Femco Farms

Last updated
Femco Farm No. 2
Femco.jpg
Femco Farm No. 2 viewed from the southwest in 1990
USA Minnesota location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationCounty Road 153, Roberts Township, Minnesota
Nearest city Kent, Minnesota
Coordinates 46°27′27″N96°39′35″W / 46.45750°N 96.65972°W / 46.45750; -96.65972 Coordinates: 46°27′27″N96°39′35″W / 46.45750°N 96.65972°W / 46.45750; -96.65972
Area7 acres (2.8 ha)
Built1922
Architectural styleNo style
MPS Wilkin County MRA
NRHP reference No. 80002184 [1]
Added to NRHPJuly 17, 1980

The Femco Farms consisted of five farm properties established in Wilkin County, Minnesota, United States, in the 1920s and 1930s to experiment with livestock breeding and agricultural diversification. They were created by Frederick E. Murphy, publisher of the Minneapolis Tribune newspaper, to demonstrate improved techniques like crop rotation that could benefit farmers. The Femco Farms became famous for their influential practices, and especially for their incredibly productive dairy cows. [2] The best preserved of the five properties, Femco Farm No. 2, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 for its local significance in the area of agriculture. [3]

Contents

History

Ordered by his doctor in 1918 to spend more time outdoors to combat frail health, newspaper publisher Frederick E. Murphy moved from Minneapolis to his wife's family farm in Wilkin County. He had long dreamed of experimenting with improved agricultural techniques, and began buying farm properties in the area. [2] Soon Murphy had amassed five farms around Wilkin County, totaling about 5,000 acres (2,000 ha). [4] The name he gave them, "Femco", was based on his initials. [2]

The Femco Farms grew oats, barley, corn, alfalfa, sweet clover, rye, and flax. More importantly, Murphy invested exclusively in purebred livestock, namely Percheron horses, Duroc Jersey hogs, McKarrow Shropshire sheep, white Orpington chickens, and Holstein dairy cows. [5] The farms experimented with stock raising, crop rotation, and soil fertilization, and promoted diversified farming—rather than the usual focus on a few cash crops—as the solution to many of the agricultural challenges of the day. [4]

However the Femco Farms were particularly famous for their dairy cows, winning numerous awards. One Holstein cow, Lady Pride, was showcased at the 1932 Minnesota State Fair. At the time she produced more butter than any other cow, yielding 35,626 pounds (16,160 kg) of milk and 1,483 pounds (673 kg) of butter in one year; at the time, the average cow yielded 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) of milk and 170 pounds (77 kg) of butter. [6] Another Holstein, Daisy Aaggie Ormsby III, produced 1,607 pounds (729 kg) of butter over the course of a year, a new record. [2] Murphy claimed that the yields his animals achieved could be reproduced by typical farmers using his techniques. [6]

Murphy became president of the Minneapolis Tribune in 1921 and moved back to Minneapolis. [2] After his death in 1940, the Femco Farm properties were auctioned off to separate owners. [4] His award-winning dairy herds were sold as well, with some cows fetching $4,000 each (equivalent to $72,998in 2019). [2]

Location

The original Femco Farm No. 1 is located five miles (8 km) north of Breckenridge, Minnesota. Though its structures are quite dilapidated, it is readily visible from U.S. Route 75. Femco Farm No. 2 is in Roberts Township just north of Kent. Farm No. 3 was in Mitchell Township, No. 4 was located just north of No. 1, and No. 5 was in Manston Township. A sixth property known as Femco No Number, at which the farms' manager lived, was one mile north of Breckenridge. [2]

Femco Farm No. 2

Femco Farm No. 2 totaled 1,200 acres (490 ha). It was established in 1922, and 12 structures were built that year or shortly after. Still extant at the time of the property's National Register nomination in 1979 were the foreman and workers' house, a granary, milk house, dairy barn, silo, hog barn, sheep barn, horse barn, and machine shed. Three original structures—a chicken coop, windmill, and guest house for Murphy—had been demolished. The dairy barn is particularly distinctive, consisting of two large gambrel-roofed wings joined by a connecting hallway with its own gambrel roof. [4]

Femco Farm No. 2 was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places as the best preserved of the five Femco Farms, which "had a lasting impact on the agricultural history of Wilkin County—and through its breeding stock, on U.S. agriculture." [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

Dairy Organization that processes milk

A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on a dedicated dairy farm or in a section of a multi-purpose farm that is concerned with the harvesting of milk.

