History shows that dairy started slowly in Vermont. The commercial dairy industry in Vermont did
not begin until the demise of the world-renowned Marino sheep sector in the
mid-1800s. It started slowly at first
with butter being the main product produced on the farm. Dairy, from the
beginning, has been well suited for our state’s grassland economy. By the mid
to late 1800’s there was a growth in local creameries due to the fact that milk
could not be shipped long distances. For example, by 1900 there were 186
creameries and 66 cheese factories in the state. By the mid to late 1800’s St Albans was known
as the butter capital of the world, with one butter train per week leaving for
the Boston Market. Buyers from as far
away as New York and Boston came to the town each week to bid on blocks of
butter, and by 1880 one-forth of the state’s butter production came from that
area. There was increased attention to
dairy cow genetics as many farmers came to realize that making good butter required
good milk and more than milking the old family cow. Entire new support industries, like the butter
tub factories in Montgomery and Stowe, Vermont, and the Vermont Machine Factory
in Bellows Falls that made butter churns, grew up around the butter trade. During this period, Vermont butter won international
awards for best butter in the world.
Laws were enacted at the state and national levels to
protect this industry. For example, it
was unlawful to serve any butter imitation product at any place of business in
the state. When margarine was
introduced, it was illegal to sell the product except in its original white
color or form (some might remember the yellow coloring sold separately from the
margarine in the way distant past.)
Changes in demand and in the industry itself took place when
nearby cities reached out for fluid milk in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Producing and shipping fluid milk to urban
markets in other states created some new challenges for dairy farmers in
Vermont. They now depended on others for
shipping and for marketing and they had to comply with new health
requirements. This led to the establishment
of dairy cooperatives within Vermont and nationally to better control pricing
and quality standards. The first milk
train left Bellows Falls, Vermont for Boston in 1890. By 1928 the profitability of Vermont’s dairy
farmers was linked to the fluid market.
Today about $400 million of sales come from fluid milk and $650 million
from cheese, with the remainder of the $1.3 billion in sales from other
products like yogurt and ice cream.
A lot has changed over the years and continue to change as
in any industry sector linked to national and international markets. Today the
850 plus dairy farms are family owned with the majority having less than 200
cows. Five percent of the 321 million
gallons of milk sold is certified organic, and dairy cooperatives are important
to those sales. It is no wonder that
dairy still is so revered in our state with 97% of Vermonters saying that this
industry is important to the state, its beauty, and way of life.
In 1937, June was designated as National Dairy Month as a
way of promoting the drinking of milk. As we think about Vermont’s dairy
industry and its importance to our state today, join your neighbors across the
nation, as well as the state, in celebrating June as dairy month.
By Roger Allbee, former Vermont Secretary of Agriculture,
Food and Markets
He does a blog on the History of Vermont Agriculture at:
whatceresmightsay.blogspot.com
