Ben Schoessow on the Farmdale Road, and Ed Nieman on the
Highladn Road owned two large herds of Holsteins. All
of the above at sometime belonged to the Ozaukee Country.
By 1890, the Town of Mequon had been divided into smaller
farms of 160 acres or less with one exception, that of
Fred Dobberphul who had 200 acres. Most all of these
farms had some cows, a few pigs for slaughtering for
family meat supply, chickens, maybe a few sheep kept
mainly for the wool They also had a few horses, de-
pending on the size of the farm.
Some of the grain they raised was fed back to the animals.
Some grain, such as winter wheat and some barley, was
grown to be sold. Later cash crops such as peas for
canning and for seed, sweet corn and beets for canning,
and sugar beets. An abundance of maple sugar was made
from the sap gathered in the spring from maple trees of
which there were plenty.
Then there was the dairy farmer who depended mostly on the
income received from shipping milk or cream to the City
for homes and institutional consumption. At first there
was not too much supervision. Milk was generally
accepted as shipped to the milk distributors. Later on,
cleanliness of the container (milk cans) wherein shipped
was closely scrutinized. Then the barns where the cattle
from whence came the milk that was shipped were inspected
for cleanliness. Later on the inside of the barns had to