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Dairy Industry Chaotic Years mSLSTJ^6 *\ Youn£' Agriculture Extension Adviser, McHenry County) ' The last few years have been the most chaotic ones in the dai!7 industry during the past two decades, observes James W. Gruebele, University of Illinois Extension agricultural economist. Milk prices never increased as rapidly as they did in 1973, and never dropped as sharply as they did from March to July in 1974. Milk prices dropped sharply because of the decline in sales of dairy products-particularly fluid items--and because of special imports of dairy products, says Gruebele. Dairy farmers experienced the poorest milk-feed price ratios in twenty to twenty-five years. * Following is a review of the dairy situation: MILK PRODUCTION: The total was 115.4-billion pounds in 1974-unchanged from a year ago. Milk production declined sharply in 1973, declining from 120.3-billion pounds in 1972. Milk production will be near year-earlier levels in the first half of 1975. Milk output in the second half of the year will depend on 1975 crop conditions and subsequent feed prices,on milk prices, and on the market for utility cows. Low slaughter-cow prices would tend to limit herd culling. PRODUCTION PER COW: This has been increasing by about 2.5 percent per year since 1950, but was lower in 1973 than in 1972-10,114 pounds as compared with 10,271 pounds. y^This was the first decline in 30 years and reflected the high cost of feed-especially soybean meal. With some moderation in feed prices, 1975 production per cow could average above the 10,286 pounds of 1974. NUMBER OF COWS: The total number of U.S. dairy cattle declined from 22 million in 1950 to 11.2 million in 1974-a reduction of 49 percent. Low prices for cull cows kept the culling rate from going up in 1974. IMPORTS: President Nixon authorized additional imports of butter, cheese and powder in 1973, which in terms of U.S. output amounted to nine percent of the butter production and 27 percent of the powder. Additional imports in 1974 helped increase the supply of dairy products in relation to demand, and contributed to the substantial decline in the price of milk received by the dairy farmer. CONSUMPTION: From 1960 lo 1973, U.S. per capita consumption of dairy products dropped from 635 to 557 pounds. Consumption for 1974 is estimated to have been down 2.5 percent from 1973-the sharpest drop since 1967. One of the factors that contributed to this decline was decreased USDA donations to welfare and school-lunch programs. Other factors were high retail prices for milk products and the decline in real income experienced by consumers. Lower fluid-milk sales-especially in the first half of 1974- made more milk available to be manufactured into butter, powder and cheese. This situation contributed to the sharp decline in farm milk prices during 1974. MILK PRICES: Farm milk prices rose sharply in 1973 and into 1974. The Minnesota-Wisconsin price reached $8.15 per cwt. in March, 1974. But the effects of the decreasing consumption of dairy products and increasing imports then resulted in a sharp decline. The Minnesota-Wisconsin price dropped to $6.29 in July, 1974. The secretary of agriculture announced that effective Jan. 1,1975, the manufacturing milk price would be supported at 80 percent of parity through March, 1976. The Minnesota- Wisconsin price rose to $6.80 in January and is expected to average $6.95 for the remainder of the year.. Feed prices are likely to be lower in 1975 than they were in 1974, but other costs will be higher because of inflation. aoooooooooooooooooo Service News loooooooa Ringwood News 653-9008 653-9262 728-0295 Lil Visconti Surprised At Baby Shower Lil Visconti was guest of honor at a surprise baby shower given for her by Sue Erwin. Lil was really surprised and just couldn't understand how Sue could have planned a surprise on her and not let something slip out giving it away. The Visconti baby due in July will be well supplied and clothed with all the goodies brought to the shower by guests who were there. They were from Woodstock, McHenry, Harvard, Wonder Lake and Ringwood. Visiting was en­ joyed by all after Lil got over the shock and opened the gifts. Sue served cake and ice cream, punch and coffee. DINNER OUT Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brennan of our fair town and Mr. and Mrs. Russell Soddy of Kenosha took Aunt Nellie out to dinner for Mother's Day. A wonderful time was had by all and the day was complete for Aunt Nellie as she received gifts and greetings from her daughter and family in California. "LADIES 500'* CARD CLUB The Ladies "500" Card Club met at the home of Blanche Howe near Richmond. Vivian Jackson held high score for the day and Mabel Hawley was low scorer. A good time was had by all and they are looking for­ ward to a visit from Mrs. Shadle in the near future. Mrs. Shadle was a member of this card cub before moving to California. SUCCESSFUL PARTY The committee of the cemetery group in Ringwood wants all to know how they appreciate everyone's support for the good turn out for their card party held last Thursday night. To all who attended, baked cakes and worked, it is all appreciated. "500" CARD PARTY 'Twas Walt and Doris Low's time to entertain the "500" Card Club, but 'tis camping season. So they entertained their card club at a campout. Different, yes, but everyone seemed to enjoy the cook-out first, then cards. Usually couples travel table to table, well they did this time too, except the tables were in dif­ ferent campers, so they traveled camper to camper as well as tables. After cake, pie and coffee some of the players went home, but some of them camped overnight with the Lows and spent Sunday just lazying around. High scorers were Glenn and Dot Benoy and Low scorers were Bob and Sue Low. TRAVELLERS Mother's Day weekend was a beautiful time to spend in northern