WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, Madison, Wisconsin, Sunday, June 3, 1990, Page 2E: Co-op pioneer Harris left mark on dairy industry
Friends in Wisconsin have learned of the death in Florida of Floyd Harris, retired first general manager of Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative in Baraboo and a major contributor to dairy technology.
He was manager of Wisconsin Dairies when he bought the French Simone, the first continuous butter churn in America, for the merged dairy operation.
The butter-making system Harris introduced is now used throughout America, churning 95 percent of all butter made in the nation.
A self-taught dairy engineer and butter expert, Harris worked closely with the late Prof. L.C. Thomsen of the UW-Madison dairy science department and dairy consultant Nick Fabricius.
With UW-Madison, Harris helped develop processes to make products such as sterile milk, ice cream, dry and liquid dairy blends and many types of cheese.
His quest for better butter-making systems resulted in the purchase of a German-made Ben Hil high-speed soft butter packaging machine in 1965 for the Union Center plant. This machine and improvements made over the next three years made it possible for Wisconsin Dairies to package 18,000 quarter-pounds of butter per hour. What Harris saw as a possibility in 1965 now is used to package about 75 percent of all butter in the nation.
He also was a leader in bringing three cooperatives into one building, the Cooperative Service Center,serving Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative, Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association and Tri-State Breeders Cooperative.
Harris conceived the idea as computers started moving into the business world and the three organizations shared the same computer and office building. Wisconsin Dairies since has constructed its own larger office next to the center, north of Baraboo on Highway 12.
Harris, a former Baraboo resident, was born on a farm at Mount Tabor, near Hillsboro. A graduate of Hillsboro High School, he was 20 years old when he started in the dairy business at Hillpoint Cooperative Creamery.
He started as a milk tester, separator helper and butter maker. After seven years, he was promoted to manager of Hillpoint. He was the manager there for 15 years and was in charge when Hillpoint bought Nestle's plant in Reedsburg.
In 1950 he became manager of Wisconsin Creamery Cooperative in Sauk City. In that job he developed a system for the first liquid-petroleum-gas, direct-fired milk drier in the Midwest.
After the 1963 merger of Wisconsin Creamery Cooperative at Sauk City and Union Center's Wisconsin Creamery Association, Harris handled the administration of Wisconsin Dairies. During its early growth period, the dairies grew to an organization with 14 plants.
He died April 30 on his 83rd birthday in Titusville, Fla., where he and his wife, Bernadine, moved after his retirement. He suffered from cancer for a short time. He was buried in Loganville.
Melvin Sprecher, the first president of Wisconsin Dairies, said Harris was an excellent administrator "who could get his staff and employees to do things for the good of the cooperative.
"He was a dedicated cooperative leader who fully backed the formation of Wisconsin Dairies through merger because he believed farmers could benefit from such organizational strength," said Sprecher, of Sauk City.
Throughout his career as a cooperative manager, Harris had a knack for hiring capable staff. He also was able to work with large dairy companies, such as Kraft and Bordens, to supply them with the dairy products they needed.
Friends in Wisconsin have learned of the death in Florida of Floyd Harris, retired first general manager of Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative in Baraboo and a major contributor to dairy technology.
He was manager of Wisconsin Dairies when he bought the French Simone, the first continuous butter churn in America, for the merged dairy operation.
The butter-making system Harris introduced is now used throughout America, churning 95 percent of all butter made in the nation.
A self-taught dairy engineer and butter expert, Harris worked closely with the late Prof. L.C. Thomsen of the UW-Madison dairy science department and dairy consultant Nick Fabricius.
With UW-Madison, Harris helped develop processes to make products such as sterile milk, ice cream, dry and liquid dairy blends and many types of cheese.
His quest for better butter-making systems resulted in the purchase of a German-made Ben Hil high-speed soft butter packaging machine in 1965 for the Union Center plant. This machine and improvements made over the next three years made it possible for Wisconsin Dairies to package 18,000 quarter-pounds of butter per hour. What Harris saw as a possibility in 1965 now is used to package about 75 percent of all butter in the nation.
