A2O-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, April 19,1986
Born
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
VILLANOVA - The year was
1910. And in the village of Bryn
Mawr, on the outskirts of
Philadelphia, a freight train pulled
into the station. In a short time, a
group of Ayrshire cattle was
herded from a boxcar and out into
the street.
It was near the end of the long
journey for these traveled cows.
They had earlier been driven from
barns at Ardrossan, Scotland, and
loaded onto a ship headed for
America. When the ship finally
docked at its destination, the cattle
had then been transferred to the
freight boxcar for the next leg of
their journey.
Local residents Colonel Robert
L. Montgomery and John Valen
tine had waited with eager an
ticipation for the arrival of their
red and white bovine purchases.
With plenty of hands to help with
the herding, the cattle were
directed down Bryn Mawr’s main
street and the remaining five miles
to where soft straw beds, grassy
hay and sturdy southeast Penn
sylvania fieldstone bams awaited
their arrival.
Nine of those cows and a young
sire named White Robin went to
the rolling estate pastures of Col.
Montgomery. The son of a lawyer,
and one of 11 children, Col. Mon
tgomery had served the country
through both the Spanish-
American War and World War. He
was a production-side aviation
specialist and a flier, whose in
terests ranged from the technology
of autogyro flying machines to
breeding fine cattle and horses.
It was the latter interest that had
initiated the shipment of Ayr
shires. About the same time, Col.
Montgomery had also imported six
three-quarter-bred Irish mares
and a Thoroughbred stud. Before
long, Colonel Montgomery’s three
daughters were kept busy
breaking and training the young
horses.
Progressive thinking marked the
agricultural philosophy of Col.
Montgomery, who had as a civilian
become a successful investment
broker. Diseases ran rampant
through herds of domestic
livestock, and Col. Montgomery
wire pens which are moved every two weeks for cleaning and
disinfecting.
The main dairy barn, of picturesque stone with decorative
cupola, is a focal pojnt of the National Ayrshire Convention
tour to Ardrossan Farms.
in Scotland and raised in America
was determined to protect his
horse and cattle herds.
In his farsightedness, he had
purchased land which included
many springs of fresh, clear water.
Knowing that diseases could be
transmitted by other animals
drinking from upstream, Col.
Montgomery ran all water
crossing his property, but
originating elsewhere, through
underground piping systems. Only
water originating on his property
was used. k
It was a strategy that may have
paved the way.toward establishing
Ardrossan as a bastion of Ayrshire
breeding. John Valentine’s cows
all died, primarily to that dreaded
scourge of cattle, tuberculosis. Of
Col. Montgomery’s original
Ayrshire imports, only one was
lost.
“Father had very pronounced
ideas about health requirements.
No animal that left the property
could ever come back,” relates the
daughter of the Ayrshire importer,
Mrs. Hope Montgomery Scott. She
and her husband, Edgar, have
continued the family’s Ayrshire
cattle breeding.
In fact, under the Scott’s
direction, Ardrossan Farms has
developed in production and type a
herd considered by many in the
industry as the top Ayrshire
breeding operation in the United
States.
Today, the 115-head herd has a
rolling average of 19,533 milk and
805 fat. And production continues
to climb, with the breaking of the
20,000-pound herd average barrier
a real possibility for the first time
in Ayrshire breed history.
Ayrshire breeders from across
the country, attending the National
Ayrshire convention this week at
Grantville, will tour Ardrossan
Farms. They’ll visit this out
standing herd of cattle, view the
picturesque rolling hills and
pastures and enjoy a picnic on the
spacious lawn of the estate’s main
house.
But record-setting production
and type were not always the
hallmark of this herd. Had it not
been for the interest of Mrs. Scott,
a vital part of Ayrshire history
might have been lost.
The Ardrossan herd has
Ardrossan Ayrshires
These are the nine original cows at Ardrossan Farms
Scotland. They were the foundation for the herd that is on
pound herd average.
basically been developed through a
line-breeding philosophy, coupled
with the genetics of outcross sires
blended with herd bloodlines to
maintain strengths and upgrade
developing faults. In those early
years, new sires continued to be
imported from top Scottish
breeders. Later, as more domestic
herds developed outstanding stock,
top bulls were acquired from
across the country.
