Wall Street's Loss Is Farming's Gain
For a fellow who started at Dartmouth with medicine in mind and later went to Tuck to begin a career in high finance, Donald Hanks '41 has turned out to be a firstrate farmer. The Ford Motor Company has affirmed this by selecting him as one of "the world's most efficient farmers." Hanks was one of fourteen American farmers, the only one in the dairy category, chosen to receive the fourth annual Ford Farm Efficiency Award - and he doesn't even own a Ford tractor.
Because of his father's illness Hanks returned to the family farm near Salem, N.Y., after graduation. At that time the farm, which had been in the family since Civil War days, was composed of 130 acres. Now The Big Green Farms has 600 acres all in one block with about 350 acres tillable. In a recent twelve-month period Hanks' 52 Holstein cows had the highest milk-producing record in New York State with an average of 17,386 pounds of milk and more than 600 pounds of butterfat per cow - the highest amount ever attained by a Ford winner.
With the aid of two hired hands Hanks also tends 6,000 to 8,000 egg-laying hens and cultivates his acres. Each acre's annual yield is 18 tons of corn silage and 150 bushels of corn, and other acres produce alfalfa and grass for hay.
Despite the fact that his busy farm day begins at 5 a.m. and continues on into evening hours, Hanks finds time to participate in farm conferences throughout the East. One recent meeting was in Ontario and was concerned with soil and crop improvement. He also participated in the first annual National Grasslands Day program in Hershey, Pa. A past president of the Glen Falls, N. Y., Alumni Association, he's managed to infiltrate the Cornell campus by sending his "Big Green Indian," "Big Green Tomahawk," and "Big Green Spirit" ("Big Green" is used as a prefix for all his registered Holstein cattle) to the New York Artificial Breeding Association located near the Ithaca institution.
In addition Hanks is president of the Dairy Herd Improvement Association of Warren and Washington Counties, a director of the Cambridge Valley National Bank, president of the Evergreen Cemetery Association, a former member of the Salem School Board for ten years and its president for five, an elder in his church, and an active member of many other organizations. He and his equally active wife, lane, have three sons - Dean, 14, and 12-year-old twins, Peter and Paul.
In a recent feature on Hanks and his "working farm" an Albany, N.Y., newspaper stated succinctly: "Wall Street's loss is agriculture's gain."
