TRAVERSE CITY -- The northern Michigan community gathered Sunday to celebrate the life and legacy of Traverse Colantha Walker, a world champion milk producer who was raised at the former Traverse City State Hospital.
The 2nd Annual Colantha Walker Dairy Festival was held at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons. The first event of its kind last year was an "udder" success and festival organizers "milked it" for even more fun this time around!
While Colantha Walker was one of 96 Holstein-Friesian cows in the hospital's herd, she was a hoof ahead of the crowd. In 1926 she produced 22,918 pounds of milk. The milk production from just that single year made her the highest producer in the world!
From 1912 to 1932 Colantha Walker produced 200,114.9 pounds of milk. An amazing number when you compare it to the average production of 3,918 pounds of milk from your 'run of the mill' cow at the time.
