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Decisions, decisions, decisions. Cuyahoga Valley farmers, past and present, make choices about what to farm. The first page highlights growing crops, including hay and straw. Here, the story continues with raising farm animals.
This research grew out of the 2011 Farming in the Valley oral history project. To learn more and explore related topics, visit the main page.
Livestock
As with produce, the profitability of livestock depends upon market forces and the quality of land available. During the Western Reserve era, farmers had few livestock, mostly for personal consumption. The canals and railroads of the mid-1800s made it worthwhile for farmers to breed and raise cattle. Cheese factories, which purchased unprocessed milk from local dairy farms, began to spring up along the canal by the late 1840s. This caused the value of milk produced in the valley to skyrocket—nearly tripling between 1870 and 1910. As the dairy business became more profitable, farmers invested more time, money, and energy into their livestock. Farmers purchased breeds of cattle known for higher yields, fed their cows specialized grains, and kept them in barns during the winter to increase milk production. Although the cheese factories in the valley diminished, dairy farms continued to operate throughout the 1900s.
Learn more about the Point Farm dairy operation in Everett.
Preparing the Milk for Pickup
Willis Meyers describes how the family prepared the milk.
“You had the milk cans and you had a number on them cans. It was painted on them and of course they knowed by that number who it was for. Of course it was weighed, and I think we got a dollar and a half a hundred at that time, and that would be twelve gallon. We'd get a dollar and a half for twelve gallon of milk.”
Milk Hauling
Willis Meyers describes a local milk hauler who transported milk between farms and factories.
“And we had a milk hauler who picked it up. He picked it up with horses and wagon for a long time. And all the roads, you know, they was all dirt roads, it was no improved roads nowhere. And the mud would be axel-deep on the wagon for him to pick the milk up . . . Oh it all went to Akron. It went to Falls for a little while. Lawson Milk Company in the Falls, they bought it for a while and then they was, oh, probably four or five milk companies in Akron. Whoever needed the milk the worst, why, that's where the milk hauler would take it.”
In addition to dairy cattle, Cuyahoga Valley farmers have raised beef cattle, chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, llamas, and turkeys. Most raised only a few livestock to support their family's needs. Whereas the bottomlands were often used for crops, farmers used the highlands to graze their sheep, cattle, and other livestock. In the 1940s and 50s, most farms had chickens, a few geese, and ducks. Larger-scale farmers tried to keep around 60 beef cattle and about 20 pigs. As farms started to slowly fade from the Cuyahoga Valley, fewer families raised large herds of livestock. Listen below as farmers talk about the reasons why they started raising different types of livestock.
Highland Cows
Phillip Urbank, who grew up In Cuyahoga Falls, describes how he started his highland cow operation.
“I had horses at the time, and then I decided to start a backyard beef project. I was thinking of getting Herefords, and brother Jack had been in the second world war and when he was stationed in Scotland, waiting to go in on it with the 101st Airborne on D-Day, he rode a bicycle around and he talked with some of the farmers that had the Highland cattle, so he was all interested in 'em. And my dad, being from the Eastern states, he saw the DuPont's had a herd of 'em, so they talked me into . . . well they were trying to talk me into it, and just then I got a National Geographic and on the front page of it was a red Highland cow looking over a stone, so I says, ‘Well, we gotta find these things.’ We found some down at Wapakoneta, Ohio, and brought a couple old cows and a bull home. And then they went out to Illinois, and picked up four more and then they went out to Colorado and got a few more. So we had a nice little herd of 'em going.”
Guard Llamas
Crooked River Herb Farm owner Kathleen Varga describes how llamas protected her sheep from coyotes.
“So I found a llama farm about, geez what is it, about three miles away from me, up on Northampton Road. And I got the llamas, I got one initially, and they're like potato chips . . . you just can't have one. And we never had a problem with coyotes again. And I mean the coyotes were coming in as close as we are to that wall, and nabbing a chicken in front of me. There's just, I mean, absolutely no fear. Llamas hate canines. I had to socialize them with our dogs so that they'd be safe if they came into the pastures with me. But they have an alarm call, and so they will alarm first and then go after whatever it is. And once I had the flock of sheep and goats, it was very interesting to watch them because, if there were coyotes on the property, they would alarm, they'd get into almost a triangular position, the three of them, the goats and the sheep would be in a circle inside, with the lambs on the inside of the circle. It was poetry, it was beautifully done, and all I had to do is watch."
Sheep Rearing
Dan Emmett, who owns and operates his farm in Richfield, talks about the difficulties of raising sheep.
“We had 200 ewes at one time. My son started us in the sheep business with three and it got out of hand, greatly. We had sheep there, lots of 'em, until about eight to ten years ago. I just . . . I couldn't do it anymore. When you have babies, when you're lambing in the spring, someone has to be in the barn every two hours. And my wife was a champ at it when I was at school. I had it fixed up so if she got in trouble I could go home and then come back to school, but I'm glad I'm not doing it today because I can't stay awake through a baseball game.” ~laughs~
Horses have served multiple purposes on Cuyahoga Valley farms. Horses have pulled carts and ploughs, taken tourists on carriage rides, been raised and sold, been boarded for other owners, and become beloved companions for farm children.
Peggy and Tress Pittenger devoted much of their lives to raising, selling, and boarding horses at their farm, Blackacre, on Quick Road. Peggy worked hard to turn Blackacre into a thriving horse breeding business, while also writing popular books on how to raise horses. Peggy, Tress, and their three children learned that a successful horse farm requires hard work, persistence, and a little good luck.
The 100 acre farm that was beside our house, that Mr. Cook lived in, that later it was purchased by a Tress and Peg Pittenger. And she was a horse person, raised in town, and she got the farm and first thing she got a couple horses and enjoyed them. Then she got enthused about raising Morgans and she bought some Morgan mares. And my brother Jack and her bought a Morgan stallion between 'em. Jack would take care of the stallion and handle it so she wouldn't get hurt and she raised up quite a few Morgans but she didn't have much of a market for them. So she went to the race track and bought some old thoroughbred mares that were past their prime and a couple of stallions and started raising thoroughbred foals. And at the barbershop I used to go to, the one barber was a thoroughbred trainer and his old buddies would be in there that were thoroughbred training, and they kept saying, "Oh, Peg is breeding junk to junk. She'll never have any good horses." And they used to—since Tress was a lawyer they named their horses different legal names and they raised a big gelding and named him "Burglary." And he was burning up the tracks and winning the big purses and stuff. So the next time I saw the old cronies in the barbershop, I says, "Oh Peg's breeding junk to junk. She's never gonna have anything." And they say, "Oh boy, we called that one wrong!"
Horse Fairs
Until recently, Ronnie Meyers and his father Willis bought, sold, and trained Belgian horses for special competitions.
He had some good horses that we was hired to beat when we went to the fairs. When they seen us coming why ~laughs~ they knew they wasn't gonna win anything. We used to go to the fairs and maybe show five or six classes and win every one of 'em.
Horse-Drawn Vehicles
At the Carriage Trade Farm, owner Wade Johnson continues his grandfather's tradition of raising horses and offering sleigh and hayrides near Brandywine Falls.
First speaker: When I moved to the farm, I bought a carriage that was sitting in the yard of a neighbor as a yard ornament, and I restored that carriage. That got me very interested in the restoration for horse-drawn vehicles and I made a side business of buying and selling and restoring horse-drawn carriages for a number of years. Actually, I injured my back on the farm and ended up herniating two of my disks in my lower back and had to have surgery. And I traded one of my carriages to the surgeon for the surgery. ~laughs~ Second speaker: ~laughing~ That doesn't happen very often!