Wisconsin. At least that is what the Art Christophers and son, David, found when they travelled to Marinette County to visit Art's folks. They had hoped to find a lot of mushrooms but they were scarce because of the dry weather. On Sunday, their daughter and son-in-law, Diane and Gary Linstad, and Art's sister, the Leonard Berths, joined the group for a good visit. When the Christophers drove back Sunday evening, they hit a very hard rain around Milwaukee which was leaving more ponds in the fields to delay farm work all the more. BIRTHDAYS Again this coming week has several birthdays to celebrate and to remember. They are Doug Adams on May 17. An­ drea Walker on May 18, Beverly Ackerman on May 19. Ken Beck, Jr. celebrates on the twenty-first, and Mike Hopp and Henry Tomilinson will celebrate on the twenty-second as does Darlene (An- dreas)Huemann and Nancy Kane, and the twenty-third is Lori Faber's special day. Happy birthday to all of you wonderful people and we hope you have many more happy days. ANNIVERSARIES We have two special celebrations this week in the way of anniversaries. They are Art and Katy Christopher on the twenty-first (26 years I think) and Mike and Sue Hogan on May 23. Happy anniversary to both couples and many, many more of them. THINGS TO REMEMBER Friday, May 16 -- Church camp-out. Meet at church Friday at 5 p.m. AIR 1CONDITIONING V O - . ^ I C K S I Just Good Quality Air Conditioning with fine workmanship and reasonable prices Round For Efficiency Round For Dependability Round For Convenience Round For Attractiveness Round For Comfort Here are the features that make the fts SERVEL your best choice for comfort control Air is discharged upward -- prevents damage to lawn, shrubs and house siding. Weatherized steel cabinet with rust resistant finish lasts years longer. Air intake is located a foot above ground to prevent clogging by leaves or gress. Fittings are externally located for easy installation. QUIETER BECAUSE . . . Air is discharged upward at tlowar speed. Compressor is hermetically sealed and cushion-mounted Sturdy tubular steel frame isolates vibration and noise from cabinets. Fan fully balanced to reduce vibration. Full 360° air intake-no baffles or obstruction* to cause air turbulonce and noise. D0WE& WAGNER 542 W. RAND RD. McHENRY 385-0468 HEATING AND COOLING Over 28 Years Of Quality Service To Our Customers. Sunday, May 18 - Church Services 9:15 a.m. Church School 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, May 20 - Johnsburg PTO Gym Show - 8 p.m. at Bush School. Thursday, May 22 -- Sewing Circle at Mary Butler's. LYNN R. MOFFETT ; IN TRAINING - Airman Lynn R. Moffett. daughter of Joseph Ci. Moffett of :i809 E. Wonder Lake road. Wonder Lake, has been selected for technical training in the U.S. Air Force aircraft equipment main­ tenance field at Chanute AFB, III. The airman recently completed basic training at Lackland AFB, Tex., where she studied the Air Force mission, organization and customs and received special instruction in human relations. Airman Moffett is a 19711 graduate of McHenry Community high school. Lutheran Church Centennial Group Aids Recycling Saturday, May 17, is the scheduled date for recycling by the Zion Lutheran church- Centennial committee. Com­ mittee members will be at the Market Place on Route W. 120 during the daylight hours to receive bundled newspapers, magazines, flattend cans and clean bottles and jars that have all lids, metal or plastic removed. The cans should be clean with the tops and bottoms cut out. After removing the labels, put the lids inside and flatten them well. JOINS HONOR SOCIETY Melissa Mary Hall of 1816 W. River Terrace, McHenry, was among the thirty-seven Nor­ thern Illinois ---university students at DeKalb wlfo were initiated recently into the Eta- Eta chapter of Phi Aipha Theta, international honor society in history. Eligibility requirements for the thirty-six undergraduate students initiated included completion of at least twelve hours in history courses with an average of better thah "B" and an overall grade average of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale. Requirements for graduate students included a minimum GPA of 3.5 in all graduate history courses and completion of at least one-third the hours required for the degree. PAGE 15 - PLAINDEALER-FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1975 From Clifford Dawn, Pine River, Minnesota: 1 remember Papa's old ox team Their names were Red and Victor Dad also had an ox called King, but he was only used as a spare so as to give the others a rest These oxen were used for all of the farm work They were driven with a yoke. Thus they were called a yoke of oxen. Sometimes old King would just lay down in the field and Papa would have to wait for Anyone desiring to volunteer for this project may contact Curtis Bremer at 385-2853. the ox to get up One day Mama took the oxen and we went picking wild blueberries There are a lot of blueberries here in Minnesota. We were going down the main road andInMsome tourists who were in can. They all stopped and started taking pictures. The oxen seemed to enjoy it but Mama didn't. That was about sixty years ago It was quite a few years later before Papa had a team of horses Those were the "Goodol' Days." We did­ n't have much but we had a happy home life (You con shoro your memories of y«»tor- doy with othors through this column. Tho Old Timor, 100 East Moin St., Fronkfort, Ky. 40401.) CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONING SPECIAL Complete Package To Fit Most Furnaces. Includes Coil, Condenser, Line Set Relay And Thermostat Completely Installed. Typical 3 Bedroom Home For As Low As. *780°° 29,000 B.T.U. Prices could vary according to your particular home/ Call for FREE ESTIMATE. Absolutely no obligation. R.D. HflHN & SONS SHEET METAL, INC. 209 E. 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