Farm Memories #5...Dairy Farming in the 1950's...

Once again, I have the privilege to share with you a story from a guest blogger...my father-in-law Lloyd!

He writes about what it was like to milk cows in the 1950's...in particular how the milk was stored and transported to the dairy.  Enjoy!

DAIRY FARMING IN THE 1950's

My father remodeled our barn in the early 50's, taking out the old wooden stalls and replacing them with metal stalls and all new concrete.  We had four short rows, with nine stalls in each row. (which we still have today)

Milking was done with Surge milkers...

These milkers had vacuum pulsators.  We could run three milkers.  When the electricity would go off, we would run the milkers with the tractor. (just like now, when the power goes off, we run our generator with a tractor)  This sure beat milking by hand!  My Mother was far better at hand milking than I was!

From the Surge milker, the milk was dumped into a bucket.  We then dumped the milk through a strainer, which sat on top of a milk can...

When finished, we would roll the cans to the milk house.  We cooled the milk by hoisting the cans into a cooler tank that was filled with water at 38 degrees.  Sometimes Dad would drop a couple of watermelons in too...a good summertime treat!  Those cans full of milk were heavy, so Dad rigged up a system where we could maneuver them into the tank ourselves, if he wasn't around to lift them for us.

After the morning milking was finished, we would load all the cans into our pickup truck and head for Lancaster city, where the Penn Dairy receiving plant was located.  

Dad would back the truck up to a conveyor.  The cans all had our farm identification number painted on them.  As the cans went up the conveyor, there was a gentleman who would knock the lid off each can and smell the milk.  It the milk didn't smell right, he would reject it and send it back to us. It was then fed to the calves, cats or chickens, or thrown away.  This didn't happen often!

After the milk was approved, it was dumped into a big tank, our milk cans were washed and loaded back up onto our truck, and home we went.  I always enjoyed this trip to the dairy.

Some years later, we put in a bulk tank on our farm.  This was quite a change!  We then put in a dumping station.  This is where the milk was dumped from each milker into a holding tank in the cow stable, and then pumped from there into the bulk tank by a glass line.  Our first tank was a 400 gallon Mojonnier Brothers bulk tank.  The milk truck came every day to the farm to pick up the milk.  

Eventually we put in a pipeline milking system, and the milk now goes directly from the cow to the milk tank without us having to lift the weight of the milk.  Who knows what changes are next?


I've included a few pictures of the bulk tank.  The first picture is of the original 400 gallon Mojonnier tank that Lloyd wrote about...

In 1995, Jim and I decided to put in a larger tank, to save on hauling charges. We are charged each time the milk truck picks up our milk, and by putting in this 900 gallon Mueller tank, we were able to have the milk truck come every other day, cutting our hauling charges in half.  The "new" tank soon paid for itself.

We bulk headed the tank, which means that rather than building a larger milk house, part of the tank remains outside, with the wall built around it.  The tank is well insulated, and the milk inside remains at a safe temperature, regardless of the weather.  The old tank was removed and the new one put in place between morning and evening milkings...

Project complete...

I hope you enjoyed the farm memories.  I love it when someone else does the writing for me!

Thanks Lloyd!

Happy 100th Birthday...

 Clearview Farm is celebrating 100 years this year!

  
The year 1912 has been painted at the peak of the barn roof as long as we remember...

That was the year that our house and barn were built, on fifty acres that once were part of a neighboring farm.  We don't have all the records, but we know that numerous families lived here before Jim's grandparents purchased the farm.  The original owner was a man with the last name of Weaver.


In the early 1940's, when Jim's dad Lloyd was six years old, his parents purchased and moved here to the farm.   (When we removed wallpaper in the kitchen in 2006, we found writing on the plaster wall that mentioned them buying the farm!)

When the family moved to the farm, Jim's Grandpa built the first silo.  This picture, which came from Jim's grandmother, has no date on it, but judging by the looks of the vehicles in the driveway, and the fact that there is only one silo, it must have been soon after they moved here...

This second picture, also from Jim's grandmother, was probably taken about ten years later.  Again, there is no date on the picture, but there is now a second silo at the corner of the barn.

