4/9/81

Introduction

Begins Mechanizing Dairy Operation in Mid-1940's
Scope and Content Note: First milking machine, with two DeLaval units, bought in 1946. Before then, took a “long couple of hours” to milk 15 cows by hand. Mechanization allowed addition of a few head of cattle but required more care to maintain clean, bacteria-free equipment and standards. Converted from can storage to bulk tank in 1964. Never interested in installing a pipeline milking system.

Owner-Sampler Milk Testing
Scope and Content Note: Kept track of breeding records but not milk weights. Owner-sampling just as good and honest as Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA). Describes possible ways to cheat if one so inclined. Decided it didn't help a farmer to emphasize production records, but to upgrade herd in both milk weights and butterfat. Learned owner-sampling procedure from another owner-sampler; bought own bottles and scale.

Hauls Milk for Family after 1930
Scope and Content Note: Took over hauling chore from brother; hauled milk in light wagon and both horses. at first had no filters or coolers so hauled twice a day; later obtained a milk cooler in which water flowed through pipes. Reduced milk hauling to once a day.

Brusveens' Milk Made Into Swiss Cheese
Scope and Content Note: Required extra cleanliness of coolers from milk solids buildup. Quality of swiss cheese reduced after state regulated butterfat content. Cheesemaker used separate cheese kettle for milk with increased butterfat level to make cheese for farmer-patrons.

Condition of York Center Road to Cheese Factory from Farm
Scope and Content Note: Was dirt or dirt and rocks until 1933; then graveled.

Possible Origin of Brusveen's Neck and Shoulder Problem
Scope and Content Note: Possibly related to incident with milk hauling wagon at age 9 or 10. Fell out of milk wagon when horses bolted; landed on head on frozen rocky ground.

Uses for Buggies and Wagons
Scope and Content Note: Surrey for luxury riding; buggy for regular trips to Blanchardville and New Glarus. Hayrack wagon and heavy hauling “lumber” wagon used for other functions.

Farm Trucks
Scope and Content Note: First truck a home-converted Model T Ford in late 1920's. Next a V-8 Ford coupe bought and converted in 1943; traded for factory-built 1949 Ford pickup. Finally, traded for 1966 pickup, still used to haul wood for heating house in New Glarus.

More on York Center Road Improvement
Scope and Content Note: Blacktopped in 1933 and made freer of dust, although traffic may have increased as a shortcut between county highways. Road had already been relocated from factory to State Highway 39 in 1933. Formerly had run east to area of junction of County Trunk a and County Trunk J, then swung north to Highway 39. Anecdote about having to hand-shovel road from farm to Highway 39 during winter of 1936.

Brusveens' Immediate Neighborhood
Scope and Content Note: Close neighbors existed around work and joint ownership of machinery; “everyone was pretty much equal.” Good neighbors north of farm, but formed a separate crew. Always got help when needed it; not like that today.

Farmhouse Changes Little after Kitchen Rebuilt in Early 1940's
Scope and Content Note: Bathroom built in mid-1940's. Water heater installed in 1959.

First Area Telephone Company, Farmer-Owned, Begins in 1916
Scope and Content Note: Father a member of cooperative which built and maintained own lines; serviced by United Telephone Company, which later became owner. First telephone in house still hangs on wall of den in New Glarus house.

Electric Lights First Obtained in 1938
Scope and Content Note: Before that, lantern and aladdin lamps lighted house; kerosene lantern lighted barn.

First Refrigerator Received as Wedding Present in 1942
Scope and Content Note: Crosley Shelvador, it still operates in basement at New Glarus home.

First Freezer Obtained in Early 1950's
Scope and Content Note: Used for garden produce and home butchered meat.

End of Tape 5, Side 1

Introduction

Freezer Still Important for Preserving Garden Produce in New Glarus
Scope and Content Note: Easier than canning, although Brusveen misses taste of good canned meat. Used to can 40 to 50 quarts of meat a year.

First Electric Washing Machine Obtained in Late 1930's
Scope and Content Note: Purchased just after electricity installed. Recalls first washing machine, operated by hand lever. First electric dryer obtained in mid-1960's.

