A22—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 17,1982
Ardrossan Ayrshires are rich in history, No. 1 in the nation
BY DONNA TOMMELLEO
In pursuit of the wily fox. Colonel
Robert L. Montgomery galloped
across the rolling Deleware County
hillside. He urged his steed for
ward and gathered himself for an
oncoming fence.
Instead of the anticipated,
graceful vault, both Montgomery
and mount tumbled head over
heels before landing on the op
posite side. The horse galloped
away,' leaving the horseless
Colonel to his own devices.
Stranded, Montgomery surveyed
the countryside. Stirred by the
beauty of his surroundings,
Montgomery decided he would
build his home on that very spot. It
would be a home for his wife and
four children, a home that would
become the hub of a legacy that
continued long after the Colonel’s
death. The year was 1909.
Today, the large stone mansion
stands amidst 750 acres of prime
eastern Pennsylvania farmland
near Villanova. Philadelphia and
her adjoining suburbs push against
the farm’s borders, but have yet to
affect the land with “urban
overrun.” A most unlikely spot,
A lifelong animal lover, Hope Scott relaxes with one of her
four-legged friends. In addition to her likeable Shepherd, the
Scott household includes two loyal Whippets, small
Greyhound-type dogs.
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Chester Billheim, general manager at Ar- watches, here, as a first-calf heifer plies her
drossan, who began working for Scott about maternal instincts toward her newborn off
-30 years ago. attends dt all calvings. He spring.
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indeed, for a dairy. However, the
dairy spawned from Mon
tgomery’s toil has become an
agricultural institution, entirely
managed by Montgomery’s
daughter Helen Hope Montgomery
Scott.
Ardrossan Farm, a name
derived from a large city in
Scotland, is the home of the
nation’s leading Ayrshire herd.
And just as Ardrossan, Scotland
evolved from a small fishing
village, the development of
Montgomery’s Ayrshires also had
modest roots.
Hope Scott recalls the early days
of the Ardrossan herd. Her father
decided to milk the Scottish dairy
cattle because he thought their
milk, with naturally broken-up fat
globules, would benefit his small
children.
He brought nine Ayrshire cows
and one bull from Scotland in 1910,
she recounts. Upon reaching
America by ship, the cattle were
loaded onto a train and arrived at
Bryn Mawr station, where they
were unloaded and herded five
miles down Bryn Mawr Avenue.
“And from then on, we’ve never
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A tribute to commitment
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/es attt ,to the cupola date American Revolution. _ Scott’s office once
the aged stone barn to the 20th century, served as an overnight repose for George
However, many of the 40 buildings on the Washington.
Ardrossan estate have been stand 'since'
of norses runs. ip v . Scott as
does her admiration of Ayrshires. This
bought one female,” Hope Scott
explains. Subsequent matings
were drawn from carefully
selected outside bulls.
“We are very careful not to get
them inbred. We have the most
linebred herd in the United
States,” she notes.
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uprooi wooden carousel steed decorates
one of many rooms in the Scott home.
The present day herd includes
more than 30 cow families, and
Scott admits her line breeding
facilitates the sale of Ardrossan
bulls.
“It’s very popular now, because
I’m able to sell bull calves
anywhere.”
Not only has Ardrossan cattle
surpassed the state’s breed
average for milk production, but
the 125-head, “very wet” milking
string has been highly. com
petitive with all breeds in county
rankings.
“The herd has had an 18,000
pound herd average for the last
four months,” she offers.
But Hope Scott remembers well
a time when the Ardrossan Ayr
shires were gaunt and sickly and
produced about 6,000 pounds of
milk a year, a mere third of
today’s records. She remembers
those days extremely well because
they marked the beginning of her
33-year career as owner-manager.
She assumed control of the herd
in 1949 following the death of Col.
Montgomery. However, she
stepped into the role, not as a
seasoned cow woman, but as a
hard-working horse fancier. Nine
head of Ayrshires was not the only
livestock Col. Montgomery
transported across the Atlantic
Ocean.
“My father brought six mares
and a stallion from England in 1917
and my sister and I broke all the
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horses and their colts,” Scott
remarks.
“But then, when my father died,
somebody -had to take over the
herd. My brother was a
businessman, one sister was an
artist and the other was too much
of a horse woman.”
Scott admits that her station in
life was not that of a dairy
manager.
“Definitely, it was planned for
me to be a party girl and get
married to the right person, early.
Which I didj” she recalls. She is
currently in her 59th year of
marriage to retired stockbroker
Edgar Scott.
In fact, when the family debated
whether or not to change to beef
cattle, Edgar Scott suggested to
his wife that she accept the
challenge in dairy.
“Then I became fascinated. I
love the cows,” she says.
Before his death. Col. Mon
tgomery had been ill for 10 years,
an illness that drastically reduced
his activity with the herd. As a
result, the herd, which had grown
to 180 animals was an unthrifty
bunch. When the proverbial reins
passed from father to eldest
daughter, Hope Scott found she
had her work cut out for her.
“In the first place, I didn’t know
any of the terms. I didn’t know how
long an animal should milk. I
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