Dairies
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We are going to discuss the dairy industry in the state of Pennsylvania. We'll follow the economy from about 1840 when it was a basically a home enterprise headed up by women on the farm through its development into an organized commercial industry almost completely dominated by men. We start when the early retail sales of farm products were mainly butter and cheese with almost no sales of fluid milk. During the early years, several developments contributed to the dairy industry. Emperor Napoleon III asked Louis Pasteur in 1864 to investigate the diseases afflicting wine which were causing economic losses to the wine industry. Pasteur demonstrated that wine diseases are caused by microorganisms that can be killed by heating the wine to 140° F for several minutes. Applied to beer and milk, the process of "pasteurization" soon came into use throughout the world. Pasteur's discovery that most infectious diseases are caused by germs became the foundation for the science of microbiology. Other developments leading to improvements in the dairy industry included the invention of the first continuous milk separator by DeLaval of France in 1879 and the development of a cheap and efficient method of determining the butterfat content of milk by S. B. Babcock in 1892. We'll make a cursory examination of several breeds of cows, and we'll look at all of the dairies that operated in Columbia County before we finish, thanks to the research that Brian Bower, Jonestown, put into the subject as a result of his passion for collecting milk bottles. The dairy animal in the state dates to animals that were usually categorized as "scrubs," meaning animals of unknown breeding, sometimes known as "native breeds." Dairy animals known as "grades" had a smattering of purebred blood, usually coming from the sire's side. Most early dairy animals were used for the production of dairy products as long as possible, then the animal was turned into beef. Purebred stock was rare. The Shorthorn, sometimes called a Durham-Shorthorn, was the first breed to become popular for dairying, more of a source of power on the farm than as a producer of milk or beef. The State Agriculture Society's 1870 exhibition was mostly animals of this breed. For months we have had
a picture of one of these animals setting on the debris that is our
desk, but now that we need it we can't locate it. The picture was taken
in front of the former Hotel Exchange and showed a Durham pulling a
cart with two people in it. We suspect this would be a good time to
take a break from what we are doing. When we stopped writing yesterday we were on the subject of the Durmans or what we now know as "Shorthorns." These cattle were occasionally used as draft animals at the turn of the century and there are several pictures on this web site where people in Benton, like Percy Brewington and others, are being pulled in carts by a Durham. Brother Dayne remembers that on Grandfather Harry Kline's farm (in later years referred to as the Raymond Baker farm, now owned by Miles Little) there were two Durham cows, carryovers from his Grandfather's farming days. Other animals within the county included the Holstein-Friesian (a black and white animal with a weight in the 800 pound class), Guernseys, and very limited numbers of Dutch-Belted (a black cow with a white "belt" around its middle, promoted in this country by P.T. Barnum), Herefords, Red Polled (a red cow originally found along the west coast of Norway, a short-legged and small-boned, relatively efficient milk yielder for its size), Jerseys, and Ayershires. The predominant cows in the last 50 years are the Holsteins, followed by the Guernseys. The president of the United States Bank of Philadelphia, Nicholas Biddle, purchased the first cow known to be a pure Guernsey that was shipped to the United States. She was purchased from the island of Guernsey where "only the world-famous breed of Guernsey dairy cow is allowed." The animal cost $500. A writer in the Farmers' Cabinet in 1841 described the Guernsey as a "peculiarly thin and disreputable-looking breed of cattle. The article stated that there was but "little as a covering to her bones, it was in vain to endeavor to put it there, for it would not stay, running all into butter--the more food is given, the more milk will be received." The Jersey, Guernsey, Holstein, Ayrshire, and Brown Swiss displaced the general purpose Shorthorn and Devon starting about 1880. The Devon disappeared when no longer needed as oxen. The Jersey and Guernsey gained popularity in the state, but as milk become the main outlet for Pennsylvania dairies, Holsteins leaped to the top.
Two cows were standing next to
each other in a field. Daisy said to Dolly, "I was artificially
inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," said
Dolly. "It's true, no bull. For
a list of the Columbia County Dairy milk bottlers to to |
