UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Interview #1377
ARRINGTON, LOUIS C.
ARRINGTON, LOUIS C. (1936)Emeritus Professor of Poultry Science and UW-Extension
At UW 1966-1998
Interviewed:
Interviewer:
Index by:
Length:
December 2013 (2 sessions)
Robert G. Lange
Robert G. Lange
2 hours and 46 minutes
Abstract: In his two 2013 interviews with Robert Lange, Louis Arrington discusses his
work in poultry science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Extension.
Arrington discusses his research interests, publications, teachings, activities in
professional organizations, and the closing of the Poultry Science Department. He also
describes his childhood growing up on a farm in Maryland and his education. This
interview was conducted for inclusion into the UW-Madison Oral History Program.
Keywords: Family farms; 4-H; Future Farmers of America; Department of Poultry
Science; UW-Extension; Jerome Family Turkey Company; Poultry Science Association.
CD #1 (December 16, 2013):
0:00:38
Basic demographics; Maryland, between Baltimore and Frederick; original family
farm; 200 acres; a general farm; dairy was the profit center; farm was owned by
Lou’s grandmother (his father’s mother); she refused to sell the farm to Lou’s
father; he then bought another farm; Lou grew up on this new farm (114 acres)
until he left home;
0:04:45
Two older brothers; Maryland at one time was a big farming state; farm chores;
developed hay fever; affected his farm work moderately; evening milking; made
it hard for Lou to participate in high school sports; liked growing up on a farm;
0:08:55
Parents; some Arrington family history; mother had been a school teacher; she
was a hard worker; took care of the chickens; managed the feed for the poultry;
helped with milking (by hand);
0:13:17
Lou’s interest in poultry began with 4-H; during WWII; older brothers had `had4H projects with dairy and beef cattle; Lou then selected poultry for his 4-H
project; breeder broilers; “meat type” birds; detail on breeder broilers; Nichols
Louis Arrington #1377
New Hampshires were their breeders; “BC” birds meant “before Cornish”; the
sole good feature of Cornish was large breast development;
0:16:50
Cornish emerge as dominant in the mid-1950s; “Chicken of Tomorrow”; a
“better” bird meant those with faster growth, improved feed conversion, more
meat and good feathering;
0:18:17
Mother encouraged education; Lou was a smart boy; liked to read; “Wizard of
Oz” books; two first grade teachers; first first-grade teacher left to become the
County Agent (as men were enlisted in the military service); second woman in the
US to hold such a position; reunion a year ago with his second first-grade teacher;
55 kids in a class in elementary school; Lou was put in the “advanced” class;
0:25:30
Attended Lisbon High School; school was 15 miles from his home; rode the bus;
junior high began in 1948; started studying vocational agriculture at this point; the
County Agent fostered the development of 4-H;
0:28:02
Lou very active in 4-H; did all kinds of projects; held a variety of positions in 4H; secretarial ability; girls had a separate 4-H program; Lou had some natural
leadership ability; later in his career led lots of various efforts because he was
interested in the subject at hand;
0:30:09
Future Farmers of America (FFA); Carl Bevard (?) was excellent vocational
agriculture teacher and also great FFA leader; Carl nominated Lou for the state
FFA award, which Lou did receive in his senior year;
0:31:55
WWII; an older cousin was a wartime pilot and was killed testing a plane; schools
were segregated; race relations;
0:37:00
The depression; constant market for milk at the nearby TB sanitarium; family car;
farm equipment; learned to drive a tractor;
0:41:20
High school; 1951-54; Carl Bevard was a favorite teacher; 4-H was much more
active than FFA; still working with poultry; did a little judging; created FFA fair
at the school; did presentations at county fairs, which was good practice in
presenting; always enjoyed math; graduated 3rd in his class; had recognition in
school; senior year went to the national FFA conference in Kansas City and the
national 4-H conference in Chicago;
0:51:30
College plans; brothers did not attend college; parents wanted him to go to
college; worked in poultry at college to help cover expenses; first year scholarship
from Sears; tuition each semester was $37.50; University of Maryland;
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0:55:30
In college still had goal of becoming an extension agent for the state;
worked on feed formulations; George Wigley (sp?) taught the basic
poultry courses; very good teacher; taught some judging; member of ag
fraternity; in three honor societies; president of ag student council senior
year; never seriously considered switching from poultry; did not pursue
math; clear to Lou that he did not want to be a high school teacher;
1:00:20
Graduates in 1958; knew early in college he would need graduate school,
particularly to obtain the extension specialist position he wanted; Masters
and a PhD; 1957 summer job as a county agent in training;
1:03:00
UC-Davis; physiology would be good for extension work; interested in
effect of the environment on raising birds; housing, temperature, light,
etc.; Wilbur Wilson major professor; well known in this area; too much
