Utah's Milk-y way

"Cows! We're remarkable cows. ... If you thought that all we could do is go moo, Then you ought to come see what we do." — children's song by Sandra Boynton

LOGAN — Cows were among the first settlers in Cache Valley. In 1855, Brigham Young dispatched a herd of more than 2,500 church cattle to the valley under the direction of Bryant Stringham and others.

This first herd didn't fare all that well. Earlier reports by government explorer Howard Stansbury had commented on the "rich green grass" and noted that "any amount of hay might be cut without in the least interfering with the range for cattle." But the winter of 1855-56 was extremely harsh, so the cattle were driven back to Salt Lake Valley in the spring.

But the Mormon pioneers did not give up. In 1856, Peter Maughan was sent back to Cache Valley, where he established its first permanent settlement. Maughan's Fort later became Wellsville. By 1859, five more towns were established: Providence, Mendon, Logan, Richmond and Smithfield.

It wasn't long before those settlers took advantage of the abundance of grass for grazing and established some early dairies, said Robert Parson, archivist at Utah State University. In Cache Valley, early dairy operations were established in Blacksmith Fork and in Providence and Logan canyons.

"These mountain operations were seasonal and often contracted with local farmers, who allowed the dairies to use their milk cows for a share of the proceeds," Parson noted.

Butter was the main commodity produced by the mountain dairies. Beginning in 1870, it was shipped out of the valley to Ogden and Salt Lake once a week on the Utah Northern Railroad.

Early records show that by 1910, dairy cows in Cache Valley numbered around 16,000.

That heritage and its continuing legacy was the focus of a recent Dairy Land Tour sponsored by the American West Heritage Center and funded by a grant from the Utah Humanities Council. It was led by Parson and AWHC's Elizabeth Johnson.

The first stop on the tour was the George B. Caine Dairy Center in Wellsville. This teaching and research facility represents an involvement in dairying that stretches back more than 80 years at the university.

Here they manage a herd of some 339 cows that are used to teach such things as nutrition, genetics, production practices, health, reproduction and fitting and showing. Research is also done in such areas as feed, genetics, diseases and milk production.