No Such Thing As
(Continued from P«go A 1)
the job.
Like many technicians. Brooks
says testing clients often become
as much friends as professional
associates, because of the regular
monthly visits. Technicians get to
know newborn babies, watch fam
ilies grow up and marry, children
return home to help farm, and
experience with their farmer
clients both life’s joys and trage
dies - as well as the day-to-day
routine, and sometimes not-so
routine, farm occurrences.
“I care about my families,”
emphatically says Brooks. “I’ve
gotten real close to some of them.”
One Amish family in particular
that Brooks learned to know well
through her technician role has
become especially close to her
after a family tragedy. Their
young son was hit by a car one
morning while she was testing the
herd. She later visited him fre
quently during his hospitalization,
watched him improve from his
injuries and was part of his first
visit home during recuperation.
“I cried with that family,” she
relates. “And now I’m testing for
their second generation.”
TR
‘A Day In The Life Of A DHIA
A FAMILY EFFORT
Gerald Pratt tested his first
dairy herd 35 years ago; except for
a five-year stint of service with the
military, he has been at it ever
since.
When his Bradford County
DHIA circuit reached it’s peak in
herd numbers, Pratt was testing 47
herds. Although several' were the
alternating A.M7P.M. or owner
sampler types, Pratt still could
expect to work “twenty-nine and a
half’ days a month.
“I hired some help to do all my
herds and it was also a family
effort. When our two sons were
OUNTY
younger, we worked on it as a
family project, especially if we
had plans to do something special.
My wife also helped; she’s done a
lot of paperwork and reports for
me,” relates Pratt
To schedule the important fami
ly time that technicians often find
hard to arrange in their variable
job schedules, Pratt always tried to
set Saturdays aside for family
activities, even if it was just to
chop wood with their sons.
In earlier years, farmers did
testing more just for their own
information, Pratt believes. Now,
official test information is an
Technician’
absolute necessity for herds mer
chandising, especially through the
export market, and for sire proof
data. Forage testing, also once a
much-utilized part of the DHIA
testing program via kits that tech
nicians had available, is now
mostly handled by feed firms and
nutrition consultants.
“Information is more precise
now,” figures Pratt. “Farmers
seem more willing to ask for
advice than they did in the past;
but if farmers know you, they’re
usually willing to consult and ask
your opinion.
“Most of our farmers
are like family,” he says,
emphasizing that from a
professional and Official
records standpoint, “we
don’t do favors to help
them.”
Through his long
tenure with DHIA, Pratt
has seen numerous
changes. Technicians
once ran all their own
butterfat samples on
home centrifuges: later,
Bradford County had a
central lab where the
three technicians work
ed together to run sam
ples. In 1973, all testing
was centralized at Penn
State.
The newest change,
to computerization, has
been a challenge for
Pratt, who notes that he
never had any typing
background and he is
still working on master
ing computer skills.
Once, while he was
testing for a herd, the
son flew over the farm
in an airplane and spot
ted his car outside the
barn. Pratt laughs,
remembering how the
son called home that
night, to his father’s sur
prise, to ask how the
cows had done on test.
And, he once received a
gift from a farmer - a
live rooster.
From Pencil To Com
puter
Crawford County
technician Jane Kashncr
began her employment
with DHIA 17 years
ago, when her hus
band’s lung problems
put an end to the cou
ple’s job as dairy
herdspcrsons.
(Turn to Page A3S)
• Bth ANNUAL •
MENGES MILLS
HISTORIC HORSE,
STEAM AND GAS
SHOW
Show Opens
Friday, July 15 atSflO pm
continues July 16 & 17.
free mmx>n
AND
FRiE PARKIN©
At Elicker's Grove (RD4,
Spring Grove, Labott Road
-1 mile off Route 30)
LOTS OF SHADE
Blacksmith
Kids' and Adults' Pedal Tractor
Puls
Children’s Games
Flea Marksl, Antiques, Crafts
DacKrandSnvlßngte Oeptys
Antique Farm Machinery Displays
Country Cooking
Music Friday & Saturday,
July 15 & 16, 7:00 p.m.-
“Pigeon Hill Station"
Saturday, July 16,1:00 p.m.
'Saly Sheerer arid Ihe Skybppers
fried: W’l