The Yale expositor., 1911-09-07
COOPERATIVE
CREAMERIES
By w. B. LIVERANCE, Instructor in Dairying,
Michigan Agricultural College

The old saying that In union there
is strength" is nowhere more applica-
BILE than in a farming community.
Cooperation in business means sta
bility. Nowhere is this better illus
trated than in the little country or
Denmark, where the farmers unite in
all matters and secure advantages
that the individual could not get. In
out own country where farmers or
ganizations have been attempted, the
results have been very satisfactory.
At Lawton, Mich, the grape growers
organized in a cooperative way TO dis
pose of their product and were so sue
cessful that they have received far
better prices than ever known before.
Not only have good prices prevailed,
but a greater stability and surety has
been given to disposal of their fruit.
The ideal creamery is the cooper
ative one. 1t is ideal because it re-
turns all the profits from the manu-
facture of dairy products to the pro-
ducer. The private creamery owner
is receiving a good profit in the manu-
facture of the cream from farms. He
gets his returns from the overrun
that is made in the factory. This
amounts to about one-fifth of the but
ter fat delivered and means about four
or five cents for each pound OF lat
delivered. This, of course, does not
mean a net profit, but after all ex-
penses are deducted It means good
profitable return.
Well operated cooperative cream
cries oftentimes pay their patrons
two to three cents more per pound OF
fat than do the private creameries.
This is because that profit that has
been going into the pocket of the in
diyidual owner is now turned back to
the farmer.
A better grade of butter can be
manufactured at the cooperative
creamery than at the private plant
Creameries as a whole are making
much poorer grade of product than in
former years, not because the maker
is less proficient but because OF the
poor quality of cream received from
the farm. Where cooperation Is es-
tablished and each patron realizes that
his returns depend upon the quality
of butter manufactured at the cream
cry he can be taught the necessity for
better care of his cream A private
creamery because of sharp competi-
ton is forced to take cream of poor
quality, but the cooperative creamery.
with each individual a part owner,
can be much more critical of the
products taken in and as a conse-
uuence better butter is made and the
top market price received.
Many cooperative creaneries have
been absolute failures. This may
have been the result of one or more
of many causes. A promoting COM
pany may have organized the COM
pany in community where there
was not enough COWS kept to insure
| it's success. Possibly 1t was not due
| to an insufficient number of cows but
to the fact that the promoters fol-
| lowed their usual custom and charged
an exorbitapt price for the building
| and equipment There two factors
have been the greatest curse to CO.
operative creameries and the commu-
nifty desiring a cooperative creamery
should never ask nor accept the aid
| of n promoting company.
Very often the failure OF co-opera-
tive creamery is due to mismanage-
ment. the person selected to oversee
the business affairs of the company
being incompetent, due to lack of ex-
L hn
creamery manager should have had
lctual experience in butter making