Jim's grandparents made some structural changes to the barn...they enclosed the fore-bay to enlarge the cow stable...they added some box pens to the west side of the barn and they replaced the stalls in the cow stable.  They also built a milk house, where the milk was stored until it could be delivered to the dairy.  Those were the major structural changes that were made, and we haven't made too many more ourselves, other than add some feed bins inside the barn and put in some vents to help cool and ventilate the barn in the summer.


One major thing that has changed over the years, though, is the method in which the cows are milked, the milk stored, and how it is transported to the dairy.  I've asked Jim's Dad to write about that, so stay tuned for another story from a guest blogger...hopefully soon!



While things inside the barn haven't changed much, I do see a lot of things on these pictures outside the barn,  that have!  That white wooden fence around the garden area must have been fairly new then...it's the same fence that we just replaced with PVC a year ago!  The size of the garden is now much smaller!  and the tobacco shed below the garden is now gone...Jim remembers it blowing down in a storm when he was a boy. We've added a couple of outside storage sheds, a chicken coop, had the barn repainted two years ago, and of course there are trees in different places now...

I am fascinated by the huge beams inside the barn.  Apparently the original owner was involved in a lumber mill, had access to good quality materials, and built a solid structure.  There are a few places where you can see how wooden pegs were used instead of nails...
 

There were several ladders built into the hay mows...

I like this old latch on the granary door...

And the original barn roof is still in place...

I've written before about the barn roof...it's made with Peach Bottom Slate, a high quality slate that came from a local quarry.  A good quality roof that is kept in good repair can last a very long time!

The stories that could be told are endless...Jim's Dad grew up here...Jim has lived here almost all his life... and now our children are the fourth generation to live and work on this farm. While our farm might be "young" as compared to some in this area, I think it's fun to think about the last 100 years, hear some stories, and wonder about the stories that will remain untold..."Who lived here before?"..."Who drew those pictures in the granary?"..."What was that room in the attic used for?", etc.

Hopefully there will be many more stories to come!

Farm Memories #4...The Allis Chalmers D-17...

I had a fun surprise this morning!

retired farmer and "author"

My father in law walked into the barn around 6:30 and handed me a slip of paper with this story written on it.  I had asked him a few days ago if he'd write me another story about farm memories...this time about the Allis Chalmers D-17...and he came through again!  Thanks Lloyd!

                        A Story From A Guest Blogger...

 My father purchased this Allis Chalmers D-17 tractor in the late 1950's, when it was almost new...

Jim and Eric ( age 1...on the newly painted D-17) in 1997

It wasn't a big tractor, but I sure thought it was! The D-17 has about 55 horse power.  The Allis Chalmers tractors had a very quick governor, which means when it started working hard, the engine sped up quick as a wink.

Before the D-17, I plowed with a Ferguson TO30.  The D-17 pulled a three-bottom, 16" plow, which it pulled very well in corn stalk ground.  It had a snap coupler hook up, which pulled from the center of the tractor, which made the plow easier to pull...

Another unique feature the tractor had was a hand clutch that we called the "big stick", which had a high and low gear, with neutral in the center.  This made it easier for my wife Norma to drive.  She drove the D-17 to bale a lot of hay.  When she came to a groundhog hole, she would pop the big stick into neutral, and motion for me to drive around the hole for her.  I would say, "Just go slow!".   Norma would just smile at me and motion for me to drive around the hole!


The D-17 went from my father to me...and then I sold it to my son.  (Jim)  The D-17 is still running!   When I go back to the farm, I enjoy using it.  I have a lot of memories on it!

To sum it up, I really liked the tractor and so did Norma.  It was very easy to drive....

...although one day when I was very busy, I asked Norma, "Do you want to harrow, or put the cows out?"  Norma said, "I will harrow."  After some time, I saw her and the tractor, stopped at the far end of the field.  I thought, "What could be wrong?"  When she came in, I asked "What happened up there?"  Norma replied, "I just got sleepy and took a little nap!"

Better than hitting a tree!  :) 


*to see another thing we use the D-17 for, click  here.

*Linking to Farm Friend Friday and Farm Girl Friday !

Farm Memories #3...The Big Pull-Off"

I just got back tonight from a refreshing weekend away...scrapbooking at the beach with friends!  We got little sleep, but got lots of memories preserved, and now it's time to think about getting back to work!


Speaking of memories...here's another story from Jim's Uncle Ray...more memories from life on the farm ...



"The Big Pull-Off"

We neighbor boys were very Patriotic to our farm tractors!

