Heifer International 75 years ago: Dan West’s Rationale for the Heifer Project

In a draft of an article to be submitted to Christian Century magazine 75 years ago this month (February 1944), and before any Heifer Project shipments had been made, Heifer International founder Dan West wrote his rationale for “Heifers for Relief.”

“Little children,” he began, “are starving in Europe and elsewhere. They are not to blame, but they have to pay…. How many will have to starve because of the hardness of our hearts nobody knows….

“Reconstruction is in the air now…. But some day the giving from America and other favored countries will stop. Europeans must carry their own burden as soon as they can. Mr Lehman [Director General of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration/UNRRA] has been stressing the need for helping people to help themselves.

“One government official said there is no question about the need, nor is there any question about where the supply of dairy cattle is to be found. It’s America chiefly.

“After some investigation with officials of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Brethren Service Committee approved a plan for setting aside good dairy heifers, either purebred or grade, to be sent to needy countries in Europe–perhaps elsewhere, whenever priorities and shipping allow. Since last May a number of them have been ear-tagged. Local farmers take care of them, furnishing the labor and in some cases the feed. In other cases, city Dunkers [Brethren] and others who cannot furnish shelter or care [for the animals] pay the feed bill. A good deal of interest has been developed on the part of children, young people, and adults in the project. City children don’t know cows but they can easily imagine that milk can make the difference between life and death for hungry babies….

Faith, the first heifer donated, her owner Virgil Mock (left), and Claire Stine who raised her (right). Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

“How can we get [the heifers] to the right place at the right time?” Dan asks. “Before every new step the Brethren Service Committee has consulted with U.S.D.A. officials at Washington, but this is still an unsolved problem. Because the Allied Shipping Pool has not announced its policy nor has UNRRA, no one can promise finally that the cattle which are ready here will certainly be delivered there…. [W]hatever is done must be done partly on faith, but that faith must not be a substitute for avoidable ignorance.

“If my children were starving to death I would be glad for somebody to act on faith to try to get food to them…. When one considers that a good average cow can give ten quarts a day or more…one cow may become the means of saving the lives of ten children….

“How will [the animals] be distributed? That too is an unsettled question….

“Why do it?
1. Christians cannot let people starve anywhere on the earth without trying to help them….
2. We cannot begin to build a world until we learn how to get elemental foods to the right place soon enough.
3. Until we find a better substitute for milk, cows will be important in rehabilitation.
4. There has been a good deal of talk of church union with not too much success…. Maybe this will help.
5. As one Lutheran pastor imagined it: ‘This looks like a good chance to bring the city Christians and the country Christians together. The city Christians can furnish the money for the feed and the rural Christians the calves and the care. When they are ready to go they can all come to a rural church, the city folks, the country folks, and the calves. They can all worship together and then send the calves off to save life elsewhere–the Christians of America can save Europe.'”

Next post: Heifer Project’s 1st and 2nd seagoing cowboys

First Seagoing Cowboy Takes Heifers to Puerto Rico

Today’s post comes from Heifer Project Committee meeting excerpts of August 21, 1944, in Nappanee, Indiana, item 4: “Heifers for Puerto Rico,” in which cattle attendant, a.k.a. “seagoing cowboy,” Wayne Hostetler [see previous post] reports on his trip to the committee.

The heifers were loaded July 13…. There were from twenty to twenty-five men ready and waiting to load them, and only four men were needed. The ship had five hatches. The heifers were right behind the officers’ quarters. Waterman office men made the shed extra strong. Its slope roof was 20 ft. x 16 ft. Dr. Meixel said that the shed was twice as strong as requirements. Negro stevedores were afraid of the cattle. It took one and one-half hours to load….

The ship left Mobile, Alabama, at 2:30 a.m. on July 14. It followed a storm, and had five days of calm. It waited one and one-half days at Guantanamo, and there joined a convoy of eight merchant ships and four escorts. [World War II was raging at the time.] They traveled at 12 knots an hour in three columns (escorts on each corner). The sea was rough, but no trouble was caused for the cattle.

Wayne fed grain and hay twice a day and watered three times a day. He also cleaned stables three times a day. All cattle gained on ship except one which aborted. On Sunday the Shorthorn heifer had a calf. A good crowd was there.

Mr. Fizell [Chief Officer] was very considerate; likewise the captain. (There were thirty navy men on armed guard, six on twenty-four hours, and four merchantmen on guard twenty-four hours.)

The ship arrived at Port of San Juan on July 22 at five o-clock a.m…. All heifers were unloaded by 5:30 p.m. by cage and hoist–one at a time. Rufus King [leader of the Brumbaugh Reconstruction Unit, see previous post] led them to the truck.

Rufus King inspects heifers on board ship in San Juan. I believe this to be the 1944 shipment. Photo from Peggy Reiff Miller collection, courtesy of Karen King Keim.

 

They all led well. Twelve were distributed [by the Farm Security Administration] to four counties. By 11:00 p.m., the farthest was placed–3-1/2 miles up a mountain beyond the road.

The Chief of Dairy and Forestry took Wayne and Rufus King on a tour.

One man receiving a heifer had twelve children. They had never had milk to drink. The County Agent’s advisers visited each home three times during the first week and as many times as necessary thereafter….

One of the families who received a heifer in Puerto Rico in 1944. Photo from Peggy Reiff Miller collection, courtesy of Karen King Keim.

“Faith” [the first heifer donated to the Heifer Project] is close to Ocean front, and a suburban “colony.” She has plenty of pasture, shelter and a barrel for feed. Her heifer calf was kept in a one-room house with the family and carried out at feeding time.

Faith, the first heifer donated to the Heifer Project with her donor, Virgil Mock on left, and Claire Stine who raised her. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

A visit by County Agent’s advisors to Faith and her calf in their new Puerto Rican environment. Photo courtesy of the Wayne Hostetler family.

Wayne left from San Juan by plane at 2:30 p.m. on July 29, and arrived in Miami at 10:30 p.m. His five rolls of films will be sent by Paul Weaver in four or five letters. Incidentally, Wayne drank “cokes” on the Captain of the boat who drank beer.

Chief Officer George W. Fizell wrote the following letter of praise from the SS. William D. Bloxham in the Port of San Juan to the Brethren Service Committee:

Gentlemen:

I want to extend my congratulations to you on the wonderfull [sic] work you are engaged in. The finest example of practical Christianity I have ever seen.

We who travel see how the other half struggle for existence and can perhaps realize the value of your work far better than the stay-at-homes.

I would also like to congratulate you on your excellent selection of Mr. Wayne Hostetler as your Representative. A fine type of American youth who would be a credit to us anywhere.

I am not a religious man but if I remember a little of the Bible I believe it was Paul who said ‘By their works ye shall know them’. More Power to you.

How I would love to find those five rolls of film Wayne had Paul Weaver send from Puerto Rico! I’ve found very few photos from this first shipment.

Next post: An interview with Heifer International President and CEO Pierre Ferrari.