City’s Last Cow Herd Sold as Sons Take Over Dairy

Long Beach’s last herd of dairy cows was shipped off to greener pastures last week as the owners of Paul’s Dairy prepared to turn over the family business to their sons.

The 200 Holstein and Brown Swiss cows were sold to a Bakersfield dairy, where they will continue to produce milk. The dairy’s lone bull will be slaughtered.

Paul’s Dairy had maintained its herd for 52 years on Paramount Boulevard, along with a milk-processing plant and a drive-through store. But owners Paul Lussman--the 64-year-old son of founder Paul Lussman Sr.--and Fritz Binggeli, 66, plan to retire, and their sons do not want to keep the herd, they said.

Paul’s Dairy will buy raw milk from a La Mirada dairy for processing and sale at the store.

Dairy farms once dotted the Long Beach and Southeast area of Los Angeles County, but economic forces and complaining neighbors eventually drove them out of town.

Now only two remain in the area: Valley View Dairy in La Mirada and Norwalk Dairy.