1940 was the 8th year of the Farm show and included the following exhibitors with very familiar names in 2018: Soil Conservation Service, Agriculture Conservation Program, VDIA, Maple Sugarmakers, Department of Agriculture, Extension, County Farm Bureaus (Addison, Chittenden, Orange, Rutland, Washington and Windham) as well as the Vermont Farm Bureau, UVM, FFA, DHIA, Grange and the Vermont Jersey Cattle Club.
Ads included:
The Vermont State School of Agriculture: “A Good School for Farm Boys”
The Dairy Association Company of Lyndonville
Palmer’s Vigorous Vermonters (poultry!)
Metropolitan Cooperative Milk Producers Bargaining Agency, Inc., marketed their “Surplus Control Plan” to its members: Bennington County CoOp, Fair Haven Milk Producers, Mettowee Valley Coop Milk Producers, Mississquoi Valley Milk Producers, Otter Valley Milk Producers, Rupert Milk Producers and Slate Valley Coop Milk Producers.
In the 1941 brochure, exhibitors included DeLaval, Vermont FFA and Leader Evaporator, and the Farm Show hosted the State Corn Husking Contest!!
According to the 1945 program, the Farm Show featured:
The 11th Annual Product Show
The 72nd Annual Meeting of the Vermont Dairymen’s Association (founded in 1869 and a founding member of the Farm Show),
The 12th Annual Baby Chick Show, and
The 1st Vermont Feed Dealers and Manufacturers Annual Meeting!
It was also the first meeting of the Vermont Dairy Goat Association, and Purina Mills in St. Johnsbury (ET and HK IDE) was a major advertiser.
The program for the Vermont Dairymen’s Association included a speech about the “Growth Development and Probable Future of Artificial Breeding as a Means of Herd Improvement.”
Contests for products included apples, bread, butter, cake, corn, dressed poultry, eggs, hay, honey, maple, oats, potatoes and baby chicks.
Vermont Farm Bureau President AH Packard donated the Sweepstakes Cup to the Winner of the Potato Contest.
An ad: “Buy War bonds and Stamps with your winnings at Vermont Farm Products Show”
Cabot Creamery’s first year of exhibiting was 1945.
Bellfeuille Farm won the DHIA contest in 1943 and 1944 for 4% milk: 1943 1944 Lbs of milk 9,984 10,564 Test 5.46% 5.4% Lbs of fat 545.5 586 # cows 17.8 18.3 Lbs grain/cow 2,700 3,450 Profit above feed per cow $312.59 $389.00
In 1951, the Vermont Farm Show had moved to Barre. It was the first time the Vermont State Beekeepers Association held a meeting, and a first exhibitor was HP Hood and Sons.
An ad ran for Fred Peaslee in Guildhall, which included potatoes and a Hereford Herd Sire.
Shadewell Farm Jerseys, HP and GH Ricker in Groton VT boasted this: 1944 16 cows 7,039 lbs milk 387 lbs fat 1950 20.3 cows 8,713 lbs milk 486 lbs fat
Brigham Farms, St Albans also boasted: Year Cows Milk % Fat 1941 124 9,734 5.26 512 1945 143 10,058 5.24 527 1949 104 11,703
