History

The Spooner Agricultural Research Station was established in 1909 when the city of Spooner donated 80 acres of sandy loam soil to the University of Wisconsin. An additional 80 acres adjoining the original was purchased from Mabel Dodge in 1911. In 1931, 243 acres were purchased from J.D. Thomas. Highway sales in 1963 and 1985 totaled 15 acres, resulting in the present size of 388 acres.

Crop improvement has been an important task at the station. The station produced Wisconsin #25 open pollinated dent corn and Spooner oats, both good selections at the time. The station was instrumental in the development, release, and maintenance of Wisconsin Early Black, Flambeau, 606 Manchu, and 507 Mandarin soybeans.

In 1923, the station undertook the inbreeding of corn and by 1929 made the first early experimental double hybrids. The station supervised the production and processing of foundation seed stocks, reaching a high of 3,602 acres in 1946. The station pioneered the use of irrigation on farm crops.

The sheep project on the Spooner station was taken on in 1936 after an outbreak of Brucellosis in the herd of dairy cattle. The herd of 25 was disposed of and the sheep project was initiated to utilize excess roughage. Research of all kinds, from pasture studies to introduction of the Targhee breed to Wisconsin, has been done. In 1995 the Station began pioneering research in the dairy sheep industry and remains the definitive source for dairy sheep information in the country. The station has hosted the Spooner State Sheep Day for 51 years and is instrumental in the planning and execution of the Annual Great Lakes Dairy Sheep Symposium which has been held in Madison, Wisconsin; Brattleboro, Vermont; Guelph, Ontario, Canada; Quebec City, Quebec, Canada and Hudson, Wisconsin as well as in Spooner.

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