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
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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<L; John B. Hudson of
Middleburg, and James Neal of
Nokesville, Va.
Further information and sale
catalogs may be obtained by
contacting Robert Generauz, Rt. 9-
3372 County Rd. 18, Canandaigua,
N. Y. 14424 or Jack Abrams, Brown
Settlemen Rd. Livingston Manor,
N.Y. 12758.
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