emphasis for faculty on publishing;
1:07:30
Michigan State for PhD; fairly unique program in extension education;
1:08:00
Master’s thesis at Davis; Japanese quail as a pilot animal; studying the
effect of light on egg production; primarily the timing of it; detail on his
thesis; how conducted the research; directed by Professor Wilson; parts of
his thesis were published in a British poultry journal;
1:13:15
PhD thesis focused on reproductive physiology; the effect of the pineal
gland on egg production; working with professor Bob Ringer; also
working on a second project measuring how the egg moves through the
oviduct; problems with this project;
1:16:00
The Japanese quail; advantages to working with them; mimics what
happens with the chicken; like mice and rats for research applied to human
beings;
1:17:00
Did some teaching at both UC-Davis and Michigan State; lab instructor;
1:18:30
Status of the family farm in Maryland; father had become
deputy sheriff; sold it;
CD#2 (December 16, 2013)
1:22:43
PhD thesis; graduates in 1966; how came to Wisconsin; Washington State
and UW-Madison; at Madison Frank Cherms was on the staff (preceded
Bernie Wentworth); position here was in extension; several faculty at
Madison were significant figures in poultry science;
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1:28:30
UW-Madison position; John Skinner worked with egg production, 4-H
and exhibition birds; Lou would have turkeys, other meat birds, FFA;
worked across divisions a fair amount of time;
1:31:30
Married; wife was lab technician;
1:33:00
WWII; harvesting grain; use of thresher; German POWs worked in the
harvesting arena;
1:37:30
Started at UW-Madison in August, 1966; went to poultry science meeting in
Utah; met with John Skinner to talk about work to be done; newsletter; early on
Skinner directed Lou;
1:39:30
Reputation of UW-Madison’s poultry science when Lou came; especially strong
in nutrition; Lou was to get the industry organizations in the state working
together; put out information that could improve their business; working to help
consumers, too; worked with home economists;
1:42:49
Egg producers meeting; set up meetings with a variety of experts; working with 4H; exhibition poultry vs. production poultry; meetings from across the state;
exhibition birds and disease resistance; Lou and the state poultry judging contest;
importance of exhibition birds;
1:46:30
Issues facing the poultry industry when Lou arrived; egg production and turkeys;
production control issues for turkeys; New Orleans conference and Australian
poultry farmers; productions controls;
1:52:10
Work in the extension; tenure home; Lou always housed in the department; the
extension programs in the 1960s and 1970s were quite valued and so recognized;
small family farms; issues; conferences on issues related to production;
1:57:10
Research program; turkey eggs; embryonic development of the liver and other
organs; turkeys vs. chickens;
2:00:10
Teaching obligations;
2:01:00
Tenure; publications; technology; “how to” brochures; publishing the brochures
has become costly;
2:05:00
Awarding tenure; significance of the department’s executive committee;
2:06:29
Career post-tenure; national reputation; colleagues across campus; industry
problems in the state; products’ technology;
2:09:10
Range of work at extension; turkeys and other meat fowls;
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Louis Arrington #1377
2:10:30
Recent interest in organic farming; very small urban flocks;
2:11:47
More active in various organizations;
2:14:00
Family farms; some things are lost when the small farms disappear; lack of public
understanding; chickens and hormones; “factory chickens” vs. organic chickens;
2:19:44
End of first interview session
Second Interview Session (December 18, 2013)
CD #1:
0:00:52
Review of publications; UW-extension; new information for producers;
addressing issues not covered previously; testing for the presence of salmonella in
“show” birds; information also for those who were interested in starting a poultry
flock; helping them decide if their plans were feasible;
0:05:44
Fact sheet on dressing birds; consumer with a question would contact the county
agent before contacting the extension; today many of the larger operators have
technical specialists on their staff and thus have less need of the extension;
0:08:38
Several publications special for those “showing” birds; guide to vaccinations;
some benefit from “showing;” hobby sometimes;
0:11:30
Turkey management; turkey production in Wisconsin was concentrated in the
northwest corner of the state; turkeys could not be processed in the same facility
as chickens; a turkey processing plant in Barron; processed annually approx. 5
million turkeys;
0:16:00
The Jerome Family turkey company; started in 4-H; detail on how the Jerome
factory started; changes in the Jerome company; eventually sold out to Jennie-O
in Minnesota; then Hormel bought Jennie-O; still a few independent small
producers; Lou does not seen an increase in turkey production in Wisconsin;
0:21:00
Wild turkeys; history; started in the Americas; were taken to Europe; wild
turkeys were bred with domestic turkeys in the1920s and 1930s; breeding
problems; appearance of the processed bird; wild turkey flavor influenced by the
age of the turkey; DNR brought 350 wild turkeys from Missouri in 1973; have
