Frankenmuth's early farmers were first loggers, using oxen to clear thick virgin forests of oak, maple, hickory, and pine to create farmland. Farming prospered because the flat land, once the lake bed of Saginaw Bay, offered rich loam soil. Early crops included potatoes and corn, followed later by wheat, oats, and barley. Frankenmuth's earliest German immigrants bought cows, sows, geese, and chickens from English neighbors, gaining milk, meat, and eggs. As harvests increased and farm tools improved, the manual threshing flail gave way to steam-powered threshing machines, and neighborhood threshing companies formed to buy machines that could serve up to a dozen farmers. Farming was a family enterprise, with children doing chores for crops, animals, and gardens. Frankenmuth's first businesses mainly processed farm products or supplied farming needs, and farming made the community self-sufficient and distinct from its neighbors. In 1848, the Hubinger brothers began a flour mill to process local wheat, and Star of the West Milling Company began in 1874. Farmers hauled wheat, oats, and corn to be ground into feed blends for their animals. Most farms had cows whose milk provided steady income, and at one time six cheese factories in the village and township bought and processed local milk.