Back in Time - Picking Up the Milk
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| Dean Weitzel Milk Truck Driver approximately 1976 |
Milk in the bulk tanks was tested before being picked up by the truck driver. Note in the photo below the driver has a sample bag in his right hand. If a producer's milk did not pass the inspection, the entire tank was dumped or arrangements were made for it to be sold to a cheese manufacturer in Afton, WY. I don't remember any of our milk being dumped or sold for cheese.
With so many dairies in Fremont County, milk was in surplus, so the local producers and those from Park County joined MEDA, which included Colorado dairy farms. Fremont and Park County dairies transported milk to Denver twice a week, a one-way journey of 366 miles from Riverton and 513 miles from Powell. The cost of transport was deducted from the farmer's checks. When the Morning Star Dairy closed, all the milk was trucked to Denver.
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| Dean visits with Rich (my brother) while the milk is pumped into the truck. Note the hose from the truck going into a small door in the barn wall. That hose was attached to the bulk milk tank inside the barn. The spiral wire plugged into the barn outlet is for the truck's electric pump. Dean is holding a milk sample in his right hand: milk in the bulk tanks was tested for quality and butter fat content and the price paid for the milk was determined by those tests. |
Dean was one of the drivers who picked up milk from the farm. Two different trucks were used, one with a semi trailer tank and one with a fixed tank.
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| Fixed tank milk truck (Penny on barn step) approximately 1978 |
I always look forward to your Back In Time posts. Thanks for sharing the photos and the memories.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the glimpse of how life was back when...love the simple honestly of it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice post...and a great picture of Dean. I like reading about the milk operation in Fremont County.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting.... I remember seeing dairy's and milk trucks picking up.... son-in-law had a dairy farm 15 years ago..
ReplyDeleteCool pictures. It's funny. My uncle had dairy cows (holsteins) in upstate Pennsylvania. I spent a bit of time on the farm. I remember the cows, but I don't remember trucks coming to pick up the milk. I'm sure they must have. It was a pretty big herd. He milked for Martin Dairy which later became Lehigh Valley Farms.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet tribute to a hard working man! I remember my mom pointing out the milk trucks to me and trying to explain how the milk got from the cow to the truck and into the bottles that were delivered to the house every week. It was all magic to me. Thanks for sharing Nancy!
ReplyDeleteFun post! I remember, especially when it's cold like now, when milk came in glass bottles on your porch and you had to bring it in quickly before it froze and broke the bottles.
ReplyDeleteawww how sweet of you to memorialize him here. I LOVE MIlk. My kids do too.
ReplyDeleteI am know to say , Ahhhh I love milk right as I drink a glassful. How can humans not love cows milk?
What a nice memorial! My paternal grandfather was a dairy farmer, as was his youngest son. I kinda' remember when we still had a milkman too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post. When we were first married the steel shop where my husband worked would have milk delivery.
ReplyDeletei remember the milk man coming a couple of times a week when I was a kid in Minnesota. Even the school got glass bottles of milk from the dairy. And one of my cousins drove a big milk truck with the fixed tank like in your picture. Thanks for bringing back some great memories.
ReplyDeleteThose are wonderful photos, I bet Dean had many stories to tell. We never had a bulk tank only milk cans...old style milking. I enjoyed this post very much:)
ReplyDeleteI love those photographs.
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