Thurl Metzger

by Pamela Shireman

     The Heifer Project is based on the idea of giving families a source of food rather than short-term relief. The project asks only that the recipient of a Heifer Project animal pass along the first-born female calf to another family. The following interview is with Dr. Thurl Metzger, the first director of the Heifer Project.

     I was with the Heifer Project for some 30 years. I began as a volunteer because I believed in the program. I was then hired by Heifer Project, and for a few years, I was the only paid staff member. Volunteers did, and still do, the work outside the office. Some time later, I was given a secretary. After I became the Executive Director, I added staff from time to time as we could afford them. I worked in 65-70 countries; several of them were ongoing programs. Now the Heifer Project has over 200 employees and has worked with families in 115 countries.

     In each country, we had to organize committees and get permission to import livestock. Most of the countries were uneasy about letting Americans in, so we had to let the government know what we were trying to do. Other duties included getting veterinary and health requirements and setting up distribution programs. The recipient families were contracted to give the first healthy female offspring to another family. There was always a satisfaction to negotiating with those in charge and meeting with the people in that community to get their ideas.

     We started with war-torn countries, gradually moved into developing countries, then into South America, Latin America, Asia and Africa. The program had a pretty solid foundation because people didn't have to put up any money to do it. The only requirement was that they give the first offspring to another family— this could be either a heifer or a couple of pigs. They shared the increase. One of the major results, in addition to the health factors, was that it organized communities. The recipients had a reason to meet and talk together— be together. It organized them with some sort of personal attitudes.

The Heifer Project International Ranch, Perryville, Arkansas

     We had a donation of cattle— about 2,400 registered Black Angus cattle. These cattle came from an investment firm that was bankrupt. Another cattle management firm, Premier Corporation, paid the money due on the cattle, outstanding rents and assessments, then paid the Heifer Project to take the cattle.

     At this time, we were shipping cattle to post-war and developing nations. We didn't have a place to move that many cattle at once, so we looked at the ranch in Perryville. We purchased the ranch from the Premier Corporation out of Fowlersville, Michigan. Since we purchased the ranch in Arkansas, we moved the offices to Little Rock.

Poland

     My first assignment was to Poland as a liaison officer between the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and the Heifer Project. My responsibility was to investigate the need and supervise the distribution of some shipments we were already making to the area. UNRRA was pretty liberal with their funds, especially soft money, and provided me with a command car, a chauffeur, and an interpreter, so I was able to get around rather comfortably.

     We had made an arrangement with UNRRA to haul the cattle that were shipped to the war-torn nations. They agreed to haul them without charge if we would provide the attendants on the boat, not only for the shipments we made, but for those they made as well. They were sending a lot more animals than we were. They would pay them one hundred fifty dollars per round trip. We sent hundreds of farmers, schoolteachers, ministers and professors overseas, people that never had an opportunity to go overseas before. Each one of those became— to use a George Bush term— a point of light for our program.

     While I was there, the Polish government mistakenly (I think it was a mistake) sold about 300 of our heifers as well as some other UNRRA supplies. I don't think they were aware of it. I discovered what had happened and located cables to back it up. I had the support of the UNRRA Chief, so the Polish government settled with me for four million, four hundred zlottys [Polish currency]. There was very little you could do with zlottys outside of Poland! It occurred to me that there were some university students that I was working with at the University of Warsaw. I decided to try to bring a group of them to the States and give them some time out of that environment. Theirs was a heavy environment— seven years of war and occupation— with little chance to get started again. In spite of the security arrangements, which were pretty strict in the country, I got permission to bring them to the United States. I used the zlottys to purchase round trip tickets on a Polish ship.

     The group came over for about a year. All of them were so eager to learn English; within a few weeks they could converse rather easily! I was responsible for supervising that program. I found them places on farms where they could learn. They all did such an outstanding job; I was able to get about five of them in universities to audit classes.

     During their time here, the FBI became interested. They hadn't realized that a bunch of Polish students (a bunch of communists!) were here! They gave me a hard time. They were investigating me every time I turned around. I was almost frantic for a while because of their methods. Finally, I decided I was going to see J. Edgar Hoover and tell him what I was doing and why. I arrived at the FBI headquarters and asked to see J. Edgar, but they said he wasn't in town. I spoke with another person in the office, and they called off the FBI.

     When the students left, we had a farewell party for them. The Polish ambassador to the United States came to make a farewell address to them. I invited the FBI to attend— and they were there!

     After their visit, they returned to Poland and very distinguished lives. Two of the students served terms with the Food and Agriculture Organization (similar to our Food and Drug Administration). Another, a distinguished scientist, developed a way to diagnose polio faster (the old way took two to three days).

Russia

     In 1956, an exceptional opportunity arose. A Russian delegation, including Khrushchev, was visiting farms in the Midwest. Khrushchev learned about the Heifer Project and invited us to send a shipment to Russia in 1956. We put together a shipment that went by Russian boat. Khrushchev invited me to come over as a representative of the program. I went to Russia and was there about two weeks. The Russian people were glad to see me because a lot of them hadn't seen an American before! They didn't know what we looked like!

