Dairy Farming By Grace Krick

Dairy Farming Dairy farming was very important in the late 1800s. Dairy farms produced food like cheese and milk. Dairy farming also blessed families with good, healthy lives.

Typical Farm The typical farm in the late 1800s was between twenty and fifty acres with about 4 cows. On the farm would be a house and a shed or barn. On the rest of the land there would be crops, some of which would be used for feeding the cattle.

Typical Day On a typical day on a dairy farm, the farmer would milk feed the cattle in the morning at five or six. They would milk them again in twelve hours. Their children would help with the chores. During the summer day the farmers and their kids would raise their crops. In the winter they would not have to plant; but they would milk and feed their cows and deal with the harsh weather. They would keep, sell, or trade their product.

Machinery On the farms they could use mechanic equipment like the Metallic Spring Tooth Sulky Horse Hay Rake which was as horse drawn rake. Also they used the Kirby Self Rake which could be pulled by two mules to show how effortless it was. Another machine they could have used was the Corn and Cob Mill which had rollers that would grind the corn into meal for humans and animals.

Dairy Products The milk that the farmers get from the cows can be used for milk, buttermilk, butter, ice cream and cheese. It could also be made into dried milk so it can last longer. It can also be used for glue and can be made into a plastic material to be used for buttons and combs. It is also be added to baby food.

Farming It was very hard for the farmers back then because they didn’t have the conveniences that we have now. They didn’t have the machines to milk the cows so they had to milk them by hand. Even so they worked very hard on what they did.

Summary Dairy Farming in the late 1800’s was very important because it gave people products like milk and cheese. Also it provided families with good, health lives.

Sources Farm Machinery of the i86o's in Minnesota, 4/v24i04p pdf 4/v24i04p pdf Post Civil War Farm Equipment, History of agriculture in the United States, _United_States _United_States Britannica Junior Encyclopedia, volume 5, Dairying, p. 3- 6