PaPa Simpson's Farm

About Us:

PaPa Simpson's Farm is located on land that has deep roots of family farming history dating back to the late 1800s. Now six generations have experienced the values gleaned from this property that God created and has continued to let our family be caretakers. These values are what we hope to share with the visitors that come to tour our farm.

In 1877, William Simpson stowed away on a ship from England to escape the royal service to Queen Victoria. His dream was to acquire a promising new home, a new and better opportunity, and to provide his family with a better way of life' to seek the American Dream. He eventually settled in Claiborne Parish and began farming the land to provide for his family. Cotton, corn, sugarcane, vegetables, fruit trees, cattle, horses, and mules were grown to feed the family or used to trade or sell for other necessary staples needed by the family.

William's son, Fred W. Simpson acquired adjoining land and continued the farming operation. Fred and Nannie Mae Rich Simpson reared twelve children on the farm. Crops were grown and sold, cows were hand milked to provide fresh milk, butter, and cheese for the family and the extra milk, butter, and cheese was either traded or sold to neighbors or people living in town. This eventually was the roots of the family farm entering into the dairy farm business.

In 1948, Calvin Simpson, Pa Fred's and Miss Nan's ninth child returned home from the U.S. Air Force with the idea of starting a commercial dairy operation with his father using their land and the land he had purchased while in the Air Force. Electric milkers were purchased and milk was stored in 5 or 10 gallon cans and placed in water to be cooled. These cans of milk were picked up and hauled to Meadowgold Dairy in Ruston, Louisiana. Here the milk was pasteurized, packaged, and delivered directly to the homes in the area. Later a bulk cooling milk tank along with a pipeline system that carried the milk from the cow to the tank was installed. This was one of the first of its kind in the area. Jersey cows were the breed of choice to begin with due to the "richness" of their milk. But in 1958 some Holstein cows were purchased due to the enormous amount of milk they produced. Around 1962, Fred and Calvin had the first cow to produce 100 pounds of milk per day in Claiborne Parish.