04/10/2026
During the early days of the Great Depression in 1929, 12-year-old Henry Berglund took over the night milking on his family’s failing dairy farm in Wisconsin. His father had fallen ill, and the bank was threatening to take the cows. Henry woke at 2 a.m. every night, walked through snow to the barn by lantern light, and milked all 18 cows by hand so the milk would be fresh for the morning creamery truck.
He sang old Norwegian songs to keep the cows calm and himself awake. When feed ran short, he mixed in chopped straw and prayed it would be enough. Because of Henry’s midnight work, the family kept the farm and the cows through the worst year. The milk checks, though small, kept food on the table.
Decades later Henry smiled and said, “Those cows and I saved each other. The bank could take the land, but they couldn’t take the milk from a boy who refused to quit.”