Brusveen Listens to Radio from Childhood On; Television Since 1954
Scope and Content Note: First radio in family an Atwater-Kent. in 1940, bought a Silvertone from Sears. Claims first item heard after once picking up radio from repairman was news of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1948 bought one of the first table model AM/FM Philco radios. Whole family would hurry with evening chores in order to hear “The Lone Ranger”by 6:30 p.m. Bought television in 1954.

News Shows Important during World War Ii
Scope and Content Note: Brusveen's brother served in France during the Battle of the Bulge and D-Day.

Buys Television Because Nearly Everyone Else Has One
Scope and Content Note: Bought a used Zenith from cousin Earl Erickson.

Installs House Plumbing in 1945
Scope and Content Note: Plumbing installed with help from neighbors. Gravity-fed system brought water from well at top of hill. Heated bath water on stove range before electricity and hot water heaters.

Heats Both Farm Home and New Glarus Home with Wood
Scope and Content Note: Less expensive. Good neighbors continue to permit access to cut wood on their property, in exchange for other help.

Takes Two Vacation Trips during Career
Scope and Content Note: Went fishing in Canada for a week in 1946 with father-in-law and brother-in-law. in 1972, Brusveens went to Badlands and Black Hills for ten days while son Steve milked. Felt vacations would often lead to neglect of something on a dairy farm.

Spare Time Usually Devoted to Carpentering and Remodeling; Some Photography and Fishing
Scope and Content Note: Started doing photography in 1959; used to fish for trout in local streams after evening work.

Family Goes to New Glarus Or Blanchardville Doctors for Health Care
Scope and Content Note: In 1920's, mother hospitalized in Madison after nervous breakdown. Father had hearing problem and dizziness every morning for years. Brusveen had high blood pressure; arthritis now bothersome.

Neither Son Nor Daughter Interested in Financial Investment Necessary to Take Over Farm
Scope and Content Note: Each spent year at Madison Area Technical College. Son a good farm operator but never cared for milking; opted for wood work. Daughter now a housewife; has worked with the deaf.

End of Tape 5, Side 2

Introduction

Daughter Finds Financial Investment in Farming Too Great for the Return
Scope and Content Note: She and husband started on a farm as hired hands, but wages not good enough. Husband began working for Monroe Cheese Corporation.

Down Payment from Sale of Farm in 1977 Helps Clear Loan with Federal Land Bank
Scope and Content Note: Brusveen had borrowed to buy farm from father on land contract. Later, incorporated all loans and put them into Federal Land Bank. Used some of new owners' down payment to pay off Federal Land Bank in 1977. Farm sold in 1977 for $1,000 an acre; might be worth $1,200 an acre if a willing buyer existed today.

No Neighbor Farmers Offer to Purchase Brusveen Farm
Scope and Content Note: Some interest but no money.

New Owners of Brusveen Farm Do Not Farm It
Scope and Content Note: Charles Bauer and Charles Beckwith bought farm from Brusveen but put more of land into trees. Brusveen respects fact that land not being hurt and will be there again when needed.

Brusveen Believes Bigger, Expanding Farms the Wrong Trend
Scope and Content Note: Large farms alter demand for farmland. with high per-acre prices, high farm loan interest rates, plus taxes and insurance, landowner becomes “a slave to either agriculture or the government.”

Father Once Rents Out Farmland in Late 1950's

Brusveen Obtains Farm Knowledge Mainly by “School of Hard Knocks.”
Scope and Content Note: Absorbed what he wanted to from Wisconsin Agriculturalist, Farm Journal, The Prairie Farmer. Received the Capital Times and the Blanchardville Blade regularly.

Informed by Agriculture Programs on Radio and Television and Soil Conservation Service (Scs)
Scope and Content Note: SCS helped him lay out contours. Also, joined Conservation League in 1950 and planted pine trees in a grove north of the house.

Enters Farming Discussions Mainly with Neighbors
Scope and Content Note: Talked usually during exchange jobs or spare time.

Little Contact with County Extension Agents
Scope and Content Note: Absorbed what he wanted from a few publications. Only real contact with county agents was in youth when he and sister obtained 4-H purebred calves. Little connection with New Deal programs or Farmers Home Administration.

Assistance of SCS Support Programs
Scope and Content Note: Discusses dairy parity prices; contrasts dairy farming with automobile manufacturing and relates the difference to political discrimination.

