Yolo
County
Biographies
ASA J. MORRIS
The
name of Morris is inseparably identified with the live stock industry of the
Sacramento Valley, the organization known as the A. W. Morris & Sons
Corporation being known among dairymen from ocean to ocean. Remarkable success has crowned the labors of
father and sons in their efforts to advance and maintain the standard of the
great herd of Holstein cattle on their ranch in Yolo county,
and they are the proud owners of the world’s most famous Holstein cow, “Tilly
Alcartra,” which has been appropriately called “the most wonderful cow dairy
history has known.” A. W. Morris, a
native of Pennsylvania, came to Yolo county in young
manhood for the benefit of his health. He
was first employed here as a farm laborer, but soon became a land renter and
then an owner. He learned the dairy
business in every detail and with the sound judgment characteristic of the
family decided to go in for high-class breeding. In this work he was enthusiastically joined
by his sons and in the course of time, through their patient and painstaking
methods, they produced results which have startled the live stock world.
The
first cow in their herd to make a world record was “Aralia
DeKol.” She
made a world record for milk production in a year. After her came the great foundation cow, “Riverside
Sadie DeKol Burke,” with another world record for
milk production, but it remained for her daughter, “Tilly Alcartra,” to make a
record that will possibly never be surpassed as a milk producer. In reference to the data preserved on
these three animals, a recent issue of a prominent farm paper contained the
following reference to the methods used:
“The Morris herd of Holsteins is known throughout the United States and
Canada as the most productive group of animals in the long-period test class
the world has yet seen. A. W. and his
sons have specialized on the so-called long-time test, which means that the
animals have been tested for a year.
They were virtually pioneers at long-time testing in the breed, taking
up the work when many others were depending upon such short-time tests as seven
days and thirty days to give an idea of a cow’s productivity.” The leading newspapers and agricultural
magazines of the country have featured “Tilly Acartra,” the Associated Press has carried articles about
her, and Dr. Frank Crane, one of the highest paid syndicate writers in this
country, wrote an essay on her which was published in
fifty-two leading newspapers of the United States and Canada.
To
sum up the results of the work done by A. W. Morris & Sons in building up
their great Holstein herd, it may be recorded that they owned and developed the
first cow to produce over twenty-eight thousand pounds and the first cow to
make over thirty thousand pounds of milk in one year; the only cow to produce
over thirty-three thousand pounds of milk in one year and the only cow to give
sixty-three thousand pounds of milk in two years; the only cow to produce over
ninety-three thousand pounds of milk in three years and the only cow to make
over 120,000 pounds of milk in four years; the first two cows with over 50,000
pounds of milk in two years and the only forty-pound cow with over thirteen
hundred pounds of butter in one year; the only cow with a record of over eleven
hundred pounds of butter a year three times, the only cow that has made over
one thousand pounds of butter a year four times, and the only cow that averaged
over one thousand pounds of butter a year for six years; the only eleven
hundred pound cow that has two daughters and a granddaughter each above eleven
hundred pounds of butter in one year, and the only cow that made twenty-five
pounds of butter in seven days, eight months after calving, that has a daughter
and granddaughter with like records.
Asa J. Morris was born in Fresno, California, November 19,
1889, and is a son of Asa W. Morris, who was born at Waynesburg, Greene County,
Pennsylvania, May 8, 1857, and is represented on other pages of this work. Asa J. Morris was about two years of age when
the family came to Yolo County and he received his early education in the
schools of Eureka district, supplemented by a course in the Polytechnic
Business College of Oakland. He then
engaged in farming on the Conway ranch, which is a separate unit of the A. W.
Morris & Sons holdings of two thousand, four hundred acres of leased
land. He has had charge of this ranch
and it was here that “Tilly Alcartra” made her wonderful record as a milk
producer. There are now fifty head of
thoroughbred Holsteins on the Conway ranch and it is questionable if a more
valuable herd of like size exists anywhere.
In addition to this great herd of cattle, fine Duroc-Jersey hogs are
found on this ranch. The main grain crop
is barley, while alfalfa hay is also extensively raised. Mr. Morris was united in marriage to Miss Florence Grice, who
was born and reared at Knights Landing, Yolo county,
and they are the parents of two children, John Richard and Mary Ruth. Mr. Morris is progressive in his operating
methods, is a man of mature judgment in practical matters, and the success
which has crowned the efforts of the family has been largely due to his
personal labors along definite lines. He
is highly esteemed throughout the community where he has spent practically his
entire life and is regarded as one of its most prominent citizens.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 Pages 251-253. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Yolo County
Biographies