The Miracle Cow of Pullman
A world-record-breaking Ayrshire cow at the State College of Washington yields ten tons of milk in a single year, proving a profitable asset for the local agricultural industry.
The story, cleaned up
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Chinook Peter Pan Bessie has made a world’s record, producing 10 tons of milk at the low cost of $192 at the State College of Washington, where she was bred in the Ayrshire herd. She has just completed her fourth consecutive Advanced Registry record, at 7 years of age, with 20,072 pounds of milk testing 3.82 per cent, with 766.29 pounds of butterfat. During the four years since she began with her first calf as a senior 2-year-old, she has officially produced 53,264 pounds of milk. Prof. B. V. Ellington of the dairy department of the college predicts many more yearly records for her. The past year, she was fed a standard ration including sunflower silage, alfalfa hay, and a grain mix of mill run, rolled barley, and linseed oil meal. As the milk sold for $840.25, the net profit from this cow for the year was $648.02.
“Her daily average for the year was 55 pounds of milk and on the last day of the year she milked 50 pounds.”
The State College of Washington, now Washington State University, remains a pillar of regional agricultural research. This story captures the era's obsession with industrial-scale efficiency in farming, a precursor to the massive, data-driven dairy operations that dominate Washington's agricultural economy today.
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