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p16 weekender september 20 1986 veteran dairy man named to top post wallpaper decorative accessories interior design services its our birthday sale levalor a f blinds fhu custom oh drapes cisj sept 25 oct 18 only come in to see our new image and meet our new design team free refreshments balloons sept 2327 1 06 main st n aji aaqa markham saturday 96 ttt o o off off david houck herd superin- tendant at romandale farms in markham was recently named president of the cana dian holstein association the largest dairy farming orga nization in canada mr houck says that new technology is changing the face of dairy farming and that new hor mones which increase milk production are already being tested in the united states bill lanning by paul forde sitting on the edge of markham just north of major mackenzie drive and nestled at the end of a country lane lies romandale farms of unionville scattered about in the sur rounding pastures are about 80 fine looking holsteins each worth thousands of dollars holsteins are those black and white cows that graze calmly in a field and blend into the landscapeeighty per cent of dairy cattle in canada are holsteins holsteins are big business and markhams romandale farms is one of the busiest dairy farms in canada herd superintendent david houck transacts business all over canada the united states mexico spain england south america scotland and even japan besides mr houck 61 is the newly elected president of the holstein association of canada mr houck has a lifelong affilia tion with holsteins which began way back in 1925 when his father was involved in limou holstein farm near niagara falls his parents were prominent in their community with his father jack serving on one of the first ontario milk control boards and his mother ruth being the first woman to serve on a united na tions delegation under prime minister lester pearson before romandale farms mr houck honed his skills and exper tise at the family farm in bramp ton where they established the houckholme holsteins ft was while travelling a fair deal from one show to another that mr houck said he learned to differentiate between poor and good quality holsteins mr houck arrived at roman- dale farms in 1953 as herd super intendent working with the ro mans owner stephen chair- op m man of denison mines and his brother jack the farm manager mr houck has seen romandale farms make a worldwide im pression on the holstein industry the names of cows that helped build the reputation of the romandale farms reads like a whos who in the cattle business world class cows are continually being bred and sold from the farm names such as texal highcroft colanthan annizibar marquis sue hahoney babe and pluto sovereign gertie are deep pedig ree cow families that the roman- dales are more than proud to be credited with foreign breeders will travel the globe for sperm from the roman- dale reflection marquis a three- time all canadian bull world record sales of cattle were established at the roman- dale farms in 1979 when 201 head of cattle were auctioned off reaching a staggering total of 2795500 as mr houck says i wouldnt have missed it for the world romandale farms paid 45000 for aldaone great cow alda has produced 240000 lbs of milk in her lifetime and has born 16 daughters association duties one of the jobs of the associa tion is to look into longrange plan ning of this industry mr houck as president takes into account the importance of canadas thrust towards free trade with the united states in regards to hol steins and the dairy industry at the moment there are 14000 members in the holstein associa tion of canada alone this is the largest membership in the british commonwealth the association provides ser vices to dairy farms in canada which enable them to understand government tactics dairy costs accounting practices and what seems to be close to mr houcks heart an emphasis on breed im provement programs and the maintenance of foreign markets an important new factor has cropped up in the last year from the united states which has a pro found affect on the industry a re search professor at cornell uni- versity has come up with a way to make cows produce between 20 to 40 per cent more milk within three days the injection of one of the cows own hormones seems to stimulate a its ability to turn food into milk according to mr houck it is an impressive technological find and one that seems capable of lower ing milk costs for consumers but which couid forecast an end to the small scale family farm it is possible that this hormone could be on the market in the un ited slates by 1988 but full com mercial approval here in canada will probably lag far behind this the affects of this hormone in jection suggests a detour from na- ture and the ontario humane society has been arguing against its use this new treatment will require an efficient highly industrialized and specialized farm set up to be operative only farms like romandale would be able to accommodate the technology and capital investment required for the program mr houck argues against its practicality in canada with our milk production quotas and the programs inability to conform to continued on page 19