Time Machine Tuesday: Colorado Dairies

When you go to the grocery store, you might see signs proclaiming that June is Dairy Month.  It highlights the dairy farmers (and cows!) who give us milk, cheese, butter, ice cream, and other dairy products, and has been celebrated annually since 1937.  Colorado’s significant agricultural history includes the contribution of dairy farmers who for over 150 years have played an important role in the state’s agricultural economy.

In our library you can find a number of historical publications dealing with dairy farming.  Many of these publications come from Colorado State University’s Agricultural Experiment Station.  Some of the publications that give a peek into the life of a dairy farmer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and are available for viewing online, include:

• The Best Milk Tester for the Practical Use of the Farmer and Dairyman, 1892
• Care of the Dairy Heifer, 1925
• Colorado Dairy-Herd Improvement Associations, 1932
• Common Difficulties in Farm Dairying: Their Causes and Remedies, 1926
• The Dairy Heifer and Her Calf, 1922
• Farm Butter Making, 1910
• Feeding and Care of Dairy Cattle, 1929
• Feeding Dairy Cows in Colorado, 1924
• Make the Dairy Pay: Testing and Handling Milk and Cream, 1924
• Produce Clean Milk, 1925
• Purebred Dairy Sires Produce Profitable Cows, 1925
• Testing and Handling of Milk and Cream, 1914

Photo courtesy Colorado State University Libraries