Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1924-11-20
DAIRY GROWTH
ALADDIN LIKE

commissioner Of Wisconsin, on
Wednesday at the regular lunch
con Of the Kiwanis club. told a
wonderful story of the develop
ment of Wisconsins dairy indus
try. Mr.. Emery came to Dane
county in 1916, when this was
still a territory, and has passed
through all the stages of the
states development He spoke
with surprising vigor, holding his
hearers with keenest interest. He
has had long experience in public
life, having been state superinten
dent Of public instruction for four
years, an1 III his present Office
for q long 2tliod.
Mr.. Emery said in part:
Tie beginnings of dairyhs in
Wisconsin were individualistic
and empirical The time was the
pioneer stage until about 1873.
The place Xas the pioneer FARMS.
The personalities were the piOne2:
farm woman and her husband.
The cow was the ordinary native
The dairy barn was the straw
stack. The feed was straw aid
marsh hay in winter and the wild
grasses in summer The dairy
house, creamery, cheese factory,
cOndena ary or receiving station
was the pioneer farm kitchen, well
and cellar. The buttermakh n or
cheesemaker was the pioneer far
mcr's wife. Her helpers were ner
children. Her dairy implements
were tin milk pans, tin 8kimmers,
the old fashioned dasher churn,
wooden bowl 2rd ladic. for butter
making. The market was the groc-
cry store, AMI chat often far Wy
and glutted. There butter was
snapped" for groceries,, paying
twenty five cents a pound for au
gar and similar prl235 for other
grdc les The tran portatioa WAS
by "foot and walkers line. CT pei
chance by OK team. The cows fresh
ened in Marca or April, ran at
large during the summer and
were dried off in November and
December. There was no winter
dairying Indeed, during this prin-
tive period, dairying was merely
incidental to, the great paramount
industry Of growing wheat.
The humble chinch bug perform
ed no insignificant part in initial
ing the great dairy movement IN
Wisconsin, for it was when Wis.
consin farmers had become panic
stricken by the destructive raw
ages of the chinch bugs, following
The continual cropping of the land
with wheat, ravages equal in their
dostructiveness to the plaques OF
Egypt, that a few seers organic
ed in 1873 the Wisconsin Dairy
mems Association, the third of
its kind, which proved to be a
Moses that was to lead the dis
heartened farmers out Of the
bondage Of soil robbery, across
the Jordan and through the Dead
s. Of their despair into TIE
promised land Of Dairy Husbandry
howbeit after wanderings many
in the forest of doubt and ignor-
ance, where, contrary to the voice
Of wisdom and warning from tho
intellectual Pisgah Of their seers,
they at times bowed in alteration
Of bcefy dual purpose idols, they
had made unto themselves.
TO overcome this prejudice, to
solve the market problem Of their
day these pioneers sought, first to
produce cheese and butter honest
" worthy Of the best markets Of
the world. Having done this, they
conceived and executed the plan
of making exhibits Of Wisconsin
cheese and butter at the Centen-
NAL Exposition in Philadelphia in.
1876, where wisconsin received a
larger percentage of the medals
than was awarded any other
state or country. With these vic
tories and otders. gained at the
great International Dairy Show in
New York, Wisconsin gained re-
cognition in home and English
markets as dairy STATE. Like
victories followed at the Chicago
/ Worlds Fair and at the New Or
\ leans Cotton Centennial They
were leading the way from the
making of cheese and butter .exclu.
sively on the farms and were
erecting cheese factories ana
/ creameries where they manufac-
tured the choicest Of dairy pfo-
ducts. attested by their having
gained the highest awards in the
worlds competitive contests.
They lacked transportation fl
A-iIitinS CO.. rna nI,inc the 1Nnlla