—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 4, 1977
18
Dairy farming still looks good after 60 years
By DIETER KRIEG
JARRETTSVILLE, Md. ■
When a dairy had surplus
milk 60 years ago, there was
a simple solution for
bringing production back
into balance with sales. The
creamery merely kept the
dairyman’s cans, thus
leaving him without the
means to ship his milk.
Delaying or even entirely
omitting payments was
another way the dairies kept
farmers on thin ice. “They’d
really beat you,” says 84-
year old Ross Smith, who
began dairying near this
Harford County community
in 1913.
Happenings such as these
eventually led to the
formation of the Maryland
State Dairymen’s
Association, a forerunner of
Maryland Cooperative Milk
Producers, Inc. Farmers
were tired of being at the
dairy’s mercy. All across the
country, milk producers
were banding together to
form marketing
cooperatives.
Quality standards have
changed just as
dramatically, the veteran
dairy fanner recalled. He
remembers, for example,
once seeing a cat trapped in
a 200-gallon vat of cream.
Sanitation was almost
unheard of at both the dairy
as well as the farm. Some
farmers systematically
added a gallon of water to
every can of milk. Smith
says.
With respect to today’s
standards, the octogenarian
exclaims: “I don’t see how
they could have any
Zcx -. i NEE.. F F....M ULK MILK C LE..S
S
ra
Ross Smith
improvement on it.” His
youngest son, Ross Jr., who
took over the home farm 11
years ago, milks by pipeline.
Beginning next week, they’ll
be milking their 100
Holsteins in a brand new
parlor.
“It pays to be particular
for quality,” emphasized the
elder Smith, whose agility
and alertness defy his true
age. Having lived through
situations which saw the
dairy industry at its depths,
he has high praise for
modem dairying techniques
which stress sanitation and
'quality. The role of the milk
inspector is not overlooked.
In fact, Smith is glad for
them, admitting that without
them many farmers would
be less responsive to high
standards. Smith considers
high standards to be very
important if a viable milk
market is to be kept.
Back in the days when 15
gallons of milk represented a
day’s production from an
average shipper, rather than
from one exceptional cow,
the farmer took care of his
3
B
F>’
own milk deliveries. In
Smith’s case, milk was
hauled Vrt miles by horse
and buggy to a creamery at
Shawsville. The cream was
separated and churned into
butter. Skim milk went back
to the farmer to slop his hogs
with. There wasn’t much
need for fluid whole milk.
Smith says, since most every
family bad at least one cow.
“Bossie” provided them
with milk and butter in the
frdsbest sense of the word.
The Smiths milked around
20 cows back in 1913 when
automation hadn’t yet
reached the farm. Their
daily production of 15 gallons
compared well with other
operations of that era, just as
their present output of more
than 500 gallons per day
from 100 cows is significant
by today’s standards.
Milk was sold for about
$1.50 per hundredweight,
Smith recollected. With no
feed to buy and a diversified
farming operation
including vegetables -
providing their livelihood,
they made out alright. Now
the 180-acre farm is mainly
in com and hay. Although
the elder Smith was the
state’s top tomato grower 30
years ago, that phase of the
operation has been
abandoned since all but two
of Smith’s eight children
chose to specialize in the
dairy business. (See related
story elsewhere in this
issue).
As innovations marched
on, the old 5-gallon cans were
replaced .by 10-gallon cans,
and instead of the farmer
taking his own milk to town,
trucks came around to pick
them up. When weather
didn’t permit the trucks to
come through, farmers
again resorted to hauling
their own goods. In Smith’s
case that usually meant
hitching the team to a sleigh
and transporting the milk to
the nearest railroad depot
which was seven miles
away. Train service in those
days was hourly, the old
gentleman reminisced,
adding that it wasn’t entirely
(3
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a
done away with until
Hurricane Agnes ruined the
trackbed in June of 1972.
Dairying, like everything
else, is in a much different
stage now than what it was
The successful big businessman has always considered alt
areas of financing. One of these areas of financing is leasing
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a time to say ( "Thank you"
To the dairy farmers of this area, whom we know as friends, neigh
bors and customers, we say "Thank You” ... for supplying all of us
with the health-giving nutrition and delicious flavor of dairy
products ... for building farm income, improving business and
boosting our local economy.
Thank you, too, for the opportunity of serving you. We’re ready ...
with complete banking services for all your financial needs.
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• Personal Loans • Savings Accounts
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TWO CONVENIENT SOUTHERN LANCASTER COUNTY LOCATIONS
quarryville PHONE (717) 786-7337 pennhili
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ENOUGH TO KNOW YOU
when Smith was a young
man. He has since turned the
farm over to his son, and a
third generation stands
waiting in the wings.
They’ve all encountered
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different experiences. Their
common link in this much
changed world of dairying u
that all are interested in
milking cows, and they look
forward to a bright future
0p