Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1909-04-30
OREGON'S DAIRY PROSPECT.

In an interview to one of the Port
land papers recently, X. G. Eldridge
manager Of the Independence cream
cry, seems inclined to take a rather
pessimistic view of dairying con
ditions in Oregon at present, claiming
that there are less dairy cows in the
state than there were year ago, and
that the output Of butter and cheese
during the past year, has been less
than in the year preceding.
Even if these be granted true, there
are other statements made by Mr..
Eldridge in his interview, which,
properly weighed, show that the stu
alton is not so bad as one might be
lead to believe and that the conditions
OF the past twelvemonth do not neces-
sarily point to serious or permanent
decline in the dairying industry.
The decrease in the number of dairy |
cattle in the state is blamed mainly to |
the fact that large portion of the
Oregon stock have been shipped into
Washington and sold to dairymen of
that state. The depletion of Oregon's
dairy herds has therefore been really
nothing more than an incident in the
growth of the dairying industry of
the Pacific Coast as whole and is a
condition which will probably find an
automatic adjustment when the
increased demands from the state of
Washington have been filled and Ore
gon dairymen may turn their atten-
tion once more undoubtedly, as many
of them are already doing, to the work
of replenishing their own herds.
The scarcity and the high price of
feed during the past year is also an r
Incidental and not permanent factor 3
in the dairying industry and is con-
dition which is liable at almost any
time to be met with. The depression =
OF the dairying business occasioned .
by circumstance of that nature, how T,
ever, can never be anything more :
than temporary and will have no
lasting i'll effects on the business.
Another factor said to have figured
in the smaller output OF butter and
cheese this year is the fact that con- a
densors, which are becoming con- r
tinually more numerous throughout Il
the state, have taken up much of the
milk that would otherwise have gone
20 the dairys. This condition, like the Il
'wo mentioned before, is also Incl
iental and temporary aud, contrary ;,
o its being a detriment to the dairy
business, should be regarded as the -
orerunner of increased prosperity. N
With the advent OF the condenser,
which must draw its supply Of milk a
rom the dairy herds of the state, the >
emand for that commodity is
increased over and above the demand lie
4 the creameries and cheese factories.
It the same time without in any way la
Uniting the demands OF those two
Industries. Three businesses depend n
Mt upon the dairy farmers of the
tate are now bidding in the field
there two bid before. a.
The supply of milk, already not
lore than sufficient to supply the
reameries and cheese factories, had la
, be divided to meet the demands of
be new industry-the condenser. 10
'ut while, as a result, the output Of
utter and cheese was temporarily ],
diminished, the demand for milk ac
Uttered nothing.
The dairying industry is not, then, q,
n the decline as might be inferred
rom the statements made as to its
during the past year. The
opposed decline, II it may be regarded
s such, has been merely a pause pre- %
aratory to a rapid and stable growth g. q
d the near future. The dairying !"
usiness in Oregon is yet young and :, -
} still too far from its zenith for one =, %
, have serious fear Of its decadence. y