The Cynical Dairy Farmer's Guide to the New Middle East
How a couple of cows explain a changing region: equal opportunity offender edition from Foreign Policy magazine. Some good ones in the comments section too.
And while we are at it: An oldie but goodie, the Carnation Milk contest
An older lady from Wisconsin had worked in and around her family dairy farms since she was old enough to walk, with hours of hard work and little compensation.
When canned Carnation Milk became available in grocery stores in the 1940s, she read an advertisement offering $5,000 for the best slogan. The producers wanted a rhyme beginning with 'Carnation Milk is best of all.'
She thought to herself, I know all about milk and dairy farms. I can do this! She sent in her entry, and several weeks later, a black limo pulled up in front of her house.
A man got out and said, 'Carnation' LOVED your entry so much! We are here to award you $2,000 even though we will not be able to use it!'
A true story that I heard on the news today was in the form of an interview with a local woman who designed the Nike emblem (Nike started out here in Eugene). She got $35 for it forty years ago, and that's all she got.
ReplyDeleteGood one, but how many these days know what she was talking about with her slogan. Everyone knows you just go to the store to get milk.
ReplyDeleteThe secret work is 'fates'.
The times sure have changed. There were some 136 dairy farms in our area (near the home of Carnation) now there are only 24. Sad state of affairs that is for our farmers. I'm waiting for the day our milk comes from China if some doesn't already.
ReplyDeleteVery good, LOL. Best laughs of the day.
ReplyDelete"Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. "
No, no, no.
Capitalism: You have two cows. The bank repossesses one, sends it to slaughter and keeps the proceeds, then lobbies for and gets a law requiring you to hand over all future milk from the other because it's trying to create a milk shortage to make a killing in the futures market.
Demeur, we used to have over 550 dairy farms in Saskatchewan when I worked for Sask Agriculture in the 1980s. Now there are fewer than 100, I think. It is less work to have 300 cows than 30.
ReplyDeleteWe had over 5000 pig farms at that time, now I am guessing also fewer than 100. The small farms were lucky to get 15 pigs per sow per year and now the big farms get over 22. In many ways the pigs on the big farms are cleaner and healthier than on the small farms
SW, you missed all the variations on American capitalism a few posts back.
ReplyDelete