Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station 
BULLETIN 88. JUNE, 1904. 
Dairying on the Plains. 
By J. E. PAYNE. 
History. During the days of mail coaches a milch cow was 
a curiosity on the Plains west of Fort Kearney. Probably the old 
hunters occasionally captured a buffalo cow and amused them¬ 
selves trying to extract enough lacteal fluid to tone their strong 
coffee, but I doubt that their efforts were successful, except as an 
amusement. Those were the days of condensed milk, and they 
all found it easier to milk the can than to can buffalo milk. 
Rater, when the Texas longhorns had taken the place of the buf¬ 
falo, the cowboy who had the hardihood to try milking the dun 
Texas heifer probably extracted as much fun per quart of milk 
obtained as did the hunter who milked the buffalo “bossy.” When 
the large companies took possession of the country, the horde of 
high-salaried officers who occasionally visited the “home camps” 
of the companies, had to have more delicate food than the jerked 
steer and drop biscuits which prevailed at many cow camps. So 
good milch cows were brought in and kept in enclosures near the 
permanent camp or home ranches of the outfits. These supplied 
plenty of milk, cream and butter and enabled the cooks to manu¬ 
facture dishes fitted for the palates of the rulers of the range. Of 
course the old hen also lent her portion to the feasts. Ranches 
fitted in that way were exceptions in those days, but some of those 
located hundreds of miles from towns would be able to furnish 
many luxuries to the visitor. 
When settlement first came into eastern Colorado there was a 
good local demand for dairy products. A few settlers brought 
cows with them, many had worked at dairying in their old homes 
and they saw the opportunities open to them in that line in the 
new country. When new settlers were constantly coming into the 
country, times were good and poor men could live by working for 
those who had brought money with them. But when the hard 
years of 1893 and 1894 came, this source of revenue for the poor 
man was cut off. Most of the men who had extra riches left the 
