Additional Soldiers’ Home Dairy Information
As a follow up to the posting earlier this week about the old dairy at the soldiers’ home, I was able to locate a copy of The United States Soldiers’ Home by William Groat (first published in 1931). It contained the following information and images of the dairy operation:
This group of buildings is the home of the “First Accredited Herd in the United States.” The cattle are registered Holsteins, and the Herd consists of approximately one hundred and sixty-five animals, including five … bulls. The total value of the herd is approximately fifty thousand dollars. Machinery is employed for milking. The buildings include three cow barns, a maternity barn, a calf nursery, four silos, a creamery, storage barns, an office, and living quarters for the employees.
Part of the Soldiers’ Home herd of registered cattle. Upper left, the cow, “Mary Alexander Barksdale, 3rd,” who, as a two-year-old, produced in milk a yield of 21,466 pounds. Her mother, for whom she is named, produced a yield of 23,634 pounds. Lower right, the bull, “Ignatius DeKol Piebe,” age, 5 years: weight, 2,600 pounds; value, $5,000.00.
Tags: history and culture, Old Soldiers' Home, Park View
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October 13, 2011 at 7:03 am
[...] Home not only supported the retirement community for which it was created, but also farming and a dairy that had the first accredited herd in the United [...]
April 5, 2012 at 7:02 am
[...] a great press photo dated February 13, 1949, showing a scene from the Old Soldiers’ Home dairy. By 1953 the dairy was closed and the land was under development for the Washington Hospital [...]