He also was a leader in bringing three cooperatives into one building, the Cooperative Service Center,serving Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative, Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association and Tri-State Breeders Cooperative.
Harris conceived the idea as computers started moving into the business world and the three organizations shared the same computer and office building. Wisconsin Dairies since has constructed its own larger office next to the center, north of Baraboo on Highway 12.
Harris, a former Baraboo resident, was born on a farm at Mount Tabor, near Hillsboro. A graduate of Hillsboro High School, he was 20 years old when he started in the dairy business at Hillpoint Cooperative Creamery.
He started as a milk tester, separator helper and butter maker. After seven years, he was promoted to manager of Hillpoint. He was the manager there for 15 years and was in charge when Hillpoint bought Nestle's plant in Reedsburg.
In 1950 he became manager of Wisconsin Creamery Cooperative in Sauk City. In that job he developed a system for the first liquid-petroleum-gas, direct-fired milk drier in the Midwest.
After the 1963 merger of Wisconsin Creamery Cooperative at Sauk City and Union Center's Wisconsin Creamery Association, Harris handled the administration of Wisconsin Dairies. During its early growth period, the dairies grew to an organization with 14 plants.
He died April 30 on his 83rd birthday in Titusville, Fla., where he and his wife, Bernadine, moved after his retirement. He suffered from cancer for a short time. He was buried in Loganville.
Melvin Sprecher, the first president of Wisconsin Dairies, said Harris was an excellent administrator "who could get his staff and employees to do things for the good of the cooperative.
"He was a dedicated cooperative leader who fully backed the formation of Wisconsin Dairies through merger because he believed farmers could benefit from such organizational strength," said Sprecher, of Sauk City.
Throughout his career as a cooperative manager, Harris had a knack for hiring capable staff. He also was able to work with large dairy companies, such as Kraft and Bordens, to supply them with the dairy products they needed.
WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, Madison, Wisconsin, Sunday, June 3, 1990, Page 2E: Co-op pioneer Harris left mark on dairy industry
Friends in Wisconsin have learned of the death in Florida of Floyd Harris, retired first general manager of Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative in Baraboo and a major contributor to dairy technology.
He was manager of Wisconsin Dairies when he bought the French Simone, the first continuous butter churn in America, for the merged dairy operation.
The butter-making system Harris introduced is now used throughout America, churning 95 percent of all butter made in the nation.
A self-taught dairy engineer and butter expert, Harris worked closely with the late Prof. L.C. Thomsen of the UW-Madison dairy science department and dairy consultant Nick Fabricius.
With UW-Madison, Harris helped develop processes to make products such as sterile milk, ice cream, dry and liquid dairy blends and many types of cheese.
His quest for better butter-making systems resulted in the purchase of a German-made Ben Hil high-speed soft butter packaging machine in 1965 for the Union Center plant. This machine and improvements made over the next three years made it possible for Wisconsin Dairies to package 18,000 quarter-pounds of butter per hour. What Harris saw as a possibility in 1965 now is used to package about 75 percent of all butter in the nation.
He also was a leader in bringing three cooperatives into one building, the Cooperative Service Center,serving Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative, Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association and Tri-State Breeders Cooperative.
Harris conceived the idea as computers started moving into the business world and the three organizations shared the same computer and office building. Wisconsin Dairies since has constructed its own larger office next to the center, north of Baraboo on Highway 12.
Harris, a former Baraboo resident, was born on a farm at Mount Tabor, near Hillsboro. A graduate of Hillsboro High School, he was 20 years old when he started in the dairy business at Hillpoint Cooperative Creamery.
He started as a milk tester, separator helper and butter maker. After seven years, he was promoted to manager of Hillpoint. He was the manager there for 15 years and was in charge when Hillpoint bought Nestle's plant in Reedsburg.
