The agricultural heritage of New Knoxville and the surrounding rural area goes much deeper than just the actual farming operations. The Brookside Farms Laboratory Association originated on a local dairy farm owned and operated by Mr. Edwin Richard (E. R.) Kuck, a great grandson of the Rev. F. H. W. Kuckherman, who came to this country from Germany in 1841. This article about the business was published on June 13,1980 in the St. Marys Evening Leader. The Brookside Farm and Brookside Sanitary Dairy was located at 09412 Botkins Angle Road.
A 1937 idea led to the beginning of Brookside Farms Laboratory Association, Inc.
When E. R. Kuck, dairy farmer in New Knoxville decided in 1937 to convert the smokehouse into a scientific farm research laboratory, he couldn’t possibly have foreseen the phenomenal consequences of that move. The early laboratory was established with the cooperation of Professor Oscar Erf (then in the Animal Husbandry Department at Ohio State University) in order to study various dairy animal disorders, but particularly the incidence of white scours in newly-born calves.
Kuck wondered what food elements the calves were lacking when they ate the finish coat from the plastered walls of their stalls. His investigation led him to pinpoint magnesium as the ingredient. Realizing the need for farm laboratory services, Kuck eventually organized a group of prominent men as charter members. In 1951 The Brookside Farms Laboratory Association, Inc., was set up. Basic requirements for the operational force were the agricultural chemist and the consultant who services the members’ needs at his personal farm level.
Some of the original members of The Brookside Farms Laboratory Association, Inc., included Martin A. Janis of Toledo; George T. Christopher of Tipp City; Clarence LeBus of Lexington, Ky.; Judge Raymond A. Younger of Celina; Charles Shuttleworth of Warren, Ind.; Andrew Skapura, the Brookside Consultant, of Lexington, Ky.; Mrs. Lucille L. Kuck, the wife of the founder, and several other prominent men. Senator Robert A. Taft was greatly interested in the scientific approach “the group” was making toward soil fertility problems particularly regarding the effect upon the health of livestock.
Mr. E. R. Kuck became a close personal friend and associate of Dr. William A. Albrecht, formerly Head of the Department of Agronomy at the University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. The philosophy of Balanced Soil Fertility and Balanced Animal Nutrition presented by the Agricultural Consultants of the association are the results of the life, work, and teaching of Dr. Albrecht who remained active with the organization until his passing in 1974.
When E. R. Kuck passed away in 1968, Mr. William L. Shriver became the second President of The Brookside Farms Laboratory Association, Inc. The organization grew from a sales volume of $250,000 a year to over $1,750,000 a year at the time of Mr. Shriver’s retirement in 1977. Membership grew from several hundred to 15,000 clients during this period and the laboratory is well known for its accuracy and excellence of analytical work. In 1977, William R. Swirbul became the third president of the association. The organization chose an experienced consultant to become its new leader.
Today, Brookside is one of the largest private laboratories in the country doing soil testing and feed analysis testing and is first in the field of coordinated soil, plant, and animal nutrition. The association has 165 agricultural consultants working in 26 states, Canada, New Zealand, Europe, and South America. A Brookside consultant is trained to present a program of Balanced Soil Fertility and Balanced Animal Nutrition to the farmer. The association in New Knoxville is in the heart of the best agricultural producing land of central Ohio. The association functions through agricultural consultants upon invitation or referral. Working on a contracted basis, they extend the usefulness of the analytical laboratory directly to each farm, without detours, by means of a sample report system in the following manner: Samples are pulled from the area in a prescribed method. These are primarily soil, but may also be whatever other resources deemed to be pertinent to the existing problems, such as haylage, commercial feeds, corn silages, water, blood, herbicide-pesticide, tissue samples, etc.
The samples are then sent to the laboratory for quantitative analysis. The results are recorded in a detailed report which is returned to the consultant, who meets again with his clients to interpret the findings and make recommendations to bring the soils into a balanced fertility—consultation continues for 12 months for an annual fee.
Today, the Brookside Farms Laboratory Association, Inc. is one of the larger independent agricultural consulting organizations in the country. Brookside can offer the farmer a total consulting program with emphasis on Balanced Soil Fertility and Balanced Animal Nutrition. Our client total now exceeds 19,000 farmers. The laboratory employs five staff members and approximately 35 full time laboratory technicians and office workers. The laboratory analyzes over 110,000 soil samples and 12,000 feed samples yearly. The association was one of the first organizations in the country to become involved in herbicide-pesticide analysis in soils and plant tissues. Sales of the association will total $3,000,000 in 1980.
Chairman of the board is John W. Mayhugh of Virginia; president is William R. Swirbul of Ohio; vice president is Robert J. Boehle of Illinois; secretary is Albert L. Webster of Indiana and treasurer is James B. Swan of New York.