The Rise of Dairy Farming
Wheat was the earliest and most important cash crop for white settlers in Wisconsin. It required a small initial capital investment and was fairly easy to grow, allowing farmers to harvest two crops a year. The high rate of financial return made wheat an especially attractive crop for homesteaders during the middle of the 19th century. Wheat provided a way for new immigrants in Wisconsin to farm cheaply and to deliver a product that many people needed. From 1840 to 1880, Wisconsin was considered "America's breadbasket" because one-sixth of the wheat grown in the nation came from Wisconsin. The early... more...
Original Documents and Other Primary Sources
| An interview with Dr. Babcock (1923) |
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| Recollections of Old Superior |
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| A Sauk Co. farmer recalls turning from wheat to dairy in the 1850s. |
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| Cheese-making in Monticello, ca. 1870 |
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| The legacy of the farm magazine, Hoard's Dairyman (1935) |
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| A history of cheesemaking in Green County |
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| William Dempster Hoard looks back on the start of dairy farming in Wisconsin |
| The oldest toast in Wisconsin |
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| Hoard's Dairyman Farm milk bottle |
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| Racine's malted milk transforms American soda fountains |
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| A copper Swiss cheese kettle |
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| A quilt made by hand, 1908-1934, from prize ribbons |
| A 1944 cookbook featuring dairy products |
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| A history and statistical summary of dairying, 1860-1931. |
| Advertisements for farm equipment |
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| Pictures of the founders of Wisconsin's dairy industry. |
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| Photos and information about the UW Dairy Barn |
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| Picture of Dr. Stephen Babcock with his butterfat tester. |
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| Photos and advertisements showing dairy farmers at work, 1900-1950 |
| William Dempster Hoard discusses his vision for the dairy industry |
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| A female leader in Wisconsin dairying |
| A co-operative creamery spurs the growth of dairying in Prentice |
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| University of Wisconsin Dairy Barn |
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| Stonefield, home of Gov. Nelson Dewey and the State Agricultural Museum |
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| Hoard buys a farm to test his dairying theories |
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| Nashold Twenty-Sided Barn |
Primary Sources Available Elsewhere
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| One hundred years of cheesemaking in Wisconsin, 1850-1950 |
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| The "dos" and "don'ts" of cooperatives |
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| The Early History of the UW-Madison College of Agriculture |
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| Saving time and labor through dairy cooperatives, 1903 |
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| Wisconsin Blue Books |
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| Images of Round Barns |
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| A well-known cooperative creamery in Westby |
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| A farm and village in Wisconsin's dairy country |
Related Links
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Company history of Hoard's Dairyman and the Dairyman today
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