increased to over 400,000;
0:29:42
Wild turkey work led to Lou joining the National Wild Turkey Federation;
promoted wild turkey art; Lou involved in starting the state chapter; Owen
Gromme; Lou led the effort to nominate Gromme for an honorary degree; not
supported by the Art Department; Gromme was in rehabilitation but was able to
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Louis Arrington #1377
receive the honorary degree from Shalala; Lou is proud of his work on securing
the degree for Gromme; Larry Meilor of WHA helped Lou in this effort;
0:40:48
Publications on artificial insemination; other less formal publications;
0:43:17
Scientific publications; bulk of significant publications were related to his thesis
work; time for research was limited as Lou was almost exclusively doing
extension work; reviews his various research efforts; papers presented at various
professional conferences;
0:47:50
The extension work was valuable and satisfying; had considered teaching and
research; now recognizes he made the correct decision to work in extension; Lou
has had a broad range of interests;
0:49:55
Art Mauer; background on him; came to UW-Madison in 1970; Art had a small
extension appointment; other detail on Art and his accomplishments;
posthumously, Lou nominated Art to be a Fellow in the Poultry Science
Association; succeeded;
0:56:00
Professional associations; Poultry Science Association since 1959; made
presentations; newsletter editor for the association; changed the newsletter; world
Poultry Science Association;
1:02:27
PSA did not have much of a national lobbying organization;
1:03:17
More on Lou in the PSA; secretary and treasurer; annual meetings and how
changed over time; first held at universities with strong poultry departments; UWMadison has hosted the meeting a couple of times in the 1990s; Lou became well
known nationally through his PSA work;
1:10:20
Consulting at other universities; more often at regional meetings; named a Fellow
of the PSA in 1998;
1:11:39
100th anniversary of the PSA in 2008; Lou became editor of the centennial book;
challenge to produce; description of what the book contained; a “coffee table”
book;
1:15:10
American Poultry Historical Society; collect literature for preservation in the
National Agricultural Library (outside of Washington, D.C.); also do a voice
library (much like oral history); description of who is chosen to be interviewed;
1:20:00
National Wild Turkey Association;
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CD #2 (December 18, 2013)
1:21:23
Wisconsin Institute of Food Technologists; products technology; not very active
in this;
1:22:40
Wisconsin International Poultry Club; exhibition birds; Lou does not do any
judging now;
1:26:00
Lou had the whole poultry program at the UW-Extension after John Skinner
retired; discussed his role with “The Kitchen” to help support the Wisconsin
International Poultry Club;
1:29:33
Bird and Game Breeders Association; Lou more in an advisory role; members are
mostly hobbyists;
1:31:45
Midwest Poultry Federation; Roy Munson; state conventions declining; led by
Minnesota poultry (turkey) leaders to create a regional meeting annually; how the
federation was created; first meeting was in 1972; founding states were
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa; Lou Secretary-Treasurer over 25 years;
eventually became the president of the federation; now 8 states and 14
organizations;
1:43:48
Midwest Poultry Consortium; industry leaders; concerned about getting new
people trained to work in poultry; led to the development of a summer program at
UW-Madison; description of how the program works; 18 years; over 500
students; scholarships; “has been a good program”;
1:54:00
Wisconsin Future Farmers of America Foundation; to raise money to support
FFA programs; to create awards at the state level; many more FFA projects being
done and entered in the competition for the state level awards; involvement of
Wally Jerome for the poultry proficiency competition; Lou received the state FFA
Honorary Degree in 1995 and then received the same award at the national level
in 1996; very significant recognition;
2:00:32
Closing of the Poultry Science Department in the mid-1990s; against it initially;
new dean was committed to combining poultry with animal science; budget
considerations; as people retired they were often not replaced;
2:06:00
Incoming students; with a “poultry preference”; still have poultry majors;
2:08:33
Department closing; was disappointed bit about it but also saw the inevitability of
it; impact of the closing on extension; Lou not replaced when he retired in 1998;
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2:12:30
Impact of poultry industry growth on the need for university departments of
poultry science; “difficult to say”; has seen a change over time in the areas of
research selected;
2:17:30
American increased consumption of poultry; impact on poultry science
departments;
2:21:31
Closing observations; at UW-Madison has been encouraged to pursue own
interests; inducted into the American Poultry Industry National Hall of Fame;
been well rewarded for what he has done; not ever seriously consider leaving
UW;
2:26:19
End of second interview session
End of interview #1377
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