Los Banos Rotary Club History
Farm Advisor Sees Advertising Trend For Farm Products

Talking agricultural trends and especially the future of the dairy and beef cattle business as it effects Merced county. Merced County Farm Advisor Don A. Petersen told members of the Los Banos Rotary club Tuesday noon that more than anything else, the dairy farmer needs to advertise his product. "The dairyman," he said "has a grand product, unsurpassed in food product value and in food economy. Yet the demand for milk and milk products is becoming less and less every day. The answer is to acquaint the American housewife and father with the economy and nutritious value of milk as an essential part of our daily diet."

Though there are less dairy cattle in Merced county today than a year ago, the total milk production is greater; though the population of California is increasing every day, the demand for milk products on a per capita is decreasing. Only when the usage of milk products has been stimulated with advertising and publicity will the demand increase and be reflected by a more favorable price to the dairyman for his product.

Commenting on the increasing milk production per cow, Petersen pointed to the beneficial effects of the Cow Testing Association service, started in this county many years ago by retired farm advisor Bill Alison. Of the 67,000 diary cows in this county, more than one-third are in Association herds. Whereas per year, average for Merced county is almost 300 pounds butterfat per cow, and Association cows are now averaging nearly 400 pounds.

The same general ailment is threatening the beef industry with average per capita consumption of beef falling off day by day. Beefsteak, once the backbone of the American diet, almost priced itself out of the market during the war years, and the American people turned more and more to more economical pork and chicken. The result, Petersen pointed out, has been almost 100 per cent drop in the beef market in the last three years. However, Petersen feels that the price and sales curve in beef will soon stabilize and with increased numbers of breeder cows going on the market, the demand for better beef will soon improve. In the meantime, Petersen said he expects to see some re-establishment of the business in this county, with smaller operators dropping out and the larger operators increasing their operations to produce a fast growing, heavy weight beef of superior quality.

August 28, 1953

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