Barber County is generally thought of as a beef producing county but
  about all of the farms 40 years ago had a few cows that wre milked for
  home use and to sell a little cream. About 1950 there was a change in
  the marketing of milk. Wichita, Kansas, had a market for Grade A Milk
  so some of the farms in the eastern part of the county fixed their
  stantion barns and made a milk house to meet grade A regulations and 
  sold whole milk in 10 gallon cans. The price of milk in 1950 at the
  farm was $4.00 to $4.50 per hundred pounds. By 1960 there were about
  40 or 50 dairymen selling milk in Barber County.
     The 1970's brought a big change in the dairy industry. AMPI (Associated
  Milk Producers Inc.) was formed. It is the largest dairy Co-op in the
  United States. Today there are just 8 or 9 dairies in the county and the
  stanchion barn has been replaced with a milking parlor and milk pipeline
  which takes the milk from the cow to the bulk tank. The bulk tanks hold
  1,000 gallons to 2,000 gallons, the milk is cooled as soon as it is
  milked and is held at about 33 degrees till it is picked up by a 5,000
  gallon 18 wheeler.
     The average dairyman in Barber Conty produceds about 3,000 to 4,000
  pounds per day with an average price for 1979 of $12.00 per hundred pounds.
  The average herd size is about 80 to 100 cows. The dairyman raises his
  heifer calves for replacements of cows in the milking herd and the steer
  calves are sold for beef. Calves are fed a milk supplement which is a
  product of the industry.
     Slurry systems, liquid waste disposal, which some have is used for
  fertilizer on the fields.
     The dairy industry has come a long way in the past thirty years. Very
  few farmers even keep cows to produce milk for their own use. With
  pasteurization and homogenization, health qualities have been improved.
                  
     Source:Chosen Land - Barber County, Kansas,  pg. 12
     Submitted by: K. Dale Werner