In 1950 he became manager of Wisconsin Creamery Cooperative in Sauk City. In that job he developed a system for the first liquid-petroleum-gas, direct-fired milk drier in the Midwest.
After the 1963 merger of Wisconsin Creamery Cooperative at Sauk City and Union Center's Wisconsin Creamery Association, Harris handled the administration of Wisconsin Dairies. During its early growth period, the dairies grew to an organization with 14 plants.
He died April 30 on his 83rd birthday in Titusville, Fla., where he and his wife, Bernadine, moved after his retirement. He suffered from cancer for a short time. He was buried in Loganville.
Melvin Sprecher, the first president of Wisconsin Dairies, said Harris was an excellent administrator "who could get his staff and employees to do things for the good of the cooperative.
"He was a dedicated cooperative leader who fully backed the formation of Wisconsin Dairies through merger because he believed farmers could benefit from such organizational strength," said Sprecher, of Sauk City.
Throughout his career as a cooperative manager, Harris had a knack for hiring capable staff. He also was able to work with large dairy companies, such as Kraft and Bordens, to supply them with the dairy products they needed.
Friends in Wisconsin have learned of the death in Florida of Floyd Harris, retired first general manager of Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative in Baraboo and a major contributor to dairy technology.
He was manager of Wisconsin Dairies when he bought the French Simone, the first continuous butter churn in America, for the merged dairy operation.
The butter-making system Harris introduced is now used throughout America, churning 95 percent of all butter made in the nation.
A self-taught dairy engineer and butter expert, Harris worked closely with the late Prof. L.C. Thomsen of the UW-Madison dairy science department and dairy consultant Nick Fabricius.
With UW-Madison, Harris helped develop processes to make products such as sterile milk, ice cream, dry and liquid dairy blends and many types of cheese.
His quest for better butter-making systems resulted in the purchase of a German-made Ben Hil high-speed soft butter packaging machine in 1965 for the Union Center plant. This machine and improvements made over the next three years made it possible for Wisconsin Dairies to package 18,000 quarter-pounds of butter per hour. What Harris saw as a possibility in 1965 now is used to package about 75 percent of all butter in the nation.
He also was a leader in bringing three cooperatives into one building, the Cooperative Service Center,serving Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative, Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association and Tri-State Breeders Cooperative.
Harris conceived the idea as computers started moving into the business world and the three organizations shared the same computer and office building. Wisconsin Dairies since has constructed its own larger office next to the center, north of Baraboo on Highway 12.
Harris, a former Baraboo resident, was born on a farm at Mount Tabor, near Hillsboro. A graduate of Hillsboro High School, he was 20 years old when he started in the dairy business at Hillpoint Cooperative Creamery.
He started as a milk tester, separator helper and butter maker. After seven years, he was promoted to manager of Hillpoint. He was the manager there for 15 years and was in charge when Hillpoint bought Nestle's plant in Reedsburg.
In 1950 he became manager of Wisconsin Creamery Cooperative in Sauk City. In that job he developed a system for the first liquid-petroleum-gas, direct-fired milk drier in the Midwest.
After the 1963 merger of Wisconsin Creamery Cooperative at Sauk City and Union Center's Wisconsin Creamery Association, Harris handled the administration of Wisconsin Dairies. During its early growth period, the dairies grew to an organization with 14 plants.
He died April 30 on his 83rd birthday in Titusville, Fla., where he and his wife, Bernadine, moved after his retirement. He suffered from cancer for a short time. He was buried in Loganville.
Melvin Sprecher, the first president of Wisconsin Dairies, said Harris was an excellent administrator "who could get his staff and employees to do things for the good of the cooperative.
"He was a dedicated cooperative leader who fully backed the formation of Wisconsin Dairies through merger because he believed farmers could benefit from such organizational strength," said Sprecher, of Sauk City.
Throughout his career as a cooperative manager, Harris had a knack for hiring capable staff. He also was able to work with large dairy companies, such as Kraft and Bordens, to supply them with the dairy products they needed.
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