Carleton dairy herd

The Carleton dairy herd was a well-known and prize winning milk production herd maintained at the Carleton farm which was centered at Farm House (near the water tower).

Carleton bought the Frank Parr family farm in 1914 and it became the Carleton Dairy Farm. One purpose of the farm was to offer student employment to young men who had grown up on farms.

The herd earned a reputation as one of the best milk producing herds in Minnesota. When the herd was sold in 1964, the cows were highly prized and quite valuable. The auction attracted buyers from several states.

For one year, in 1919, the farm was the site of the Agriculture Department. Assistant Professor Frederick F. Showers, farm manager, was the only faculty appointment. Two courses were offered, Animal Husbandry and Plant Life on the Farm.

The two residences now known as Farm House and Parr House were built in the 1920s by the college for the farm enterprise.

The dairy herd used to provide milk for the college food service. The milk was responsible for a polio outbreak in the mid-1920s. A doctor from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota identified the cause, and milk was pasturized from that time on.