertising. That amount still puts dairy far mers in the top 100 advertisers, just below American Airlines. In addition, state and regional groups and some other organizations have pooled their money under the name The Dairy Promotion Federation Association and will be spending at least another $5O million on advertising. So at last the dairy farmers are mounting a full scale ad campaign. At a time when they can probably least afford it, they’re sending 15 cents per hundredweight of milk sold to Madison Avenue. They have no choice in the matter. Congress passed a law asjjart of what might be described as a desperation effort to solve the dairy surplus problem. There are millions of pounds of dairy products in storage at considerable cost. It’s been a millstone around the dairy in dustry’s neck for decades. Government support programs have cost the taxpayers plenty and still the surpluses build. But now the promotion board feels enough money will be spent on advertising and promotion to make a dif ference. CATTLE FEEDERS At long last milk will compete in the beverage market. Americans will be told again and again in TV commercials and in magazine ads of the many advantages of dairy products. In fact the biggest push will be for cheese, half of the board’s budget for that purpose, seventeen million dollars for fluid milk, seven million for butter, and three million for the health benefits of dairy products. If the promotion works, it would reverse a long-running trend of declining milk sales. It could head off a further price support cut of 50 cents per hundredweight to dairymen and it might even boost dairy prices. So the 15 cent per hundredweight check-off required by Congress and resisted by many dairymen could be a very wor thwhile investment, one that could pay off quickly. The National Dairy Promotion and Research Board made up of 36 dairy farmers has a very short time to get its campaign together and show results. In setting up the mandatory checkoff, the first one ever, Congress worked hard to draft legislation that would be effective. It insisted on a number of safeguards to make sure the money was properly spent and then it gave dairy farmers the right to vote in the fall of 1985 as to whether to continue the program. Unless the campaign has worked and worked well, you can bet voting dairymen will repeal it. On the other hand, all of those television commercials for products as basically good as milk, cheese, and ice cream can’t help but work. That old dream of get ting each American to drink just one more glass of milk a day could come true. If it can be done with carbonated drinks, beer, and those other liquids with little or no nutritional value, then why can’t it work for milk. This is a truly exciting time in the dairy industry. It’s an historic ATTENTION Lancaster Fanning, Saturday November 10,1984-D5 NY Holiday Classic to feature top Polled ITHACA, N.Y. - Twenty-eight Polled Hereford breeders from seven states have consigned registered open and bred heifers to the Holiday Classic Sale at 12:30 p.m. Dec.l, at the Livestock Pavilion on the Cornell campus. The sale is jointly sponsored by the New York Hereford Association and the New York Polled Hereford Association. The 50 heifer consignments and the select group of steer calves that have also been consigned have been inspected for the quality on the farm prior to the sale. The cattle will be acceptable for in terstate shipment as well, ac cording to the sale committee. “The Holiday Classic Sale will feature some of the top bloodlines time. What happens over the next year could change the dairy in dustry forever - hopefully in a positive way with an expanded market, or if it fails, a sharp reduction in government programs and the resulting close-out of thousands of dairy farms. It’s a bold approach to a nagging problem, one the industry has carried with it for most of this century. The promotion board, its advisors and professional em ployees think it will work. They can recite test after test where concentrated advertising for dairy products has paid off. Whether this will happen on a national scale and at a level that will make it a suc cess remains to be seen. I think the nation’s dairy farmers, willingly or otherwise, are going to prove that it does pay to advertise an unbranded farm product. I’m guessing this $2OO million gamble will pay off big. g LANCASTER STOCKYARDS Herefords and pedigrees of the Polled Hereford breed today,” said Royce Herrala of Geneva, president of the New York Hereford Association. Pennsylvania consignors in clude: Terry Shearer and Craig Peterson of Abbottstown, John Hausner of Dover, and Walter Dana of Tunkhannock. Other out of-state consignors include Blakeley Herefords, Berryville, W.Va.; Michael Budney of Berlin, and Four Wind Farm of Lebanon, Conn.,; Double M-B Ranch of Westfield, and Powisset Farm of Dover, Mass.; Suzanne Schmidt, Monkton, M