SECTION B
Thursday, July 21,1977
Mirror-Herald Living Today
Like Father And Grandfather Before Him
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Womana Editor
When Melvin L. Kiser, Jr.
graduated from college with B.
S. in Industrial education, he
didn’t dream he’d return to the
farm and operate Kiser Dairy
like his father and grandfather
before him.
’Ihe Bessemer City native,
bom and rered on a farm, has
(grated Kiser Dairy for 11
years and has revolutionised his
000-acre dairy operation Into big
business, developing several
Innovations In conservation
which earned for him the honor
of being tapped Oaston County’s
Conservation Farmer at the
Year.
Kiser, 80, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Melvin L. Kiser, Sr., Is using
strip cropping, sediment ponds,
drain tUe In his bottom lands,
and other soil and water con
servation measures which have
earned for him a wide reputation
as a successful dairyman
utilising good conservation
practices. As the regional winner
In the N. C. Association of Soli
and Water Conservation
Districts, Kiser won an all
expense paid trip to Litchfield
Park. Arizona which was
presented by Goodyear Rubber
Company.
Getting up early and milking
140 milk cows and caring for 160
heifers and calves Is Just part of
the work of a dairy farmer and
the young Bessemer City farmer
declares that “farming Is
scmethlng you have to like to
do."
Because pastures are drying
up In the excesalve heat,.-the
animals are fed from com silage
and both com and wheat crops
are harvested for silage on the
Kiser term.
Melvin Is quite proud of the
production average of his herd,
17,000 pounds of milk per cow or
eight and one half tons of milk
per cow per year, an
astronomical figure and "quite a
feat for my herd," he says.
Another Innovation of Kiser’s
Is the record keeping where each
cow’s record Is kept by computer
at N. C. State University with a
milk tester visiting the term
each m(Hith to weigh milk,
Kiser’s expert bookkeeping
system even recording
piegnancy checks of the cows un
a monthly basis. One can look
quickly at his records and see
which cows are "ready to
calve," the age, and other
statistics, a “big help In
managing a large herd," he
says.
Calves are kept In Individual
pens for two months and then
moved to other bams, grouped
according to their ages.
Another Innovation In farming
today Is using trench (un
derground) silos Instead of
upright silos because the trench
silo Is much easier and less
costly to operate and will store
much more.
’Die Kiser herd consumes, for
Instance, 60 pounds of com silage
per day and two pounds of
commercial dairy food per day.
Melvin Kiser has Improved
erosion problems by strip far
ming and a sediment pond
retains the mn off from streams.
His covra are milked twice. In
the early hours from 6 until 8 a.
m. and In mld-aftemoon from 8
until 6 p. m. with automatic
milking machines where eight
cows are milked at a time. ’The
milk Is never touched by hand,
with automatic take-offs from
the cow’s udder and Into a large
tank cooled to 86 degrees. After
each milking, the cows are
d4>ped In Iodine solution to keep
away bacteria, an extra
precaution which pays off.
being a dairyman also
requires the farmer be a
veterinarian, a nutritionist, a
good bookkeeper and manager,
being able to make decisions on
purchases, give medicine to his
herd and deliver his animals to
market.
lima Kiser recalled such an
experience on the farm.
Ihelr young daughter, Hilda,
age five, watched her father
perform "surgery" on one of the
cows, restltchlng the cows’
stomach, remaiked that she had
changed her mind about
becoming a doctor after she
witnessed her father closing the
Incision.
Dairy farming Is a seven day a
week, full-time Job, according to
Mrs. Kiser, who was reared on a
farm In Burnsville, but had
never seen a dairy operation
until she met and married her
husband. ’The Kisers met while
both were students at East
’Tennessee State University and
Mrs. Kiser, the former Irma
Radford, taught third grade In
Bessemer City schools.
Being a farmer’s wife and
mother of a pre-schooler Is a full
time Job, says Irma.