Holstein Friesian cattle Breed of dairy cattle

Holstein Friesians are a breed of dairy cattle originating from the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland, and Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. They are known as the world's highest-production dairy animals.

Dairy farming

Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed for eventual sale of a dairy product.

Dairy cattle

Dairy cattle are female cattle bred for the ability to produce large quantities of milk, from which dairy products are made. Dairy cows generally are of the species Bos taurus.

University of Illinois Experimental Dairy Farm Historic District United States historic place

The University of Illinois Experimental Dairy Farm Historic District, also known as South Farm, is a designated historic district in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is located on the campus of the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois. The district consists of eight contributing structures and several non-contributing structures. The district was designated in 1994 when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Multiple Property Submission concerning Round Barns in Illinois. Three of the district's buildings are early 20th century round barns constructed between 1908 and 1912. The district covers a total area of 6 acres (2 ha).

Athens State Hospital Cow Barn United States historic place

The Athens State Hospital Cow Barn is a historic agricultural building on the grounds of the former state hospital in Athens, Ohio, United States. One of several agricultural buildings associated with the hospital, it has been named a historic site.

Wilson Barn United States historic place

The Wilson Barn is a barn located at the northeast corner of Middlebelt and W. Chicago Roads in Livonia, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973. This was the beginning of the Ira Wilson & Sons Dairy Company, a now defunct company. There were several large iconic cow's head sculptures, which were fixtures in the Detroit metropolitan area.

Coleman Station Historic District United States historic place

The Coleman Station Historic District is located around the former New York Central Railroad Coleman's station in the Town of North East, New York, United States, a short distance south of the village of Millerton. It is a rural area including several large farms in the southeastern corner of the town. At almost three square miles (7.33 km2), it is the largest historic district entirely within Dutchess County and the second largest in the county.

Lily Flagg

Signal's Lily Flagg 31035 (1884–?), also spelled Flag, was a Jersey cow, the top butter producer in the world in 1892, owned by W. E. Matthews and General Samuel H. Moore of Huntsville, Alabama. During her record-breaking year, she weighed 950 pounds (430 kg) and produced 1,047 pounds 34 ounce (474.93 kg) of butter. Her parents were sire Georgian 6073 and dam Little Nan 15895.

Moody Barn United States historic place

The Moody Barn is a round barn in Chisago Lake Township, Chisago County, Minnesota, United States. The farm was first homesteaded in 1871 by Elof and Eva Modig, who emigrated from Sweden. The couple raised five children and grew wheat on their farm, as was common in the 1870s. By the 1890s Minnesota farming had begun to diversify, with cheese and butter production becoming popular and distributed by cooperative creameries. In 1915 Charles Moody, one of the sons, decided to build a modern round barn.

Oren Cornelius Gregg

Oren Cornelius Gregg was a farmer and educator from Minnesota. In the 1880s, agricultural education in Minnesota was in trouble: farmers would not travel to the Twin Cities for classes, and university students did not want to study farming. Gregg, a successful dairy farmer from Lyon County, saved the day by bringing lectures directly to farmers. Beginning in 1885, he led the Minnesota Farmers' Institute, a public lecture series that became the agricultural extension service at the University of Minnesota. Through the institutes that he held across the state, Gregg encouraged farmers to diversify their crops and taught them how to make dairy farming more efficient.

