Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D8275-1
Date(s)
- 1939-05 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Holstein dairy cows lumber across the Western State Hospital dairy farm at Steilacoom. There are more than 200 cows in the herd. Individually, the Steilacoom cows produce more milk than any other herd in the United States; the hospital's Prilly Ormsby Blossom, who died at the age of 17 in 1938, holds the all-time world's title for producing the most milk--258,209 pound of milk and 9,556.5 pounds of butterfat. The hospital started the herd in 1914. During that year, the government required tests on cows for tuberculosis. Some prize cows were blacklisted for commercial milk production. Purchasing only the blue ribbon prize winners, the hospital began a herd with the diseased cattle. The milk was pasteurized before consumption. Since the disease is not congenital, it gradually disappeared from the herd. By 1926, the herd was free from TB, but their superior breeding made them the best dairy cattle in the country. The farm's cattle, poultry, swine, and large vegetable and fruit gardens are maintained by the staff and patients at the Steilacoom hospital. (T. Times, 5/11/39, p. 2).
Mental institutions--Lakewood; Asylums--Lakewood; Institutional care--Lakewood; Farms--Lakewood; Western State Hospital (Lakewood); Cattle; Cows;