The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1904-10-27
THE FARM SEPARATOR.
Unique and Interesting Dairy Story
of Kansas and Nebraska.


of Kansas and Nebraska.
By ED H. WEBSTER, Bureau Of Animal
Industry.
Kansas and Nebraska, not formerly
in the list of dairy states, have had a
history in dairying both unique and in
teresting. TAe first lessons in the in.
dustry were paid for by the farmers at
the rate of about 500 each in co-opera-
tive stock creamery companies.
West of the Missouri river the farm
er was usually not a dairyman. Yet
when creamery was to be established
in his neighborhood he not infrequent-
ly was a subscriber to it's stock al
though he had not faith or interest
| enough to contribute milk or cream I'M
| til the venture proved a success. Here
and there were exceptions to the usual
| failures which the first lessons brought.
| These exceptions served only to prove
| the rule that where there were few
COWS, no experience in the business
and little inclination to become dairy
men a cooperative or stock company
creamery could not live. These earlier
| creameries were operated on the gath
cred cream plan, a method in which
every step was ruinous under western
conditions.
The Swimming Station.
Along in the ninetieS the Swimming
station began to make a sweeping
| change in creamery practice in these
western states. A new impetus was
given to the business, and again the
farmer was urged to put up his dollars
for another lesson The idea had been
conceived of skimming the farmers
milk at a station and shipping the
| cream to & central point for churning
This lesson usually cost the farmer
about $50, and the result was much
more satisfactory for a time than the
first had been. A station was built
which the farmers owned, and cream
cry was leased The farmers hauled
their milk to the station and hauled
their skim milk home. The average
distance was not less than six miles.
One thing that helped the industry at
this time was a general period Of de-
preston, the COW seeming to be the
only thing which would yield an as
sured income. Although prices Of but
ter were comparatively low, the bust
ness doomed. Following this @ few
prosperous years came, and the farmer
wearied of the long haul and the small
returns he was getting. He hired the
hauling done. This ate up the profits.
in OIL Of
farming and but little profit in the
milk business dairying again had a set
back. Swimming stations became ex-
pensive to operate because of the small
amount of milk handled
The Farm Separator.
A few enterprising meR had by this
time taken up the crusade for the
farm separator. They were frowned
upon by all conservative creamerymen
Separator agents multiplied, however
and began to pile up evidence that the
farmer could cut off the great expense
Of hauling milk both ways, and farm
ers began to buy 1t soon became evil
dent that the farmer was going to have
a separator. The conservative cream
eryman now began to see that if the
farmer bought separator and was
opposed by his creamery in so doing
the cream would go somewhere else.
This opened up the whole territory
west Of the Missouri river, and the
creameries, large and small, began to
push the farm separator. The separat-
ing station dropped out Of view almost
as suddenly as it had appeared scarce
ly ten years before Separator com
panies could not keep up with their or
ders. Farmers could hardly wait until
a machine could be delivered to them.
To be sure, this great demand was not
created in a day. The pioneer work for
the farm separator was slow and dis
cOurag ing to those who were carefully
fostering it's interests. Here and there
a machine was sold, and the leaven
began to work. Today the creamery
business Of Kansas and Nebraska is
on the cream gathering" system, and
the farmer has the separator in his
home. In the more thickly settled por-
tons a few skimming stations still re
main, but their days are numbered.
The day of speculation as to the proba-
BILE trend of the business is past. The
farmer now has the separator and the
creameryman the product from it.