The establishment of the Bordens Condensed Milk Factory in Howell, just before the turn of the century, marked the beginning of a new era in Livingston County.
Shorthorn beef had become a major source of income. The railroad enabled the farmer to ship his product cheaply and easily. In addition to the beef cattle, a farmer often had a herd of Jerseys, because of the high butter fat content of the milk. After separating out the cream, the skim milk was often fed to calves and pigs. The cream was churned into butter and traded in town for groceries or sold. Now with a handy, ready market for milk the cattle one saw in the fields changed from beef to the black and white Holstein milk producer.
Enterprising men traveled to Holland, in the old country, and brought back thoroughbred, registered Holstein cattle with a reputation as milk producers. The bulls were cross-bred with local cattle and in a few years the county became known as the foremost market for Holstein cattle. Buyers from all over the U.S. came to buy cows and bulls at the sales arena in Howell.
The farmer now had a nearby market for surplus cows. Several neighbors combined their saleable stock and drove them to the market; five or six men herding them along the way and out of other farmers fields.
The Registered Holstein Breeders Association held regular auctions. Out of state buyers made their selections from approximately 100 head, paying up to $1,200/$1,500. each; averaging $400/$500. A very good price in those days. Bill Pless Uncle Freeman Fishbeck was known as a pedigree expert of Holstein and Shorthorn cattle. Buyers often requested his aid in locating and selecting good buys.
To convert to dairy farming involved many changes. Farmers found that besides the different breed of animals they also needed to convert their farms; the method farming; their equipment. The very manner in which they had been conducting their enterprise was altered. In addition, the procedure in connection with the cooling and storing of milk and the manner of shipment of the product called for changes.
Whole milk, a bulky product, presented a problem; how to get the milk from the farm, 8-10 miles out in the country, to the factory in Howell? Milk routes stretching every direction from the factory were established and a new business came into existence.
These milk routes were operated by people like George Taylor. He lived in Brighton Township on the west side of Old 23, north of Hyne Rd. One of the routes covered North Brighton before reaching Grand River in Genoa Township and then on to Howell.
George furnished a wagon and horses and hired drivers who worked a 12 hour day. Depending on the distance from the factory, Taylor was paid about 10 cents per can. The wagon box held 40 ten gallon milk cans. A shelf-like arrangement held four cans on each side of the wagon. High above the front wheels were two shelves which held three cans each. A fully loaded wagon carried 54 cans. At 100 pounds each can the payload reached 5400 pounds. The weight of the wagon, box and drivers cab brought the gross vehicle weight near 7000 pounds. Each can was lifted about 3 feet up into the wagon.
Two horses normally were expected to pull this load. Keep in mind the country roads of the day were not the roads to which weve become accustomed, not even the narrow, gravel ones. When roads were really poor (during the spring thaw or heavy rains) an extra team was hitched up, or the load was placed on two wagons. Extra wagons were usually put into use on Monday mornings because of the previous weekends milkings, which were not picked up on Sunday.
Upon arrival at the milk factory the driver lined up with other wagons coming in from other routes. Approximately 30 wagons arrived each morning with cans of milk. A large container, mounted on scales, was at the top of inclined rollers. The driver unloaded the cans of milk and the factory workers dumped and weighed the milk. It then was put through a pasteurization and evaporation process before being preserved in tin cans for shipment to world markets. The empty cans were steam cleaned and the driver again loaded them onto the wagon.
From his tin pail the driver retrieved his lunch and from the wagon the team received their oats and hay. After lunch the return trip began; again stopping at each farm leaving the cleaned cans at the proper destination in time for the next milking. Each had been purchased by the farmer and had his name on the copper strips soldered to the can and its lid.
In order for him to accomplish this days labor the driver rose at 4 am. and fed the horses so theyd have time to eat before starting out. The milk hauler certainly earned his pay of $20 per month and board. Sometimes the schedule enabled Bill Pless to hitch a ride to school on the milk wagon. (The Charles Pless farm was half way between Euler and Kellogg Roads on the north side of Grand River at the time, c. 1915.)
The temperature of milk, as it comes from the cow, is normally about 100 degrees F. To prevent souring it must be cooled quickly. Farmers selling milk built tanks deep enough to bring cold water high on the cans. Water, as it comes from the ground, averages about 55 F. Often an extra well was dug which served the cooling tank in the milk house.
To keep the milk cool on the trip to the milk factory during hot weather the driver of the milk wagon covered the cans with a thick burlap blanket. This hed wet in the cold water from the farmers cooling tank. Conversely, during the winter the blanket was used to keep the milk from freezing. It was a hard way to make a living but people were accustomed to hard work, small pay and profit in those days.
The milk hauler also occasionally served as an errand boy and would make purchases for people on his route to be delivered on the return trip. To show appreciation the farmers wife often had a hot cup of coffee and piece of cake waiting for him. He was also often the bearer of local news in those per radio days.
Another local milk hauler was Clarence Taylor, whose picture is here. Hes taking milk to the creamery in Brighton which stood on N. First Street between Cedar and Chestnut.
By the end of the 19th Century, the size of a farmers diary herd was limited by the size of the barn, how much feed he could grow, the number of acres of pasture available and how many cows, he, his family and hired help could milk (by hand) twice a day.
We find that gasoline engines were used for lighting, powering milking machines, etc., by 1913 in Livingston County. This enabled a dairy herdsman to increase the number of milking cows, and therefore, the amount of milk sent to the creamery, condensing factory or milk distribution centers.
