"Grand Ledge Remembered"

David S. Haueter is a Grand Ledge native, a life time member and former Board member of the Grand Ledge Area Historical Society. His column on local history appears regularly in the Grand Ledge Independent newspaper.

08/03/08

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Livestock was part of every farm. Larger farms would often raise livestock for sale to raise cash, while smaller farms of about 40 acres were mainly concerned with providing for their family. These farmers grew the crops and raised the animals they needed in their daily lives.

Fowl of all kinds were found on farms. The tending of chickens was often left to the children. When my father was young his family were tenants for Lloyd Frost on his farm on State Road. At the age of five years old, it was his responsibility to look after the chickens and gather all the eggs every morning. Others farmers raised guinea hens, geese and turkeys. Ed and Faye Howe had a farm on State Road and operated the well remembered Howe’s Turkey Farm.

Horses were the work force of the farms. They pulled plows and wagons around the farm and well as buggies to town. By the 1930s tractors were replacing horses in field work, but may farmers still kept them around. My great uncle John Haueter loved draft horses and had several pairs over the years. Dick and Dan were an early pair, followed later by Dick and Maude. He even had a pair of mules for a time.  Although not used much in the field, he did compete in horse pulling competitions around the area.

Goats were also common. My great-grandfather Harry Williams had a small parcel of land near Cryderman Lake in Muliken. It was too small for cows, so he raised several goats to provide milk for the family. Goats could also be fun. Loius Barclay, who lived at the corner of State and Hinman Roads, kept goats that he would harness to a miniature wagon and let the children ride around the farm.

Milk cows were the life blood of the farms. They provided milk, cream, butter, cheese and eventually beef. Many farms just kept a handful of milk cows. They provided food for the family and usually a calf every year that could be sold for cash.

Bulls were not as common, they would often be shared between neighbors.  To help control them, an iron ring would be put through their nose. The nose is very sensitive, and tugging on the ring with your hand or a rope, you can lead the bull around. Some bulls had more attitude and to control them a large iron chair was put into the nose ring. The chain gave you something to grab easily, but it also deterred the bulls from charging. If the bull were charging, they would step on the chain, pulling their own nose down and making the bull stop.

As a child, I remember hearing about one bull in particular. He was a wise and determined old bull. He learned that if he tossed his head back and forth, he could swing the iron chain over his back and with his head tilted, chase people in the field. One day while in the house, the family heard a great bellowing echoing across the farm. They found it coming from the pasture. The old bull down on his knees. He had done his trick and swung the chain, but instead of his back, the chain had wrapped itself around the electric fence. So every electric pulse was going straight into his nose causing him to bellow in sever pain. The fence was soon shut off, and the chain unwound.

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07/26/08

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In the barn hay was used as animal feed. Hay is basically grasses that are harvested and stored up in the mow. Originally hay was stored in loose stacks, but later was put into rectangular bales that allow more hay to be stored in a smaller space. The first balers were a multi-man operation that used baling wire to tie off the bales. This was later replaced with automatic machines that use twine.

In addition my grandfather fed his cattle corn feed. I can still remember riding on the side of his International Harvester tractor as he took a wagon load of corn still on the cobs down W. Main Street and then over to The Produce Company on N. Clinton. The corn was weighted, and then dumped into an underground bin. The empty wagon was then loaded with corn feed. This was ground corn mixed with some molasses for added flavor. Back at the farm, he kept the corn in a steel trough inside the barn. He placed boards across the top to keep critters out. You would move the boards aside, and use a large scoop to remove the corn and spread it in the manger along with some hay.

Straw is used for bedding. Straw is collected from the stalks left behind after grain crops are harvested. So after the wheat or oats are collected, the plant stalks are collected into bales and used for bedding material. The cattle were bedded down daily. Bales of straw were pushed down from the mow through square holes in the floor to the cattle below. The straw was then spread out over the floor to give a dry bed for the cattle to lie on.

Several times a year the barn would have to be cleaned out. With the cows out to pasture, the tractor was used to remove the old straw and manure that had built up, sometimes over a foot thick. The old manure was kept in a pile in the barn yard until it could be put into the spreader. The manure spreader was a long steel wagon with a paddle wheel device on the back with wire prongs on it. As the wagon was pulled, the wheel would spin and toss pieces of manure over the ground. The spreader was pulled over all the fields and pasture, returning the nutrients back into the soil.

The introduction of tractors made a huge difference in farming. My great-grandfather had an F-20 Farmall Tractor. This early tractor did not have rubber tires, but steel tires with “spades” that protruded from them. These early tractors could be purchased in Grand Ledge from Leonard Wiseman, starting at $549.00.

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Old Advertisement

Leonard Wiseman
McCormack-Deering Sales and Service.
Nails-Barbed Wire-Steel Fencing-Batteries-Tires-Oil and Greese
Farmall repair, service and parts.
300 N. Bridge Street

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07/06/08

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There is something about a barn. When I walk into a barn I always feel a connection to the past, more then almost any other building. Barns were the center of the farm and saw hard work, toil and triumph. They were made to be used and a lonely unused barn is a terrible sight.

My grandparent’s barn on Tallman Road was always exciting to me. I could not visit them without also visiting the barn and the cattle within.  It was to the barn my cousins and I went to play during the summer and go sledding in the winter. It just always seemed to be there- dependable and protecting.

Our barn was built about 1889. It was called a “basement barn” at the time. So called because the first storey was stone and acted as a basement to the wooden barn above.
Originally, when you entered the barn, you came into a central aisle that divided the barn in half. I believe the East side was used for the draft horses, while the West half housed the cattle.

Behind the barn, in the center was a “hill” or dirt ramp that was used to allow horses to pull wagons of loose hay up to the second floor to the mow for storage. I never saw the operation myself, but ropes and pulleys would control hay slings or forks, which would lift the hay up to the rafters and then over to one side or the other for storage in the mow. In my time the hay was in bales, which were sent up on gas powered elevators (similar to conveyor belts). My cousins and I called the ramp “horse hill” since it was part of the paddock for my grandfathers palomino horse, Sheba. In the winter we used it for sledding.

Around 1940, my great-grandfather Fred rebuilt the rock walls of the barn that had become loose over the years. In that time the barn was reconfigured for the dairy operation they were starting. The central aisle was removed, opening up the entire barn. A long manger was installed with stanchions to hold the cows’ heads during milking. A small square milk-house was added also. In the back corner they built a strong bull pen of cement and iron bars.

In the 1950s my grandfather Vic switched to beef cattle. They were not as much daily work as dairy cattle, and so he increased the size of his herd. During this time the barn was expanded also. When he needed more hay storage, he added a back ell to the barn. Another addition added a long shed to the side of the barn to hold his growing herd. This is where my cousins and I would often play in the summer.

Barns were once so common, but now are getting to be a rare site. I hope everyone can appreciate them for the life and history they represent.

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Old Advertisement

Robke & Maxson
Complete farm supplies and repairs – “Make us your headquarters for all your farm needs”
phone 28, 524 N Clinton Street

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