Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 199, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1916 — OUR ENORMOUS DAIRY INDUSTRY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OUR ENORMOUS DAIRY INDUSTRY

During the last twelve months the American cote helped her master make three and a half billion dollars—Old Bossy is a regular gold mine when given proper treatment

By ROBERT H. MOULTON.

HE value of the products of the | American dairy cow is greater than the value of all the metallic minerals produced, such as gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, pig iron, etc. It is also larger than the total value of the nonmetallic minerals, namely, bituminous coal, Pennsylvania anthracite, petroleum, natural gas,

brick clay and cement. Milk production of the United States for 1915 was 11,590,000.000 gallons, or an average production of 537 gallons per cow. This production is equivalent to about 115 gallons per capita population of the country. At an average price of 20 cents per gallon, the year’s production of * milk is valued at about .$2,320,000,000 to the farmers. On January 1, 1916, there were estimated to be 21,988,000 dairy cows in the United States, valued approximately at $53.90 per head, or an aggregate grand total valuation of $1,185,119,000 for all milch cows. The United States exported 9,850,705 pounds of butter, valued at $2,392,480 during 1915. Americans are great consumers of butter, and yearly more than 1,800,000,000 pounds is manufactured in this country, a large proportion of which is made at the farm home. The rural cream- . erles have proved a big factor in farming business, and fqrm the Center of marketing operations. The valuation of butter made in factories approximated more than $182,000,000 last year, while this season gives every indication of 000,000 mark. Farmers are finding that co-opera-tive effort in the manufacture of butter obtains a higher market for them. The loss made in butter on farms has been tremendous. Dairy experts, by actual Investigations, calculate that of the annual $182,000,000 product, ' on the basis of 30 cents per pound for butter at the local market, the annual loss avenges between two and five cents per pound, or from $30,000,000 to $80,000,000, due to the careless methods employed on the average farm. This great item of loss would save enough in a year almost to buy a moderate-priced automobile for every farmer not today owning one. The increased high cost of dairy feeds has demanded that the dairy farmer become a specialist In cow rations. The profitable production of milk on a dairy farm Involves two very difficult problems: The formation of a herd that will give in the milk pail liberal returns for the cost of feed and care, and caring for the milk to keep it m the best marketable condition. It was found several years ago that two or three cows might be large producers while the remainder of a herd of a dozen cows would possibly fail to give sufficient milk to pay their board bilL This fact has caused the organization of the community cow-testing associations in various parts of the country, this work saving as its object the calculation of the individual cow’s production. By the aid of the Babcock testing apparatus, modern dairymen place their cows on record, giving due credit for butterfat produced. This work has built up one of the highest specialized features of present-day farming, A great and intricate problem is Involved in

supplying cities with milk and in meeting the growing demands of such centers with pure milk. Chicago alone consumes 1,000,000,000 quarts of milk annually, while thousands of cans of condensed milk and pasteurized milk are used for breakfast. Milk is shipped from farms as far as 300 miles away, reaching the city in time for breakfast the next mprning. Because of the immense demand for milk, the necessity of having it 6f the highest quality and the need for an economical method of collection and distribution, great milk companies were formed several years ago, which erected milk-collecting stations in Illinois and adjoining states, along the railroads, where milk is received for shipment. The milk thus received direct from the farmers Is handled in the best possible manner, shipped in 40-quart cans, by the carload. The “milk train” is one of the common phases of all railroads connecting with a large American city today. The task of supplying great cities with milk has become a highly specialized industry. The process of gathering, transporting and distributing the fresh milk supply of a large city is one of the complex tasks confronting those who provide the country’s daily food. The entire milk production of the country must be cared for every day. Fresh milk is the only product that must quickly come to the consumer. It cannot be stored when there is a flood of it and carried over until there is a shortage, although modern refrigeration has served to solve a part of this problem. Today’s supply must meet tomorrow’s demand. When one realizes that the city of Chicago must have 5,000,000 pounds of milk daily, it is easily understood that prompt conversion of this product into money is no small task. The changes in the geographic distribution of the population of the United States, in the centers of agricultural production, and in the methods of transportation have had a marked influence on the localization of the dairy industry. In early days the dairy farmer supplied demands within a restricted area, but the development of railroads and refrigeration has had considerable effect on the character of the industry in its centralization. Milk has been a food and drink for young and old ever since prehistoric times, and the reason for this is that milk is one of the most desirable of human foods. It remained for modern analytical processes to prove that milk is the cheapest and most valuable of food products, especially when compared with meat. The department of agriculture has discovered that for 25 cents worth of a given product, milk is a more valuable food than meat. The grim words employed by the South Carolina board of health, “A fly in the milk may mean a baby in the grave,” have gone over the land and left their impression upon the minds of farmers and milk consumers. Flies bear germs, and a single germ in a milk bottle breeds a deadly million in a few hours. Too often during the last 50 years we have read of epidemics of Jyphoid and similar diseases being traced directly to a contaminated milk supply. Of all human foods, possibly none is more succeptible to contamination than milk, particularly in hot weather when in the months of June, July and August, the babies of the country die by the thousands. Diseases of the digestive organs cause 40 per cent of the deaths in many cities. Cow’s milk is the exclusive food for a great majority of the American children up to the time they are one year old, and it is the chief food of practically all children from the age of one to five. The whiteness and opaqueness of milk serve as a covering and shelter for Insoluble substances. The theory that clean milk possesses long-keep-ing qualities has been found true with certified milk.. Instances are on record where certified milk has been taken on an ocean voyage and not only brought back in good condition, but also kept sweet until 30 days old. When your milk is sour after - a few hours, it is certain that it is not clean milk. A number of certified milk dairies in the United States sent exhibits of milk to the Paris exhibition In 1900, and the milk kept sweet for two weeks.

and in some Instances 18 days, after being bottled following a summer journey of 3,000* and 4,000 miles. This merely serves to Illustrate what milk consumers may expect for the future pure products. American cheese, of which the exports decreased from nearly 150,000,000 pounds in 1881 to less than 2,500,000 in 1914, is again finding its way to foreign markets in rapidly increasing amounts. For the last half of 1914, 2,500,000 pounds were exported, while January saw some 3,000,000 pounds shipped to foreign countries, and February 7,500,000, so that the aggregate for the first three months of 1915 amounted to 13,000,000 pounds. The demand for ice cream has been a great benefit to the dairy industry by the absorption of the milk surplus. Millions of gallons of ice cream are manufactured from artificial ingredients, due to lack of dairy products to meet the growing demand for this toothsome and refreshing article. Nevertheless, nearly 18,000,000 gallons of ice cream are annually manufactured from cream and milk. This branch of the dairy industry has achieved its greatest growth during the last decade, owing to the Increased number of summer resorts and parks. The ice cream factories of the United States annually demand 30,000,000 gallons, or 250,000,000 pounds, of cream; 250,000,000 pounds of whole milk, and 15,000,000 gallons of condensed milk. Taking 14 cents as the average price paid for each gallon of milk, ice cream factories each year pay the enormous sum of $32,000,000 to farmers for raw materials. The ice scream when retailed brings a price of $160,000,000, standing foremost among the popular luxuries of the day in the United States.