Description
The Grabow Collection contains biographical materials, correspondence, writings and other memorabilia pertaining to the life
and activities of Herman Grabow.
Background
Herman Grabow (1898-1993) was a cow tester, dairyman, radio personality, journalist and lobbyist for the California Grange.
Trained as a cow tester at the University of Minnesota,
Grabow came to California in 1923, where he found work as a tester in Ventura County. After losing his dairy in the midst
of the Great Depression, Grabow came to San Joaquin County where he acquired a spread that was being sold for back taxes.
With financial help from Roosevelt's New Deal, Grabow bought alfalfa seed and twenty cows. By the late 1930s he was well-established
and had became Director of the local artificial insemination association. From the 1940s, Grabow also became a farmers' advocate.
He worked for forty years to advance the cause of the California dairy industry through legislation and advertising as President
of the California Dairymen, Inc. and as a lobbyist for the California State Grange. Grabow also published a regular column
on dairy-related topics in the California Farmer during the 1960s. He will be well- remembered among dairymen in particular
for his contributions to the passage of the California Milk Pooling Act (1969), which gave independent dairymen greater protection
from milk price fluctuations.