Udderly amazing! Fifty years ago ‘two roads diverged in a yellow wood’. My brother Truman, less than a year younger than I, took the path of becoming an outstanding dairyman. I knew I could never do as well as he in farming so I took the path less traveled ( in the Hagerstown Md. community) and became a physician.
Today after 49 years of dairying Truman and Cora,from Hagerstown, Maryland, sold their 100 top producing registered and pedigreed Holsteins at the Fisher Sales Barn near Intercourse, PA. Truman and Cora cared about their cows. Cora told of going to an auction where one of their cows was being sold. As she looked down on the cattle waiting to be sold, she called out to Truman, “O there is Ilona.” At this, the cow named Ilona looked up to see where the familiar voice was coming from. She was the only cow who gave any sign of recognition. Truman and Cora know everyone of their 100 cows by name and are convinced that today as they walked into the sales barn their cows looked up from eating as they heard familiar voices.
Good cows now sell for from $2000 to $3,000 per cow. Many of the cows sold today produce 100 pounds of milk per day. The bidding on this heard was active and prices were good. One man from New York State bought 26 of the cows to get his son started in farming. Truman and Cora were pleased with the results of their sale, although they will miss their cows. They do plan to take a vacation to Florida in February which will be the sixth time they have been away from the twice daily milking experience of the last almost fifty years.
I honor my brother Truman and his wife Cora for their faithful and effective stewardship of the gifts which they received from God. I pray I may be as faithful in my area of influence as they have been in theirs.
theexpandingshrink 