Farm Operators Who Survive Will Be the Most Efficient, Not the Biggest

Federal and State Election Results Benefit the Larger Operators and Owners, Not the Most Efficient
Scope and Content Note: Federal government has often discriminated against farmers altogether. Local election results have not affected farmers much.

Since the 1930's, Brusveen Family Has Leaned Toward the Democratic Party in Elections
Scope and Content Note: In later years, Brusveen saw no difference between Democratic and Republican parties; voted more for individuals advocating his beliefs. Persistent letter-writer on many subjects to representatives and public institutions. Discusses container disposal laws, American Heart Association opinions about dairy products and heart conditions, and the “farm surplus problem.”

Belongs to the National Farmers' Organization (NFO) from Early 1960's Through Early 1970's
Scope and Content Note: Tried through NFO to obtain the right to bargain for milk prices that cover the cost of production plus a reasonable profit margin. Indicates other farmers' organizations, like Farm Bureau or National Farmers' Union, profit from membership without offering such a program.

End of Tape 6, Side 1

Introduction

Participates in NFO Milk Holding Action in Mid-1960's
Scope and Content Note: Leadership backed down after President Lyndon Johnson received permanent court injunction; Brusveen would have ignored the order. Individuals in an organization cannot be too effective unless they exert themselves.

Participation in Government Set-Aside Programs
Scope and Content Note: Set aside an allocated percentage of his corn land. Program helped in some years, but no real effect in good years. In 1976, yield so poor that program had no effect.

1976 as a Difficult Farming Year
Scope and Content Note: Drought started in 1975 carried into summer of 1976. Following winter was very cold, yet robins and a blackbird stayed on farm year round. Ice storm in March knocked out area's power for nine days, with three inches of ice on telephone wires and trees breaking under strain. First milked by hand, then improvised milking unit using vacuum created by pickup truck

Gravity-Fed Water Supply and Windmill Function Well during Ice Storm of 1977

Brusveen Wants to Participate in Woodland Tax Program, But Needs All His Pasture Land

Builds New House on West Edge of New Glarus
Scope and Content Note: Zoning regulations restricted him from reserving an acre on farm for new home; couldn't get waste percolation test done. New Glarus location easier for water supply, grocery access and resale value. Move ended 61 years living in the farmhouse, most of the time in the south wing.

Daylight Savings Time Worthless to Farmers
Scope and Content Note: Discusses disadvantages and advantages.

Holds Position of Property Tax Assessor in Town of York from 1950 to 1973
Scope and Content Note: Job got more difficult with increasing age and health problems. Also did soil sampling for Green County one fall in mid-1960's, as part of the county's soil sampling service to get mineral requirement data from the University of Wisconsin.

Has Belonged to Sons of Norway Since 1972; Member of Board of Directors for Several Years
Scope and Content Note: Joined to get opportunity to speak Norwegian again. Sings in Norwegian church choir. Neighbors all spoke Norwegian to one another for many years. In early years whole community was Norwegian; first Norwegian neighbor moved out in 1942, and more left after 1960.

Change Among Neighborhood Farms in Town of York
Scope and Content Note: Not nearly as much land utilized today; much of that poorly handled. Brusveen's contemporaries were good operators; fears that once his generation and the one after disappear, no one will be left to utilize land properly, especially if need rises again. New owners of Brusveen's farm leave over 99% of land idle compared to when he farmed it. Believes yearly growth of vegetation, however, can help build and preserve the topsoil.

Brusveen Learns from Schoolbook in 1920's That Japanese Farmers Contoured Their Farmland
Scope and Content Note: In the United States, neither his family nor anyone else in community contoured until federal governmental programs began. Hard to understand why not.

Other Changes in Area's Agricultural Economy
Scope and Content Note: Included transfers into beef and sheep operations and expansions of dairy operations. Little non-farm development.

Brusveen Works on Township Roads, Grading and Removing Snow, from Mid-1950's until Early 1960's
Scope and Content Note: Recalls removing snow with Earl Erickson for a funeral in 1959. Job took from Thursday morning to Tuesday evening; had only about four hours' sleep and three meals, given by neighbors, during that time.

End of Tape 6, Side 2