’Die Kisers are active In First
Methodist Church of Bessemer
City and Mr. Kiser Is vice
president of Gaston County
Farm Bureau and active In a
number of feu'm-related groups.
R. Wilson Barnette, chairman
of the ASCS of Gaston County,
presented certificate to Kiser for
the Gaston County Soil and
Water Conservation Districts.
Mr. Kiser sees the future of the
dairy business as "bright," with
no shortage of milk,. Because of
dry weather, he will harvest less
than one half of his com crop but
he’s thankful he has prepared for
such emergencies with silage.
’Die Kisers live In a brick
colonial spacious home on I2th
Street Extension near Bessemer
City and their next-door neigh
bors are Mr. Kiser’s parents.
Mrs. Kiser likes to sew and has
used some of her own
needlepoint and paintings to
decorate their home. She also
likes to cook and prepares three
meals a day for her busy
husband.
Irma Kiser shares some of her
recipes with readers:
POUND CAItE
2 sticks butter, lb. (no
margarine)
H cup Wesson oil
Blend together
8 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 tsp. salt
4 cups plain flour
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla
Add milk and flour alternately
Bake at 860 degrees for one
and one-half hours in tube pan.
Cool 10 minutes berore turning
out of pan. Brush with butter and
cover with tin foil to make good
moist cake. This cake keeps well
and has been shipped to several
parts of the country. Including to
friends In Okinawa and Vietnam.
-oOo-
BLUE CHEESE
DRESSING
2 cups mayonnaise
IH cups crecuned butter milk
lb. Roquefort or Blue Cheese
(she mixes these)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
sauce
1 teaspo<»i garlic salt
Blend
Refrigerate. Makes one qusul.
Select butter milk well. Be sure
It will keep tor couple weeks.
-oOo-
FUDGECAKE
Sift together:
2 cups plain flour
2 cups sugar
H tsp. salt
Bring to boll:
1 stick margarine
M cup shortening
8 tablespoon cocoa
1 cup water
Bring to boll. Pour over flour.
Beat until well blended. Beat
together.
2 eggs
Add teaspoon vanilla, ^ cup
buttermilk and teaspoon soda,
add to (kher and mix thoroughly.
Bake In a Uxl4 covered pan. If
pan has no cover, use tin foil to
cover. Bake for 86 minutes at 860
D.
-oOo-
I<3ING
Melt stick margarine, three
tablespoons cocoa, six
tablespoons plsdn milk, add one
box confectioners sugar, M
teaspoon salt, one teaspoon
vanilla one cup pecans or
wsdnuts and pour over cake.
-oOo-
GRECOL
(TTils casserole Is delicious
when made ahead and
refrigerated a day before ser
ving)
Photos By Lib Stewart
One onion chopped
One green pepper chopped
Oboklng oil to fry pound of
ground round
One or two small cans of
mushrooms, drained
’Two cups shelled macsuonl,
boiled and drained
’niree csuis tomato sauce
One cup cresun style com
Sharp cheese
Fry onlcn and pepper, add
meat. Mix In other Ingredients.
Place In greased casserole dish
and refrigerate. Next day,
greate cheese for top of
casserole and bake In 8(X> degree
oven for one hour.
fQBBRFAMILTOrBKBBiaaSRGmr - Mr.
and Mrs. Melvin L. Kiser, Jr. and ^Ir five-year-
old daughter, Hilda, are pictured In the living
room of their Beaaemer City home. Mr. Kiser wasi
racently honored as Gaston County’s Con
servation Farmer of the Tear. Hilda holds a
stuffed frog.
I
MmONO MACHINES — Hilda Kiser and her City. The automatic milkers enable eight eows to
tether, Melvin Kiser, Jr., are pictured In the be milked at a time with the milk automatically
milking bam on their dairy farm In Beesemer fed Into a large cooled tank.
FBEDINO ’TIME — It's feeding time at the his daughter, Hilda, feed one of the calves In the
lalry farm of the Melvin Kisers, Mrs. Kiser and large herd.