I saw the well-written article about Dr. Fred Foreman, "An eye for cows and a heart for teaching". I remember Dr. Foreman very well. I took his dairy course in 1957, plus or minus a bit.
At one of our labs, we judged four dairy cows, Holsteins, I think. He placed them 1-2-3-4, and I placed them 2-1-3-4. We each gave our reasons for our placings. The difference between 1 and 2 was very small. After he had finished, I asked him why he placed 1 over 2. His answer was, "Number 1 has a more refined dairy head."
I suppose having just spent two years in the Army during Korea, I had not learned the proper respect for professors and asked him, "How much milk does a face give?" I don't recall his answer specifically, but it was given in a gentlemanly way. It had something to do with breed, conformation and the importance of other related factors. After that, whenever we would meet on campus, he would kid me about my challenging the relationship of a dairy cow's face and milk production.
I graduated with my B.S. in 1958 from Iowa State College and my master's in 1959 from Iowa State University, thanks to the GI Bill and a tour of duty from 1953 to 1955. I had some great professors at my time at Iowa State in the agronomy department.
Gerald E. Carlson, Illinois
