DAIRIES. Because Northern Kentucky has a strong agricultural tradition, it is not surprising that an estimated 500 dairies operated in the region before 1920. In addition, individual farms (see Truck Farming), working on a smaller scale, supplied dairies with dairy produce. The regional daily demand for dairy products to be pasteurized, homogenized, and refrigerated is what sustained such a large number of dairies. As the region’s population grew, and as milk production became more regulated and industrialized, many of the dairies—their names now lost—were bought out or merged with larger ones. By the 1920s, 54 dairies operated in Northern Kentucky. No documented history indicates which one was the first to become an independent business. However, the Trauth Dairy in Newport can claim to be the only remaining milk plant in Northern Kentucky. It was established in 1920, when Louis Trauth and his wife Clara Stephany Trauth bought one milk route from Fred Schuerman’s Dairy. Schuerman’s farm was located where the Newport Shopping Center is today; and Trauth continues to expand its operations to this day around the intersection of 11th and Monmouth Sts. in Newport, just to the north of the shopping center. Besides Trauth Dairy, Campbell Co. was home to companies such as Sealtest (Newport) and Clover Leaf Dairy. Clover Leaf, founded by Emmert J. Marschman in about 1915 on Johns Hill Rd. in
Cold Spring, later opened its processing plant in Newport. Beginning with a store in Fort Thomas in 1937, Clover Leaf’s “dairy bars” were precursors to modern convenience stores, selling milk and dairy products as well as deli and grocery items. Their popularity was evidenced in 1956 when the brand new Newport Shopping Center included a Clover Leaf Dairy Bar. Also in Campbell Co. were George B. Moock’s dairy farm on Moock Rd. in Southgate and the associated processing plant called Hiland Dairy in Newport; Jansing Dairy in Wilder, at Licking Pk. and Three Mile Rd.; Feldmann Dairy on Licking Pk. (Feldmann’s dairy barn later served as the Wilder police station); and Jersey Farms Dairy in Fort Thomas, purchased by Clover Leaf in 1952. The H. Meyer Dairy Company of Cincinnati purchased the Clover Leaf milk processing plant in Newport in the mid-1970s, and in 1984 Trauth Dairy bought Clover Leaf’s ice cream facility. In Kenton Co., Buttermilk Pk. in Crescent Springs and Villa Hills was lined with dairy farms, and they remained until I-75 was constructed during the 1960s. Local legend has it that Buttermilk Pk. was so named not only because of the large number of dairies but also because transporting milk over the bumpy dirt road on a humid day would churn the milk and turn it into buttermilk. In the 1880s this area had several dairies, including the Echo Dairy, run by Joseph Cleveland; the Th irs Dairy, operated by Amos Collins; and two dairies owned by Col. J. G. Anderson, one of which was known as the List Dairy. The city of Edgewood was developed from lands acquired by the sale of dairy farms, including the Edgewood Dairy Farm, owned by the Requardt family. The Summit Hills Golf and Country Club in Edgewood was once the Hartke Dairy, and the country club’s original clubhouse had previously been the dairy’s two-story barn. The Foltz
Theodore Joseph Hanneken of Hanneken Dairy (purchaser of the Steffen Dairy Company), 624 Scott St., Covington. To the right is the Packard automobile dealership of Louie Meyer.
Dairy, located on Dudley Rd. in Edgewood, sold its milk to local producers and stayed in operation until 1987. The Rehkamp Dairy on the Three-L Highway (LLL), which started as a distributor, eventually became a full-service dairy. The Steenken family owned two dairies in Fort Mitchell. Their dairy on Highland Ave. produced milk that was sold to processing plants. The family also contracted to milk cows for other farms, since there were enough family members to provide the manual labor needed to milk cows twice daily. A number of dairies were located in Covington. The Trenkamp Dairy operated on W. 11th St. until the 1950s, and the Hanneken Dairy, which bought out the Steffen Dairy, was headquartered at 624 Scott St. The Hanneken family partnered with the Rehkamps and relocated to 533 Pike St. (now 533 Goetta Pl.) in what is now Glier’s Goetta, formerly part of the Bavarian Brewing Company. Clover Leaf Dairy bought the Hanneken Dairy in July 1964. Also in Covington was the French Bauer Dairy Products Company, a cooperative of farmers. The Latonia Springs Dairy, named after the defunct Latonia Springs resort and located along the Three-L Highway (LLL) in what is now Fort Wright, was operated by the Ratermann family. According to Bob Ratermann, the Latonia Springs Dairy farm included as many as 113 head of cattle, which had to be milked twice daily (4:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.). The Ratermanns, along with their cousins the Summes, had a processing plant called Summe and Ratermann Company at 224 E. 20th St. in Covington; it later added the Latonia Springs brand name. Charles Summe, a descendant, recalled that most dairies had two kinds of cows, Holstein cows because they produced volume and Jersey cows because they produced more milk butterfat. Milk was bought based on the amount of butterfat and the weight of the milk. Often milk from the Jersey cows and the Holstein cows would be mixed to get the right percentage of fat. This was most important in the production of ice cream. Summe stated that the initial step in a purchase was to smell the milk, to make sure it did not smell like the wild onions that the cows often ate. Once it passed the “smell test,” the milk would be tested for fat content and tasted for sweetness. Summe added that before the invention of dry ice and refrigeration, milk could be easily stored beyond daily usage in the winter, but in the summer milk was harder to store; it was often preserved by placing containers of it in the cool water of a well. The Summe and Ratermann Dairy closed in 1965, three years after selling its milk delivery routes to Clover Leaf Dairy. In the twentieth century, many dairies were not full-service but carried out only a part of the larger production process. For instance, one dairy farm would raise cows and sell the milk to a local processing plant. That plant, after processing was completed, would either label and distribute the milk or sell it to another distributor. Some dairies only shipped milk under their labels, while other dairy farmers sometimes contracted with members of their families to do milking at a neighbor’s dairy farm.