The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-03-06
NEBRASKA BECOMES
Big BUTTER STATE
Thirty-fiye Million Pounds
Produced in 1903.
KEEPS FIFTEEN CREAMERIEs
They Are Owned by Ten Independent
Companies One Is Cooperative,
stock Held by Farmcrs-Seven Are
in Omaha-Largest Plant Is at
Crete-Skim Milk Fed to Hogs.

New York. Feb. 6.-Nebraska is grad
ually becoming a great butter state and
produced s.. 0O0eO0 pounds last year
Wisconsin, Iowa. and Minnesota are
greater producers and send sl000o0.0a0
pounds each to the market New York.
which was formerly the banner butter
state. has dropped down several files,
not because her dairymen make any less
than formerly. but because those Of the
Western States make so much more.
There are fifteen great creameries in
Nebraska. owned BY ten Independent CON-
panies. One of them is a cooperative af-
fair, and the stock is held by the farm
ers who furnish the cream TO run il. Seven
of these creameries are in Omaha, two al
Lincoln. one at Beatrice. one at Crete,
and the largest plant in the State, capa-
bic of producing $1,000 pounds OF butter
day, was opened at Grand Island last
summer
The Omaha creameries produce from
50000 TO 6o00o pounds of butter a day the
year around. and are increasing their pro-
duct as fast as they can get additional
cream. In 1908 their output was 1900 900
pounds, valued at 81. $4,000, while in 1907
it was 100000 pounds
Haul Cream 700 Miles.
The largest company the State has gets
it's cream from 400 different stations. from
1890 different farms-9O00 in Nebraska
and the rest in Iowa, Missouri. South
Dakota, and Kansas Some OF the cream
is shipped go miles. The farmers who
furnish this supply have an average OF
only eight cows each. but are increasing
them every year. because they find butter
business much more profitable than any
other kind or farming.
/ This Is naturally a corn and hog coun-
try" said Mr. Rushton. the manager of
one of the creameries. and. until recent
| ly. has been almost entirely given up 10
cattle, The dairy industry is IN its in
fancy, bat is increasing with the strides
OF giant because the farmers are learn
! Ing that they can keep a bunch Of cows
and hogs without practically any increase
of labor and large Increase In income. "
| Nebraska butter is shipped all over the
/ United states. but very little is exported
to foreign countries. For the export trade
butter has to be put up with special
care. and there are creameries in Iowa
which make a specially Of H. There is
an establishment ct Monticello, in that
State, which does nothing but put butter
up in tin cans for sale in the tropics.
It completes successfully with the Dan
ism butter, which had a monopoly Of the
tropical trade until the Monticello people
entered the field. Danish butter is man
ufactuTed with such care that it viii
| keep longer than any other and preserve
Its sweetness in any climate. The con-
tents of a tin will melt and harden again
several times without injury. But il re-
uuires a great deal of care and labor TO
make butter for the tropics. and most of
/ the American manufacturers think it
/ does not pay
Separator Does the Work.
The dairy business In Nebraska Is con-
Quoted quite differently from that in
other States. Formerly the farmers wife
SKINNED and churned her milk by hand
at home and traded it at the country
store for sugar. coffee, tea, or dry goods
at the rate of Il or 10 cents pound
Next came the neighborhood dairy.
where the milk was hauled every morn
/ ing and every night. set in large pans,
skinned BY hand. and churned by ma
chinery, while the skinned milk was
fed TO a penful Of hogs or calves in the
back yard. These neighborhood cream
ers we're usually cooperative, and each
contributor received credit on the books
for the amount of milk ne delivered
daily. They have been very much I'M
proved by the invention Of the ''sepsra-
tor" which, by the turn OF a crank. will
extract the butter fat from the milk in
very few minutes
In Illinois. Wisconsin. and in the older
States farmers usually bring in their milk
by wagons twice a day. pass it through
a separator. receive credit for the butter
fat, and haul the SKINNED milk in the
same cans back to the farm to feed their
calves and hogs. There is a settlement
every month for the cream delivered.
skim MIX Fed to Hogs.
In Nebraska the distances are so much
longer and the settlements so much far
ther apart that different system has
been adopted and centralized" butter
making is the rule. The "centralizers,
as they call the big creameries I have
mentioned, receive cream by rail on every
train. it being picked up from station tC
station and carried in a baggage car.
The farmers have their own separators
and extract the butter fat Immediately
after milking The skinned milk is fec
to the calves and hogs and the cream is
put In ten-gallon cans and hauled TO the
nearest railway station, where the agents
of the creamery are waiting to value the
cream by the Babeock testify the appIi-
cation Of sulphurie acid 10 small sam.
pie. which liberates the oil from the caseir
or curd and enables the inspector TO est.
mate the proportion of butter fat in the
cream.
The total delivery is then weighed anC
the farmer receives either cash or ticket
which is as good as cash at any of the
stores or banks Thus he practically does
a cash business. and usually gets nj.
money for his cream within three hours
after every milking No producer in any
other occupation receives his returns SC
promptly.
Artificial Heat in Orchards.
The Oregon Short Line Railroad Com.
pany has inaugurated a plan for sending