Farm Animals

Back when Oliver Kelley founded the National Grange, farmers didn't realize that scientific breeding practices could improve the growth and production of farm livestock. The Grange tried to teach farmers to improve their herds by fencing in livestock to prevent them from breeding with unimproved animals. By selectively breeding the best livestock, improvements in farm animals were made.

Southdown sheep, like the ones Kelley wrote about in his newspaper column in the 1850s, provided both meat and wool. Farmers like Kelley raised sheep for the market and for their own tables.

Pigs were important sources of meat and income for 19th-century farmers like Kelley, who promoted improved breeds of hogs, like Berkshires.

The Dominique chicken was an important contributor to the family farm in the 19th century. Young hatches of chicks provide for future laying hens and a breeding flock.

Not all of the work for horses is done in the fields. A team of horses walk in a two-horsepower treadmill to power a grain threshing machine. Book farmers like Kelley used horse power as much as possible to improve their farm production and make more money.