     The amazing thing to me was that we heard so much about Russia's suppression of thought. While I was there, Khrushchev made a speech denouncing Stalin and the "Cult of the Individual." The Russian people were talking, but blaming their problems on Stalin.

     I wrote in my report at that time that the Soviets could not indefinitely keep the lid on their country. With so much scientific information getting through to them— they just wouldn't be able to suppress new information forever. I think, though, that there is more to it than that. A lot of the theories weren't solid. The communist system had an enormous amount of corruption. When the USSR started cracking, it broke real fast. I think it will have to go through almost an entire generation before they get things back in line. I think several of the Soviet states will probably get together and form something that will hold them together, but not soon enough.

United States

     The Native American reservations were always difficult to work with. The Native Americans were not organized like the blacks were, for example, when they called for Black Power. The Native Americans pretty much followed a paternalistic (father, grandfather, great-grandfather) ideal. They are more loyal to family groups than they are to the tribe. So there was a lot of jealousy and competition between family groups within the reservation. In some countries, I can cite considerable change, but on the reservations, we tried several tribal projects, but they were not successful. The culture and psychology didn't permit it.

     There was a long period of their receiving doles, or subsidies from the government, which for better or worse, didn't force them to work. I don't know whether they should have or not, but it didn't compel them to work.

     There were those who thought that the Native Americans weren't used to using sugar, and when they did they got diabetes easily. There were a lot of them that were oversized and diabetic. The incidence of diabetes was pretty high. Another major factor in dealing with the Native Americans was alcoholism.
For so long, they were ostracized when they went to school (or wanted to go to school). They were timid about trying to enter a white school or college. I think a lot of them were pretty discouraged. They were pretty anti-white. Until some of them began to make it and help others, well, that's a long process. We did develop a pretty good 4-H club program. It really was one of my disappointments.

McCarthy

     The McCarthy period was a terrible time. It was so scary you just wanted to pray for yourself sometimes. The neighbors thought I was a communist just because I traveled. We had a report filed on us by our mailman because we had gotten mail from foreign countries. Some of our neighbors might have been a little jealous of the travel. Some of them just didn't understand, but it was so bad that when they had a train wreck in Warsaw, Indiana— why, they assumed right away that the communists caused the train to wreck.

     Through it all, we didn't lose our friends, not our real friends, or our family. It was just a scary time.

India

     In India, I worked with the University and discovered that there was a separate class among those that are young and educated out of the country (in the United States) and those that wanted to hold on to the old traditions. There were a few who wanted to hold on to the big landed estates and the big houses.

     The Indians opposed any work with cattle because cattle are sacred. They didn't want to start changing the old laws that might affect the other things they were trying to do. Similar to times here in the South, they wanted States' Rights so they could get by with other things.

     I spent quite a bit of time with a young veterinarian in the office of Food and Agriculture. He explained it this way: "We are doing as much as we can. In the first place, they wanted to have old cattle retirement homes, so we have to retire a lot of the cattle. Second, we are selling them across the border to people who eat meat. Third, they are trying to use contraception. As soon as they get a crossbred calf, the religious interest disappears because of the economic value."

     We sent about five hundred bulls. The offspring did increase their production, grew twice as fast, and gave twice as much milk. There were a number of small dairies that were started with that stock because milk was high priced. Over the long range, we did not change the culture very much.

Asia

     After the war, I went to Japan a couple of times. The government of Japan had obtained land in the northern province and was making that land available to the Japanese farmers. They were trying to make dairymen out of farmers.

     In Korea, we had a very successful program. I was there before the war was over. They established a number of dairies all over the country from our stock. One of our most successful programs was a poultry program. We sent a load of hatching eggs because they could be divided into smaller units and spread farther. The food resources for the chickens were there because of the rice hulls and bran. There were also little fish in the irrigation ditches the chickens could get for protein.

     There was such dogmatism, so much determination among the communist hard liners in North Korea, they just wouldn't admit that things were going bad for them. What money they did have was spent on soldiers and military equipment. Our program worked so well that the Heifer Project committee actually came back to the States and raised substantial amounts of money for more projects in North Korea.

The Depression

     The Depression was more severe than anyone can comprehend now. For example, you would go into a small town in the evening and there would be dozens of people wanting something to eat, something to wear. Our assembly room was right above the railroad track. We could see the box cars open; each one had a whole contingent of people in them, getting away from home, trying to find a place to work. The unemployment was all around you all of the time. There was nothing you could do about it. It was the most depressing thing I had ever seen.

     I guess the disappointing thing is that I can't get our grandchildren to listen. They have no comprehension at all. I want my grandchildren to know something about the organized savings programs, discipline towards their work, and a good social relationship— either through the church or some society with other people. I am sure, however, that they will have qualities that we have never had a chance to develop!