We had a Farmall Super H with big rear tires.  Our neighbors had an Allis Chalmers WC.

One time I challenged them to a pull-off to see which tractor was best...

The "H" was higher on the drawbar, so by using a short chain, I was able to lift some weight off of the "WC".  We started our pull on the road in front of our house. We hooked the tractors together with a chain back to back.  We put both tractors in low gear with one half throttle.  After the chain tightened, the "H" easily out pulled the "WC" !"

the mighty "H"



When we started farming, Jim used the "H" every day to pull the manure spreader.  However, several years into farming, we needed to purchase another spreader.  The new spreader had an end gate which was operated by hydraulics, and the hydraulic system on the "H" wouldn't operate the end gate.  So...Jim had to park the "H" and use the "M" for spreading manure instead.

Jim would have liked to keep the tractor, but in reality, we had no good place to store it.  So, regrettably, we sold the tractor several years ago.

We hope the new owner is getting enjoyment from that good old tractor!

Farm Memories #2...Rex the Intelligent Collie...



Uncle Ray


Once again, I've enlisted some help from others who have memories of this farm...long before I ever came into the picture!

 Jim's Uncle Ray, who grew up on this farm, has lots of stories to tell of life on the farm, and has written a couple of them down for me.  This is the story of Rex, the Intelligent Collie...

"Our farm had a large Collie farm dog named Rex.  We taught him to ride on wagons and on the truck, which he enjoyed.  Our brother-in-law Ira bought a small motorcycle, and I thought we could teach Rex to ride on it with us!  He really enjoyed riding the motorcycle, and never fell off.  This picture shows him ready to go for another ride...



This is Jim's Dad Lloyd on the motorcycle with Rex, ready to go for another ride.  The picture was taken by Uncle Ray, when both he and Lloyd were still single and living at home.

 



We could go anywhere on the farm. 

One day, I decided to take him for a ride to Strasburg on the road.  As we were going south on Hartman Bridge Road, the people in the cars coming toward us could only see the dog, with his paws on the handle bars.  They couldn't see me sitting behind him, and they pulled over and stopped until we were past!"

What fun memories from long ago....they're even better when heard being told in person, and I'm so glad Uncle Ray found a picture of Rex on the motorcycle to go along with the story! 

Thanks, Uncle Ray for the trip down memory lane!

And by the way...for those of you who wondered what we named Lazarus' calf...her name is PATTY!    Some of you guessed Biblical names to go along with Lazarus, but we just couldn't resist...because she was born on St. Patty's day!  :)

Farm Memories #1...the Ferguson TO 30...

This is the time of year when we're in a bit of a holding pattern on the farm.  The daily chores need to be done of course...milking, feeding, milking, feeding, milking, feeding...but nothing too exciting.  So while we're waiting for full blown spring to arrive (and it IS just around the corner), I thought I'd gather some memories from life on this farm from some guest bloggers.

A few days ago,  I asked my father in law if he would write a story for my blog about one of his old tractors.  He sounded intrigued but reluctant.  I didn't push, and figured that he would just forget about it.  Imagine my surprise and delight this morning when I walked into the barn, and he handed me a piece of paper!  Here is the first intstallment of stories from guest bloggers about life on "our" farm...


"The Ferguson TO 30"


My father in law on the old Ferguson TO 30, on the day he sold it -2010

 "This tractor was desgined in England by a man named Harry Ferguson.  He also developed the first 3-point hitch . Ford later purchased the 3-point concept.

The Ferguson that I had, my Father purchased slightly used in the early 1950's.  It had three speeds in each of it's four gears, plus three speeds in reverse.

We used the TO 30 to plant tobacco, because it went real slow in first gear, low.  I also used it to plow (with a two-bottom plow), rake hay and load manure.  It had a Sauder loader (made in New Holland) that was very quick to take on and off.

When I would plow, for entertainment, I would drive over the soft, plowed ground and let the clutch out quick.  The front end would rear up and land softly on the plowed ground.  I had alot of fun with this tractor!

The TO 30 was very fast on the road...but one humbling experience was when I got into a road race with a young Amish boy in his buggy.  To make a long story short, I simply got beat!  He had a very fast horse!

I have many memories with this tractor.  The tractor got sold locally, so I still see it from time to time!"

Thanks, Lloyd, for a trip down memory lane!