Dale Thoreson reflects on his Extension career
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 03/01/2010 2:13 PM
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ALLISON, Iowa —As Dale Thoreson looks back over his career with Iowa State University Extension, he said most days were a joy to go to work.
"People can't ask for too much more than that," Thoreson said. "The opportunity to help people learn, and do that in agriculture has been fun."
Thoreson, 62, retired Jan. 31 after 36 years with Extension.
He grew up on a North Dakota wheat and dairy farm and attended North Dakota State University majoring in animal science with an emphasis on dairy. After graduation, he worked as a hog buyer for Hormel for six months until he entered the Army. After completing his military service, he received a master's degree from Oklahoma State University doing research on mastitis and dry cow therapy.
Thoreson became Butler County Extension director in 1973. When Extension reorganized in 1992, he took a job as a dairy, beef and swine specialist. After two years, someone else was hired for swine, but he continued working with dairy, beef and forage in 15 northeast Iowa counties until his retirement.
The 1980s were tough years.
"I told one of my Extension council members, if I had known when he hired me that I'd be dealing with the conditions we faced in the 1980s, I never would have taken the job," Thoreson said. "But these people were my friends and neighbors, and we had to figure out how to save their businesses and farms."
Working with rural associates, the Extension office ran 360 Farm Financial planning and Analysis software programs for farmers. Just one was for a farmer looking at expanding.
"The rest were in dire economic straits looking for options to get them through the trying times," Thoreson said.
Thoreson will miss the contact with people, the phone calls, farm calls and meetings.
"I enjoy teaching," he said.
He plans to do crop consulting with Kay Connelly's C8MP Ltd., and he hopes to be involved in the dairy industry. He's had calls from a feed company and from the DairyHerd Improvement Association. He owns a few cows with his brother and a Butler County farmer.
A big priority will be spending more time with family. He and his wife, Linda, have two grandchildren, Ryan and Emily. Their son, John, and his wife, Amy, live in Bettendorf. Their son, Mark, is doing post doctoral work in Germany.
Thoreson said that he's appreciative of all that Linda, his co-workers and volunteers have done for him.
"It will be a little difficult to not be quite as involved," Thoreson said. "But I look forward to doing other things. A home economist friend used to say, 'Life is made up of a circle, and you just move from one part of the circle to another, and there are pros and cons to each part.' "