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Old KBS BarnsIn 1929 W. K Kellogg donated worn out land that had been under cultivation for over 100 years for a demonstration farm to Michigan State College, now Michigan State University.  C.M. McCrary became the first farm manager in 1930.  From early on Kellogg and McCrary recognized the importance of forage and pasture in building good quality soil.  Guernsey cows and White Leghorn hens were the two main livestock species on the farm in the beginning.  Twenty-eight purebred Guernsey cows, purchased in 1928, were the foundation of the original dairy herd.  The Kellogg Farm dairy herd was recognized as one of the best Guernsey herds in the US before being sold in the late 1970's.

With financial support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation MSU constructed a new dairy at the Kellogg Biological Station in the 1984 to support research, outreach, and education goals of MSU.  When constructed the facility represented the ‘state-of-the-art’ in dairy production and reflected the industry trend by going to Holstein cattle.

That facility included a free-stall barn with a double-6 herringbone-milking parlor and milked about 100 cows 3 times per day.   Milk production was about 25,000 lbs per cow year (9 gallons per day) just prior to transitioning to the pasture-based system.

That facility was in operation until 2009 when the farm transitioned to the current pasture-based dairy.Historic Guernsey photo