New technology meets old by Chris Judd

Each year we are faced with new technological breakthroughs that eventually we have to accept, reject or adopt.
Automobiles were a rich man’s hobby until Henry Ford developed the assembly line to produce Model T’s that a working man could afford. Electricity put the coal oil lamp manufacturers out of business. The electric refrigerator sent the ice man looking for another profession, but soon we had to eat leftovers.
The arrival of a new electric milking machine allowed my grandma to retire from hand-milking half the cow herd night and morning. The introduction of the tractor and combine during wartime allowed more work to be done by less farmers and left more men to go to fight.
Artificial insemination of animals allowed wider spread use of the best genetics and faster advancements in milk, meat, and egg production. We still see bulls widely used on beef farms where they take great interest in their job and do it automatically with little or no supervision.