The Working Farm

Dad raised and milked Holstein cows. I should say, Dad raised them, my Mother milked, every morning and night until my brothers were old enough to take over. He also raised hogs and chickens. He sold milk to Hershey Chocolate Company. So our milk was used to make that delicious chocolate that we all love. His was not a large operation, with bulk tanks, etc. He used milk cans, and they were placed in a cooler of cold water in the milk house until the "milkman" came each week to pick them up. On one trip to Duluth, Daddy brought me one of the milk cans. Someday I want to find someone to "paint" it for me.

One day he had to stop raising hogs, unless he wanted to move the hog pen because it was too close to the milk house. After that, they would buy a hog each winter to butcher for meat, from my Grandmother and Step-Grandfather, who raised them. We kids were always fascinated by watching the pigs eat at their farm. I don’t remember our pigs too much, as I was pretty young when Daddy quit raising them, but I remember Maurice’s pigs. When we were at Grandma’s, we would often watch or help Maurice to feed the pigs.

Dad raised chickens and sold eggs. He always had anywhere from 5 – 7 “chicken houses”. Two were in the barn loft, also 2 in the shed loft and 3 or 4 in a building just for the chickens. Our neighbors would come weekly and buy cracked eggs at discount price and fresh eggs. (I’m not going to tell you the “cracked egg” story about me that my brothers like to tell). We had our regular customers, and it was a great way of visiting with and getting to know neighbors and friends. The “egg man” came weekly and bought the rest of the eggs. It was never one of my chores to gather eggs. However, when my cousins from the city would come to visit, they were always intrigued about “hunting” the eggs, and would insist that we go gather the eggs for my Mother. I have to admit, those were the only times that I gathered eggs. Picking the eggs from the nest wasn’t hard, the hard part was lifting the hen up to get her eggs from under her. They would often “peck” at you, the hen didn’t want to give up the eggs, and of course, I didn’t like that pecking!

There was a small “peepy house” for the peeps that Dad would buy. He raised the chickens from small. Sometimes he would buy them when they were older too. It was always fun to see the peepies and watch them grow. As the peepies got older, their beaks needed to be “de-beaked”. They would do that at night, and many times my brothers would help with that chore.

The boys (my brothers) tell about all the time they spent raising the calves. It was their job to “slop” the calves each morning. To slop, meant to feed them. They did this every morning. They changed their hay to keep them comfortable. It was their job to keep the barn clean too, cleaning the cow gutters, etc. Some day I will write about how lucky I was not to have to do these chores (because I had brothers!).

Before the boys were old enough to help, Dad had a hired hand that they paid. He was a teen-age boy who lived up the road. His name was Jerry. I never saw Jerry after he became an adult. He was a big help to
Dad. It would be fun to see him again and hear any stories he had to tell. I do have one memory of Jerry that I will share someday. It has to do with chickens and eggs.

In addition to the chickens, pigs and cows, Dad of course, farmed the land with crops. Corn and wheat, and he made hay and straw and used it for the feed, for the animals and he also sold it. So much of the summer was spent “making hay”. I note that the farmers here in Minnesota call it “haying”, not making hay. He had lots of equipment, “hay baler”, an elevator (to move hay bales, corn, etc. to second floor of the barn and sheds), of course the orange “Allis Chalmers” tractor, rakes, corn workers, wagons, etc. Mom would often say how expensive it was for the farm equipment and to keep it maintained. There were quick trips to the farm equipment store when things broke. She often commented how much money it cost small farmers to “farm”.

We had a silo, to keep the feed for the animals in. I was pretty little when Dad had the silo built. He didn’t have the equipment to “fill” it, but when the time came to get it filled, he would hire a neighbor farmer who had the equipment, and he would help to fill it. I notice that now days, the farms seem to have other kinds of buildings, rather than the tall white cement silos. When Dad had help with things like filling the silo, combining wheat, etc., my Mother was always there cooking a huge meal for the helpers. She always fed them well.
More tomorrow….