The advent of refrigerated railroad cars in the first two decades of the 20th Century came about as a result of the insulation of railroad cars and the gas engine powered compressors. For a time dairy products were shipped from Brighton by rail to Detroit and other urban centers.
In order to assure that the milk purchased in the city was clean and pure many regulations related to cooling, pasteurizing, cleanliness and sanitation were imposed. Animals were tested frequently for tuberculosis, undulant fever, etc. As with most governmental regulations not all of these were accepted wholeheartedly.
After WW I trucks replaced the horse drawn wagons which had picked up the milk cans from the farm. (Huge stainless steel tankers do the job now.)
By the mid 1930s electricity was extended from the towns out to the rural areas of Livingston County. Now the farmer could shut down that gasoline driven compressor, which was a continual source of concern because of the possibility of a fire.
In Brigthon, in 1941, the Detroit Creamery moved into a new building on the S.W. corner of N. Second and Advance Streets. Here the milk was tested, cooled and the cream separated. The skim milk was sold to the farmers as feed for calves and pigs . The cream was churned to butter and shipped to distribution points. Whole milk was also shipped from here for a time. (This previous location was on N. First between Cedar & Chestnut.) A. J. Southwell, Marie Borst, Fred Richmond, Eldred Bebee worked for the Detroit Creamery in various positions.
Sixty and more years ago farms had less acreage and a more diversified product; Grains, hay, livestock, beans potatoes, wool, apples and milk provided the income. The economy of the area was entirely dependent on the outside money farmers earned. It used to be said, If you cant do anything else, farm. However farms are now several hundred acres in size. Most are specialized and the equipment used much good knowledge of chemistry, animal genetics, animal and plant disease and be an amateur meteorologist. The wisdom required by the financier, agronomist and mechanic is no stranger to a successful farmer. The consideration of diversification into other profit making venture, to create additional income and soil conservation are also contemplated by todays farmer.
For a dairy farmer bulk milk tanks became the way to go during the 1950s. Discarding the milk cans, which had been in use for over 50 years, Livingston County Farmers were installing huge stainless steel containers. The milk now flows directly from the milking machine on the cow into the tanks where it is quickly cooled. The cleanliness of the product is increased since there is no exposure to the air.
The spread of undulant fever (a long-persisting bacterial disease characterized by an undulating or remittent fever, profuse perspiration, pain and swelling in the joints and an enlarged spleen; transmitted especially through milk ..Websters Collegiate Dictionary, 5th edition.) has been reduced to an almost not existent level because of pasteurization and an improved criterion of cleanliness in the dairy process. C. 1940 this disease was wiped out of Livingston County when the county health department and the County Government, after persistent lobbying by Fred Catrell, passed on ordinance which required the pasteurization of all milk sold in Howell. (Everyone selling milk sold it in Howell.) Presently all milk products, sold commercially, can be consumed without risk to ones heath from undulant fever, rheumatic fever, T.B. etc., because of the strict regulations which must now be observed.
Artificial insemination, practiced by most dairy farmers in the county, also reduces spread of disease which might be present in a barn yard since cows and bulls are not moved from one farm to another for breeding.
Depending on the number of milking cows in a herd at a given time, a stainless steel tanker is driven to the dairy farm each 24-48 hours and after testing for purity, draws off the milk which has been accumulated by the farmer. These tankers, ranging in size from 15,000 to 20,000 gallons (8.8# per gallon), transport the milk to a distant milk processing facility. Much of the milk produced in the county is delivered to the Michigan Milk Depot in Plymouth.
It is obvious many changes have taken place in the farming business in the county. In 1967 there were 284 dairy farmers, by 1971, 191. In 1994 that total is down to 32. Already in 1967 there were no dairy farms in Green Oak and Brighton Township. Most dairy farms are now found in the northern tier of townships. Herd size has also changes. Ranging from 20-500 head they average 96 head of cattle up from an average of 30 in 1960. The need of costly equipment is there whether for 30, 60 or 100. Simple economics decrees that the more cattle the lower the unit cost. The capital investment involved in starting any farming business precludes all but those who are bequeathed a farm by parents. As more people move into the area the farm finds his land assessed at higher rates. Most find it financially unfeasible to continue.
Perhaps to ensure that a farmers life is not without a few disturbing features, Mother Nature stirs the pot. One such time was March 1973. A severe snow storm closed roads for days and caused some to lose electrical power. Unless one had a generator handy, this was a double whammy. Without electricity cows had to be milked by hand (They must be milked regularly); dozens of them. However, after all that work, the milk had to be dumped for several days until the tanker could get through to pick it up. Nor could the milk be properly cooked or pumped from the bulk tank to the milk truck. Even those who had power to continue normal milkings (2-3 times daily) also had to dump several milkings down the drain because of the snow blocked roads.
On the lighter side; the story is told of the old farmers who hoarded his milk checks, not cashing them for several months. This bothered the bookkeeper at the milk factory when he balanced his accounts, but the farmer wouldnt respond to his appeals. A neighbor heard about it and told the bookkeeper he could get him to cash them because the farmer listened in on the party telephone line. That neighbor and another reigned a conversation. Have you cashed your milk check yet? No. You better not waste time, because I heard in town that the factory might not have the money in the bank for all the checks. The old farmer was waiting at the bank door before it opened the next morning.
Compiled from Michigan Memorabilia by Bill Pless; Practical Home Veterinarian, 1913, David Roberts, DVS: interviews with Mary Taylor, Clarence Taylor, AJ. Southwell, Alice Newcomb, Fred Catrell and John Leech, County Agricultural Agent. Also newspaper articles by Andrew and Claudine Jackson and Duane Girbach.