The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1914-10-02
PRODUCTION or HIGH
GRADE But TER URGED
American Farmer Now Must
Meet Foreign Competition.
PRODUCT IS NOT UNIFORM
Minnesota Dairy School, University

Farm. ST. Paul, June /, 1914.
TO Buttermakers and Managers:
Gentlemen: On October 8, 1913,
the law reducing the tariff on import
butter from 6 to az cents a pound
went into effect. The result has been
the influx of about seven million
pounds of butter up to May 1 from
various foreign countries. This, in
turn, has caused a drop in the price
of butter at home of from to 8 cents
pound -
| recently had the opportunity of
sampling butter in Philadelphia and
New York from Australia, New Zea-
land, Argentina, Siberia and Den
mark. OF those samples tasted only
the butter from Denmark could COM
pete with our best Western make, but
all the rest would rival the lower
grades produced in the country. On the
sales floor in New York l tasted but
ter from Minnesota which was not as
good as some of that from South
America and Siberia.
One Trouble With Western Butter
was found to be it's lack of uniform
ity. Some creameries put out good
butter most of the time, when, with
out notice or warning to the house
receiving the, goods, they send on a
poor lot. 1t may be sold on reputa-
ton and few days later returned.
The butter house then has a quantity
of poor butter on it's hands and a
good customer lost The value of
constancy in high quality can hardly
be overestimated.
4 :; !.
Our Competition is now establish
ed. While the actual quantity of
butter imported may never be great.
the fact that New Zealand and Aus
tralia can put fresh grass butter on
our winter market as cheaply as we
can ship from Minnesota to either
coast and the fact that Siberia has
tremendous pastures and cheap labor,
and with Russia, Denmark and
Sweden has, for years been providing
the best trade in Europe with good
butter, makes of these foreign con-
tributors standing competitors.
!. !. J.
The Old Question again cOnfrOnts
us, namely, the production of high
quality butter, without material in
crease in cost of production. Many
farmers are careless in handling
their cream, and some buttermaker
are not doing as we'll as they might.
Cream grading has become a thread
| bare topic, but it was never newer,
more vital, than right now. There
has never yet been devised a method
| whereby stale, rank cream could be
made fresh and sound. The small
| creameries in this state have won
derful opportunities in being located
near the producer, but this nearness
is of no value unless the producer
cares for his cream properly and de-
| livers often enough. The character
| OF cream and the butter made from
it is determined by treatment and
| not by days or miles. The farm
ers who produce the butter fat are
| the ones who will be injured most
by the poor quality of the butter
made. The dealer gets his profit
the railroad it's freight tolls, the max
er his wages, the farmer what is left
The managers of the cooperative
| creameries of Minnesota should Gis-
| cuss the matter with their patrons,
frankly. that all may cooperate in
furnishing to the buttermaker clean,
sweet cream. The manager may
then rightly insist that the butter
maker turn out high grade goods all
! the time.
The conviction of the writer is that
the allied dairy interests of Mime
sofa should cooperate more actively
| than ever before to bring about econ
omy in production and efficiency in
manufacture. Sincerely,
R. NJ. WASHBURN,
Assistant Professor Dairy Husbandry.