Catawba County Dairy Farmers, 1945

By F.H. Jeter, State Extension Editor, N.C. State College, as published in the Newton News-Enterprise, Dec. 11, 1945

One Catawba dairyman, who is milking 25 cows, said he had hay to sell last winter at $40 a ton right at his farm and did not stint his cows the least bit. One of the interesting visits on my trip to that county was to the dairy of J.O. Lutz of Newton, Route 2. Mr. Lutz has a fine herd of between 50 and 60 Jerseys and is milking 30 head at this time. It did one good to see the bales of alfalfa hay stored in the hay shelter and the other, later cuttings, stored in the loft of his lounging barn. Mr. Lutz uses a hay drier and says if he had not had the drier he would have lost all of his last cuttings of his alfalfa.

A little farther down the road is the up-to-date dairy plant belonging to W.R. Lutz and Sons. This father and two sons own 148 Jersey cows and are milking 70 head at this time. They sell about 200 gallons of fine grade “A” milk each day. W.R. Lutz owns about 210 acres of fertile land on his home place and leases an additional 140 acres so as to be able to grow all the feed possible for his dairy herd. He has 30 acres in alfalfa and had to bale much of his cuttings this summer so as to make room for the late harvest. He also uses a hay drier and says he would not be without it again.

In the same neighborhood is the dairy farm of L.H. Seitz and sons, who own 70 Jersey cows and are milking 41 at this time. They have 30 acres of alfalfa on their 275-acre farm and they also have planted some good pastures, as have the Lutzs and the others.