Dairy Farmers

WALKERSVILLE - Dairy farmers from three states registered strong opposition yesterday to the proposed merger of the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative with three other co-ops, including Land O' Lakes Inc., to form the nation's second-largest milk marketing enterprise. The proposed merger was announced earlier in the month. It would combine the Maryland and Virginia co-op, based in Reston, Va., with Land O' Lakes of Arden Hills, Minn.; Lone Star Milk Producers Inc. of Wind- thorst, Texas; and Arkansas Dairy Cooperative Association of Damascus, Ark. The merger would create a co-op that operates in 19 states and have sales of about $1 billion annually.

In some American farm towns, the locals throw horseshoes in their spare time. They might play some softball or hold a fishing tournament. In Maryland they joust - dairy farmers and horse breeders, galloping through the dust like latter day knights, almost every weekend between May and October. While the rest of us climb aboard SUVs for trips to the supermarket, they're saddling up in Fairplay or Libertytown, Pylesville or Port Deposit, shouldering homemade lances to skewer tiny rings while friends and family applaud.

WHILE LIVING in the southeastern corner of Howard County it's sometimes difficult to remember that all this - and Columbia, too - used to be farmland. Fortunately, rural traditions and values endure in such clubs as the Fulton 4-H. For those of us with an urban upbringing, the Maryland 4-H is a family-oriented organization for youngsters to age 18, sponsored by the Maryland Cooperative Extension. The clubs encourage members to take on yearlong projects based on their interests, and because of the organization's agrarian roots, the projects usually have a rural flavor.

I STOPPED BY Mel's Barbershop in Uniontown a couple of weeks ago. It's a great place to learn about some of the interesting folks who live in our area and some of the interesting things going on. Sure enough, I learned about a man named Charles M. Shriver Jr. Shriver, a small-dairy farmer between New Windsor and Westminster, is also a clown whose professional name is Charlie Chuckles. His interest in clowning dates to 1975, when Shriver first donned a polka-dot suit and face paint and participated in a parade in New Windsor.

BOONSBORO - They buried him at noon, an hour when the service would not interfere with the work: late enough for the dairy farmers to have finished their morning milking, early enough to get to the evening milking on time. He would have wanted it no other way. Tracy Stiles knew from experience that cows milked late produced less. He worked all his life to raise the fourth-highest producing herd of jerseys in the nation. He would not have wanted a neighbor's herd thrown off schedule on his account.

Vernon M. Bandel, a Howard County dairy farmer and agricultural leader, died Sunday of complications of diabetes and heart disease at Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville. He was 91 and had lived in Glenelg. Until he retired in the 1970s, he farmed 450 acres of rolling Howard County land at Glenelg, where he was born and where his family had been farmers since the 1880s. "He was known for his sharp wit, keen sense of humor and no-nonsense approach to common-sense business practice," said his son V. Allan Bandel, who lives in Glenwood.

Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest says he wants the Justice Department to investigate milk marketing in Maryland and in other parts of the country to determine if there are violations of antitrust laws. The 1st District Republican has joined 34 other members of Congress in sending a letter to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno this week requesting an investigation into why prices that consumers pay for dairy products are so high when farmers are getting so little for their milk. "We don't think the disparity in the price consumers pay for milk at the grocery is warranted, based on the price farmers are getting for their milk," Gilchrest said.

PILTON, England - Hey, gang, let's put on a music festival. Let's invite 100,000 rockers and New Agers in various states of dress and excess to camp on a farm. Let's build a 100-foot high pyramid-shaped stage in the middle of a pasture. Let's rave in the morning, chant in the evening and take coed hot showers and stoke blazing bonfires in-between. And let's party so long, hard and loud that the cows join in with a chorus. This is the Glastonbury Festival of Performing Arts, which kicks off its year 2000 edition Friday and remains the pride and joy of 64-year-old Michael Eavis, a dairy farmer and pop impresario.

Maryland dairy farmers began rallying their forces yesterday to oppose a state Sierra Club campaign to limit farm size that they say threatens their survival. The environmental group's Maryland chapter wants the state to enact a moratorium on large-scale farm operations - dairy farms with 100 cows or more. It says the move is necessary to prevent accumulations of manure in concentrated areas that could pollute waterways. The campaign comes after the Maryland General Assembly failed to pass a statewide moratorium on the expansion of livestock operations earlier this year.

FREDERICK -- Financially struggling dairy farmers are looking at turning their milk into cheese, butter or ice cream to fatten their pocketbooks. One hundred and thirty-five dairy farmers from 12 states met over the weekend to discuss the opportunities for value-added production on the farm. Farmers were told that the same urban sprawl that has caused them problems in the past now represents a potentially big and viable market for fresh-from-the-farm goodies. The conference, held at a Frederick restaurant Saturday, was sponsored by the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension in conjunction with the Maryland Department of Agriculture.