Spring Hill Farm (Lebanon, New Hampshire) United States historic place

Spring Hill Farm is a historic farm at 263 Meriden Road in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Founded in the late 18th century, the farm is noted for innovations in dairy farming practices introduced in the 1920s by Maurice Downs. It is also one of a small number of surviving farm properties in the town, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

Jenness Farm United States historic place

The Jenness Farm is a historic farm property at 626 Pickering Road in Rochester, New Hampshire. It consists of about 190 acres (77 ha) in Rochester and adjacent Dover, and has been in continuous ownership by the Jenness family since 1837. It was, at the time of its 2001 listing on the National Register of Historic Places, one of just ten farms in the city with intact land and buildings.

Briarcliff Farms Former farm in New York

Briarcliff Farms was a farm established in 1890 by Walter William Law in Briarcliff Manor, a village in Westchester County, New York. One of several enterprises established by Law at the turn of the 20th century, the farm was known for its milk, butter, and cream and also produced other dairy products, American Beauty roses, bottled water, and print media. At its height, the farm was one of the largest dairy operations in the Northeastern United States, operating about 8,000 acres (10 sq mi) with over 1,000 Jersey cattle. In 1907, the farm moved to Pine Plains in New York's Dutchess County, and it was purchased by New York banker Oakleigh Thorne in 1918, who developed it into an Angus cattle farm. After Thorne's death in 1948, the farm changed hands several times; in 1968 it became Stockbriar Farm, a beef feeding operation. Stockbriar sold the farmland to its current owners in 1979.

Donovan–Hussey Farms Historic District United States historic place

The Donovan–Hussey Farms Historic District encompasses a pair of 19th-century farm properties in rural Houlton, Maine. Both farms, whose complexes stand roughy opposite each other on Ludlow Road northwest of the town center, were established in the mid-19th century, and substantially modernized in the early 20th century. As examples of the changing agricultural trends of Aroostook County, they were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

John Sweet Donald Farmstead United States historic place

The John Sweet Donald Farmstead is a historic farm in Springdale, Wisconsin with surviving structures built as early as 1858. It is significant as the home and testing grounds of John Sweet Donald, a farmer, statesman, and educator of the Progressive Era.

William and Estella Adair Farm Historic place in Carnation, Washington, US


The William and Estella Adair Farm, named the Broadacre Farm in 1922, is a 115-acre dairy farm in Carnation, Washington that illustrates the evolution of a typical dairy farming operation in the Snoqualmie Valley. Established in 1910, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

James and Anne Atmore Bryant Farmstead United States historic place

The James and Anne Atmore Bryant Farmstead is a farm located at 12557 L Drive North in Convis Township, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.

The dairy industry in the United States includes the farms, cooperatives, and companies that produce milk and cheese and related products, such as milking machines, and distribute them to the consumer. By 1925, the United States had 20 1.5 million dairy cows, each producing an average of 4200 lb of milk per year. By 2007, there were 9.1 million dairy cows but their average milk production was over 20,000 pounds per year, with eight pounds per gallon.

Wisconsin dairy industry Overview of the milk producing industry in Wisconsin

Dairy is a major industry in the state of Wisconsin. The state is widely known for its dairy production, as can be seen with "America's Dairyland" being one of Wisconsin's nicknames.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jauhola, Anna (2009-12-07). "FEMCO Farms of Wilkin County: Diversified farming changed the face of agriculture". Daily News. Wahpeton, North Dakota/Breckenridge, Minnesota. Retrieved 2015-08-04.
  3. "Femco Farm No. 2". Minnesota National Register Properties Database. Minnesota Historical Society. 2009. Archived from the original on 2013-07-14. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Harvey, Tom (September 1979). "Minnesota Historic Properties Inventory Form: Femco Farm #2". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-07-30.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. Laken, Neoma A. "Wilkin County Minnesota History". Wilkin County. Archived from the original on 2007-09-07. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  6. 1 2 Marling, Karal Ann (1990). Blue Ribbon: A Social and Pictorial History of the Minnesota State Fair. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 83. ISBN   978-0-87351-252-7.