A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 19,1985
fTlje
Dairy
Business
By
i Newton Bair
How Much Is
A Cow Worth?
I can’t help but be a little have been one whale of a sale!
bemused, or should I say amused, Three-hundred head of Holsteins of
after reading the report in the all ages sold for an average of over
Market grant awarded to lowa
WASHINGTON - Secretary of
Agriculture John R. Block has
announced that a $73,468 federal
grant has been awarded to the
lowa Department of Agriculture to
help that state develop wholesale
and retail markets for its farm
products.
Block said the grant, requested
by lowa’s Secretary of Agriculture
Robert L. Lounsberry, will be used
to fund surveys of lowa fruit and
vegetable producers to determine
their interest in developing cen
tralized post-harvest handling and
marketing facilities in the state.
The surveys will determine
producer interest in temporary
storage facilities; cooperative
marketing services; packaging
services; direct marketing
facilities; and computerized
marketing information services.
In addition to the surveys, Block
said the grant will be used to
develop permanent, full-time
metropolitan farmers’ markets. In
a 1985 survey, 100 percent of the
respondents who currently do not
have such markets asked for
assistance in developing them.
The grant was awarded under
the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Federal-State
Marketing Improvement
Program, which provides federal
matching funds to qualifying
states for research and ex
periments in marketing, tran
sportation and distribution of
Penn State hosts
teleconference
UNIVERSITY PARK - The
Pennsylvania State University
Extension Service is sponsoring a
satellite television conference in
cooperation with Oklahoma State
University through the newly
organized National University
Teleconference Network (NUTN).
The conference will be held in the
radio and television studio, 117 Ag
Administration building, on the
University Park campus.
The conference will be divided
into two sessions, one focusing on
Bovine Respiratory Disease, the
other on Handling and
Management Techniques for
Stocker Calves. Both will be held
from 8 to 10 p.m., the BRD con
ference on October 24 and the
Handling/Management con
ference on October 30.
Veterinarians, county agents,
and producers are encouraged to
attend one or both sessions. These
topics are of particular interest
because of the recently introduced
Keystone Label Feeder Calf
Health Certification program. A
short discussion of this new
program will follow each session.
Light refreshments will be
available, and there is no charge
for attendance. Because of limited
space, please notify Penn State's
Veterinary Science Department* at
814 ) 863-2160 if you plan to attend.
Continuing education credit -is
available to veterinarians.
Holsttin World on the Hanover Hill
“dispersal.” That surely must
agriculture products.
“By encouraging direct
marketing of agriculture products
by farmers, cooperatives and
commodity associations, USDA
marketing grants can help states
increase marketing outlets and
farm income,” said Block.
FLEX-AUGER
in
two
models
for feeding corn up
to 27% moisture
Mon.-Fri. 7:30 to 4:30
Sat. 7:30 to 11:30
(Parts Only)
$23,000. The top cow brought
$1,450,000. Five head brought over
$200,000, and fifteen other cows
sold for $lOO,OOO or more.
Now these were not the run-of
the-mill critters that you and I
chase out of the bam every mor
ning. They are the “glamor girls,”
the ones that we all dream about,
like someday waking up and
walking into our bam and finding
them all standing in a row, gently
murmuring their'love and ad
miration for the guy that is so
smart and handsome and suc
cessful.
If only I could have been there to
experience the thrill of seeing so
much money change hands. Just
reading about it made my very
thin head of hair tingle with
nostalgia, when memories of the
poor excuses for hamburger that I
used to milk clouded the recall
screen that is getting as thin as my
hair. It isn’t just the money that
intrigues us, it is the wonderment
of just how much of it will ever
come back to the guys that spent it.
I guess the ones that can set up
the next sale and gather enough
other suckers under their tent with
money to bum will be the ones that
profit. Watch for the future issues,
and scan the pretty pictures for the
next glamor girl of the cow stable.
Now don’t get me wrong. I can
appreciate a big, strong, lovely,
shiny, sleek, walking milk factory
too. It is pure joy to walk down the
FLEX-AUGER ® delivery systems
Chore-Time’s /<
“coreless”
now available
COMPLETE SYSTEMS, EQUIPMENT, SALES, INSTALLATION,
SERVICE FOR CATTLE HOGS AND POULTRY
STORE HOURS:
for high moisture corn
Model 125
190 lbs /minute
AGRI'
RD 4, East Farmersville Rd., Ephrata, PA 17522
Dairy Marketing
center aisle of the barn, any barn,
and oggle the square rumps and
prettily hung mammaries on a
long row of straight-legged
beauties. Especially if they have
just been scrubbed and groomed,
and are standing on a sweet
smelling bed of fresh shavings,
daintily munching on sweet clover
blossoms.
But somehow it always seems
that the coaxing chant of the
auctioneer pins a richer price tag
than I can afford on the cow I
really want. So I go home with the
depressed complex of a bad dream
hanging overhead. Someday, I’ll
bring home one of those prima
donnas if it takes every last cent in
the old sock!
Now what really turns me on is
when I hear that one of my
neighbors just sold his best cow for
something fantastic like $lO,OOO. It
even sometimes happens that one
will bring as much as $25,000 or
more. That kind of thing helps to
remind us that it could happen to
anyone. Even a blind hog
sometimes finds an acorn! Maybe
I’ll get lucky and breed a princess
that a well-heeled prince will buy
for big bucks. Anyone can dream.
Model HMC
50 lbs /minute
FLEX-AUGER means you can move more teed per unit of energy
used A 1-hp power unit moves 50 pounds per minute with Model
HMC and 220 pounds per minute with Model 125 FLEX AUGER is
also so reliable and tong-lasting that Chore Time now warrants the
auger itself for 10 years
And the system is completely corrosion proof from the feed bin to
the nylon-coated boot to the special PVCT auger tube FLEX AUGER
high moisture corn systems a new way to cut costs and boost
efficiency
Authorized Chore-Time Distributor
EQUIPMENT,me.
(Lancaster County)
(717) 354-6520
The truth is, not very many of us
will ever, sell a cow for a million
dollars. Thank goodness we won’t
pay that much either. Maybe a few
of those glamorous dollies are
actually worth what they bring in
the auction ring. But I’ll bet my
bottom bucks that the only way to
get a decent return on their in
vestment is to advertize, ballyhoo,
and slither with snake oil. And
hope another lover of pretty cows,
with lots of money will succumb to
the enchantment of the auc
tioneer’s song.
Meanwhile, you and I can take
full advantage of the finest
assembly of genetic bloodlines in
the world. And it need not cost us
an arm and a leg either. Some of
those young bulls begging for us to
give them a chance to court our
pretty young heifers are carrying
the same genes that the million
dollar dollies are. Breed ‘em
smart, grow ‘em well, and who
knows? Maybe you will top the sale
too someday.
Especially if a tornado is
hovering around or an earthquake
spikes the sensual reaction to
spirited bidding, like it did at
Hanover Hill.