Hide Article Text (OCR)
Eye-OpenerMissouri Dairymen See the Problems HereBy ROBERT C. BJORKLUND(Staff Journal Farm Writar)The “show me” men from Missouri wer« in Wisconsin last week.They were up here to take a close look at our dairy farms to find out what they could apply at home.This was part of an extensive dairy survey being made to figure out what can be done about the dairy business around Springfield, Mo.You see, they’ve got a decline in milk production, a decline in dairy cow numbers, and the biggest worry of all—farmers going out of the dairy business.Actually, Wisconsin has had similar shifts. We’ve lost dairy farms at a rapid rate—from 132,000 in 1951 to about 106.000 in 1958; we’ve dropped in cow numbers, and this year the state may be a little off from its 1958 record high of 17.9 billion pounds of milk production.But you know what really impressed the man who can rightfully say, “I'm from Missouri”?The work that the Wisconsin dairy farmer does.The Missourians were out at the Leon Kindschi farm. Spring Green, and asked him what his work day amounted to.Kindschi told him 16 hours in the summer— and it seemed as though they couldn’t believehim. _An(f on their snow BJORKLUND travels through Saukcounty, they were further impressed by Wisconsin's painted barns.“Just why would anyone paint a barn?” one fellow asked.The ironic thing about the whole trip was that these men were from an area where the 1958 average milk price was $4 12 a hundred—fully a dollar over the Wisconsin average.Yet. they wanted to see how dairy farmers here could stay in business, even though they admitted the Wisconsin farmer had higher investment costs.They told of how Missouri dairymencould be on a market equivalent to Grade A without any regard to the condition of his barn or cow yard, as long as he had a milking parlor.These men must have left Wisconsin knowing that it takes a lot of work, and a lot of courage, to stay in the dairy business in Wisconsin.
Newspaper Details
Madison Wisconsin State Journal
Madison, Wisconsin, US
Mon, Nov 09, 1959
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
MO, USA 09 Jan 2020
Other Publications Near Madison, Wisconsin
Peoples News
Madison Patriotic Crusader
Madison Democrat
Madison Password
Our Church Home