About 1921, a fire destroyed the
bam where the Ardrossan herd
was housed. Animals were moved
across the hill to the site where
they are still tended in
meticulously-kept stanchion
bams.
Years later, Col. Montgomery’s
health was faltering and he had
experienced strokes. Herd quality
and production were declining.
Mrs. Scott had grown up helping
with the family’s horses, and had
taken an interest in the cattle
somewhat, as well.
“I just like all animals,” she
smiles. Her father didn’t
necessarily agree with her
girlhood interest in the herd.
“He told me that was not for a
woman to do,” adds Mrs. Scott.
In 1948, when she began working
in earnest with the Ardrossan
herd, an Ayrshire friend who
looked over the cattle called them
“the most neglected herd he’d ever
seen.”
The herd of 180 head was then
producing a yearly average of
6,000 pounds mUk and 307 pounds of
fat.
“I really didn’t know where to
turn for help,” Mrs. Scott recalls.
“But I decided that if a cow hadn’t
made 7,000 pounds after three
lactations, she would have to go.
The first time one produced over
500 pounds of fat I was staggered.”
After just two years under her
direction, the herd average had
doubled. And, by 1950-51, Ar
drossan Farms had become the
first certified TB and Brucellosis
free herd in the nation.
She is quick to offer credit to
others. Dr. Ernest Duebler, a
veterinarian who had helped care
for her father’s herd, and his son
James, were among her early
advisors. “He urged me to make
up a book of the cow families, in
addition to the other cattle records
I was keeping. And I was still
continuing to break horses as
well.”
Her husband also earns Mrs.
Scott’s praise for his support and
interest, as does her brother. In
fact, it was Mr. Scott who insisted
that “you must have a good bull."
“And it was at a time when we
had been losing a thousand dollars
a month on the herd; pretty soon I
was doubling that monthly loss,”
she laughs. But, that was because
equipment all needed upgrading
and bam repair work done.
Temperament of the herd left
something to be desired, too, she
relates. Some of the cattle were so
Herdsman Heinz Meilke is especially proud of Ardrossan
RC More Sun. She was number in the nation for her age,
making a 2-6 305-day lactation of 22,870 milk, 4.4 test, and
1015 fat.
high-strung that at milking time,
their back legs were sometimes
secured from kicking by a string
tied to the leg and fastened to a
stall across the center alleyway.
Then, Homerun Martyr moved
in with the herd. This first out
standing herd sire provided solid
breeding foundation stock to help
upgrade the Ardrossan bloodlines.
He was followed by Blackwood
Warbeau, acquired from breeder
Cuthbert Naim. Interestingly,
Naim had been among those on
hand in 1910 to help move the
original nine Ayrshire cows down
the Bryn Mawr streets to the
Montgomery bam.
A third foundation sire at Ar
drossan was Reidina Double
Dawn, loaned from veterinarian
Dr. Deubler. An outstanding bull
for both milk and fat, Double Dawn
sired the first 20,000-pound
producer in the Ardrossan herd.
Goals at Ardrossan have con
tinued leading toward im
provement of production and type.
That these goals are being met are
evidenced by the five top herd
producers up for association
recognition for records of over
25,000, and the 27 Excellents and
many Very Good individuals in this
yo ig _ pec ... poc
banner bearer of the future. Many Ardrossan herd sons have
gone into Al use in Canada.
that were imported from
the threshold of a 20,000
herd brimming with size, strength
and outstanding udders.
Success of the herd has been
largely built on the foundation of
deep-pedigreed, homebred cow
families. Coupled with that is the
dedication, management abilities,
and cow breeding “sense” of Mrs.
Scott and her intensely-loyal and
hardworking staff.
An incredible amount of respect
is evident between employees and
employer at Ardrossan. Mrs.
Scott’s appreciation of her staff is
obvious, and they are equally
quick to credit her for her
knowledge and dedication to the
herd.
“Without Mrs. Scott, this
wouldn’t happen,” they say, ad
ding that this admiring and
respectful relationship between
staff and owner carries over to the
calm demeanor of this herd.
Farm manager is Chet Billhime,
who’s been at Ardrossan for 28
years. In addition to his farm
management responsibilities, he
helps milk the herd, freshens out
all the cattle, and with his wife
Helen, raises all the calves from
weaning age to about six months.
Heinze Mielke has been the dairy
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