User:Svbaker/sandbox/Dr. Lyle Baker

Dr. Lyle Baker was a veterinarian that advanced the cause of animal nutrition, especially in dairy cattle. He was the founder of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners in 1965, and author of the book "Bovine Health Programming", published in 1969.

Early Years
He was born in Woodhull, New York in 1921, and was descended from early Rhode Island settlers Rev. Thomas Baker (founder of the Six Principle Baptist Church) and Roger Williams on his father's side, Hosea Rockwell and Robert Seelye on his mother's side. He was the 6th generation of Baker dairy families, traceable to the Daniel Baker dairy in Laurens, New York, founded in 1791. .  After graduating with a degree in Animal Husbandry from Pennsylvania State University in 1942, he was drafted into the United States Air Force and trained as a B-24 Liberator copilot. In July 1943, his plane went down over Hungary during a bombing run to Vienna, and he and one other survivor subsequently spent close to a year in Stalag Luft III before being liberated by the allies in April 1945. After the war, he attended Cornell Veterinary School on the G.I. Bill, obtaining his degree in 1949.

Career
As a veterinarian, Dr. Baker was the founding partner in three veterinary practices, the first being in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania in 1949, the second Lander Veterinary Clinic in Turlock, California in 1950, and the third Hilmar Animal Hospital in 1968.

Around 1960, he became interested in the nutritional needs of dairy cattle, as at the time modern Animal Husbandry practices had created high milk producing animals that often suffered from metabolic disorders such as ketosis, and calcium deficiency. Dr. Baker, along with other pioneering veterinary physicians and nutritionists, developed balanced feed rations that helped prevent these metabolic disorders, and became the basis for the modern dairy industry. To advance these ideas, Dr. Baker founded the American Association of Bovine Practitioners in 1965, and wrote "Bovine Health Programming", in addition to numerous speeches and articles in Veterinary Economics and other American Veterinary Medical Association journals. He was also a friend and associate of Dr. James Wight (pen name James Herriot, author of "All Creatures Great and Small") for many years. Dr. Baker also helped train over 30 veterinary students, both foreign and domestic, through his large animal practice. Some of his dairy client base went on to form the Hilmar Cheese Company, a few years after Dr. Baker's tragic death in an automobile accident in 1981.