Dairyman shares
(Continued from Page Al)
this kind of buyout would be worth.
That’s why you had a tremendous
difference iin the bidding figures—
from a couple dollars to a thousand
dollars. There were no guidelines,
no hints. You had to start from
your side and make a financial
estimate of things. For me it was a
matter of looking five years down
the road to determine if I was
better off to stay in the dairy
business or participate in the
buyout.
NEWSWANGER - Are you
saying that the person who made
the bid was the one who took the
chance?
MYER - That’s right. If you
really wanted to participate in the
program you didn’t want to make
your bid too high. On the other
hand you didn’t want to make it too
low and loose a lot of what you
could have received. What I did
was try to think in terms of the
number of dairymen that the
government wanted to go out of
business and the estimated amount
of milk they wanted to go out of
production. I did a fair amount of
calling around the country talking
to extension agents and
agricultural leaders to try to get a
feel from different parts of the
country. I tried to find out what
E 3
was the expected level of par
ticipation. Nobody knew for sure.
But it gave me an indication of
what I might receive.
On the other hand, you didn’t
know if the government was going
to put a top lid on the bidding or
maybe open it up a second time for
dairymen to make a bid. The rules
of the plan were shared and you
could learn what those rules said.
But you didn’t know what the
government was thinking about
the value of the bid.
NEWSWANGER • Was there, in
your thinking, ethical or moral
considerations involved or was this
just good business?
MYER - For me, all decisions
have moral and ethical im
plications. And certianly to
discontinue the dairy business was
a major decision. Yes, I did have
quite a bit of reservation about
participating in a government
program whereby you get paid
something that appears to be for
nothing. I’m basically opposed to
that system of ethics for govern
ment. But in this case the reason I
was willing to participate was that
we know it’s costing the govern
ment in the area of $l7 per hundred
pounds to buy up the surplus milk,
store and dispose of it. The
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thoughts
government wanted dairymen to
participate so they could dry up
five years of production. On the
surface it looked like a hand out,
but the government saves a lot of
money in the end. It was designed
to help and not hurt, so I thought
ethically and morally it was OK.
NEWSWANGER - Would you
explain how the program is fun
ded? Many people seem to not
understand where the money
comes from to pay for the
program.
MYER - I don’t have the pei>
centages clearly in mind but at
least initially 40 cents per hundred
weight is to come off the price of
milk to provide a portion of the
money to pay for the program. Of
course the government is already
funding the milk support price
program with billions of dollars
each year. Some of the money
saved from this program will go
into the buyout plan. According to
some sources, very little extra
money will be needed.
NEWSW ANGER • Do you think
you are being well paid for your
herd? Could you have been paid
better?
MYER - There is no way I could
have dispersed the herd any other
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way and got the equivalent. Of
course, the restrictions on the farm
property for the next five years
decreases the value of the farm.
But animal for animal, there is no
way 1 could have dispersed the
herd for an equal payment.
NEWSWANGER - I know you
have some reservations about how
this program has been reported in
the mass media and to the general
public. Would you care to comment
on this?
MYER - I thought it was un
fortunate that all tiie dollar facts
and figures should be shared with
the general public because many
of the people can understand dollar
values but don’t understand the
rest of the program. If the public
reads information about fairmens
who receive thousands of dollars, it
appears as a free handout without
giving the details of the costs that
are involved. It gives an incorrect
impression. One factor that should
be known is that we must beef an
animal no matter how good of a
milk cow she may be. We have a
cow milking 113 pounds of milk per
day and another milking 111
pounds. They’re top dairy cows.
But they will be sold for ham
berger now. In addition, your
facUities designed for producing
milk must be idle. What do you do
with the dairy bam and equip
ment?
NEWSWANGER - Is there any
sentimental attachment involved
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with your cows?
MYER - Any dairyman knows
that if you like dairying you get
attached to your animals. You see
the bloodlines devleop in cow
families for three or four
generations. Even calves have
sentimental value. All these
animals must go for slaughter
now.
NEWSWANGER - In your
opinion would some other program
have been better than a whole herd
buyout?
MYER • I think a program that
would have limited increases in
production fairly on every farm
would have taken care of the
surplus milk in a matter of time. If
that didn’t do it, allowing the price
of milk to be lowered to meet a true
supply and demand situation,
would have taken care of the
problem.
NEWSWANGER - Will the
buyout program achieve it’s
purpose?
MYER - No, I don’t think so.
That’s why I was interested in it.
My feeling is that without a cap on
the production and without
limiting the import of dairy cattle,
the program will not work.
NEWSWANGER - Would you do
it again if younUd known before
you made yoiJl|pid what you know
now? ' ’
MYER - Yes. I don’t regret being
in it. I do regret the way some of
the publicity was handled.
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