By Hilary Ruffini and Syd Pickerell, BC Farm Museum
John Berry was founder and later President of the Fraser Valley Milk Producers’ Association. In 1910, this organization was formed to make sure that farmers got a fair price for their milk.
The Berry family owned and ran Belmont Dairy Farm near Langley Prairie and when they put in their first milking machine electricity had not arrived at their farm yet. To run the new system, including the vacuum pump, it was bull-power they used. Their 2000-pound bull walked a tread mill (for exercise) and the tread mill ran the machines to milk the 50 cows.
For years, Berry’s Belmont Farm was known as the “farm where the bull milked the cows.” A similar large animal tread mill in working order can be viewed at the BC Farm Museum in Fort Langley
Photos Credit: BC Farm Museum
