River Road Veterinary Clinic

River Road Veterinary Clinic
P O Box 309
Norwich, Vermont 05055
802-649-3877

Green Acres Farm
1920-2001

@ North Hartland, Vt.
1920-1994

@ Randolph Center, Vt.
1994-2001

Green Acres Farm in North Hartland, Vermont was purchased by J. F. Withington in 1910 from Mr. Dunbar, who with his three brothers, owned four adjoining farms bordering the Connecticut River. Over the following five decades Green Acres acquired most of the tillable land, some pasture land, and several acres of timber land from the three adjoining farms bringing the total acreage of Green Acres Farm to 300 acres. This included 100 acres of rich, river-bottom land bordering the Connecticut River. In the mid 1960's Interstate 91 took 43 acres of pasture land.

Philo T. Withington was the youngest of J.F.'s nine children and the only one interested in continuing to maintain the farm. After high school he attended Agriculture School in Lyndonville, Vermont. It was there, in the mid 1920's, he met W. Arthur Simpson and began his interest in the Milking Shorthorn cattle. Philo was married in 1932 and Ruth Withington Shumway was born in 1933.

There were many small farms around at this time and most of them had a few Shorthorns. During the late1920's and early 1930's Philo purchased several registered females and always bred them to registered bulls. Several of these bulls were from the Simpson herd of Lydonville. The first bulls used were Walgrove King Conqueror and Queenston Ruth's Lad. Willowdale Crown Prince came from the Simpson farm and was used for many years before being sold to the Maine A.I. stud. W.C.Prince was sired by Wachix out of Snowdrop Lou. Another Simpson bull, Lyndon Oxford Led, from Lou Pride 3rd, was used for many years. Sons of a Canadian bull, Wicklesham Lord Wildeyers and Neralcarn King Arthur were also used. There was a special pen in the original barn where the bulls were kept. It was a common practice to raise or buy a registered bull for breeding purposes. That practice faded out as more A.I. companies became established and were able to offer a greater selection of bulls.

Over the years Green Acres Farm has used bulls from several A.I. studs including such names as Conbo, Matchless, Red Cedar Dan, Pacesetter, Princess Promise, Clayside Royal Prince, Marlin, Bigtime, Red Cedar Master, Dairyman, Dusty K Schie, Mike, Broker, Outlaw, Peerless, Clay and some assorted others less well known.

More than half of the cows all trace back to a Tangerine cow. The Cate farm of New Hampshire bought one of her daughters, Tootsie, who has done very well in their herd. The Reserve Grand Champion Cow at the 2000 National show is a direct descendent from this family.

The flower family (original cow- Daisy-a Queenstar Ruth's Lad daughter with a milk record of over 10,000 lbs/ year at a 4.3-4.5 test) included two of her daughters. They were Tulip, a Willowdale Crown Prince and Daffodil, a Neracam King Arthur son. The Green Acres consignment in the 2000 National Sale was from this family. The last registered female bought into the herd was Butterfly, purchased from the Simpson farm in 1960. This cow was sired by a New Zealand bull and had a Pacesetter daughter from which there are several offspring.

Ruth joined 4-H in 1944. Her first two show animals were both sired by Willowdale Crown Prince. She was very active in showing at the local fairs and in 1947 she showed at the big E for the first time with a senior yearling. This heifer was first in the 4-H show and took second in the open show judged by Keith King.

Green Acres Farm has been a familiar name on both the local and many New England dairy shows since that time. In 1971 Green Acres Milking Shorthorns won both premier breeder and premier exhibitor awards. Philo and his string of show animals were a fixture at the fairs until his death in 1980. Many Green Acres heifers have been sold over the years to young herds starting out and a great number to 4-H er's. Ruth has always tried to help 4-H ers pick out good competitive animals and has sold them at very reasonably prices. Over the years some of these animals have gone on to be very successful in the show ring. Others have been purchased from national auctions or private sales and are scattered through the country, even in California.

For the past few years Ruth's granddaughter, Kylie Daniels, has been showing the "fair string" at several shows. Kylie, now a senior at UVM and well known in the animal science department, was very active in 4-H for 10 years showing her grandmother's cows and acquiring a few of her own. Green Acres had two nominees for All American in 1998 and have nominated two for the 2000 All American. Peter Cate from New Hampshire nominated his junior calf for 2000 All American, which was purchased from Green Acres. She was first in her class at the National Show in Madison this past fall.

The late 60's and 70's saw many changes in the original farm. The red "round" barn was added onto twice increasing cow size to 150 head. In 1974 the round barn burned and some shorthorns were lost. A straight tie stall barn that held 100 head was built as a replacement. At this time the majority of the animals were registered Holsteins and Green Acres became Farm #1 (Holsteins) and Farm #2 (Shorthorns) for DHIA testing purposes. The GA Shorthorns have been on DHIA continuously for 60 years. In the 1940' s with many Crown Prince daughters milking the herd average on test was between 8000 and 9000 lbs. The herd average as of January 2001 was 14,500 lbs. Individually there have been cows on test with more than 100 lbs for three and four months.

In 1994 Green Acres Farm of North Hartland was sold along with its herd of Holsteins. Ruth Shumway moved all of her Milking Shorthorn cattle, a total of 78 animals, to their current home in South Randolph, Vermont. The new home is much smaller with only 96 acres, most of which is pasture. All feed is purchased from local farmers. Each year several heifer calves are sold to 4-H ers and all bull calves go to Maine to be paired for working steers.

The milk from Ruth's farm is shipped to Agri-Mark. Ruth has consistently been an award winner and just recently was awarded Agri-Mark's "Top Quality Production" award.

Please feel free to stop by and see these Green Acres Milking Shorthorns. Call Ruth at (802) 728-4961 (mailing address Rd#1 Box 389 Randolph Ctr., VT 05061).