Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1915-08-11
|OWA'S BUTTER RECORD
PAST Y MONTHS
Winneshiek County Creameries Have
Turned Out 1857 500 Pounds
Past Year.
TEN CREAMERIES HERE
WITH 2279 PATRONS
1o,2O4 Cows Owned Dy These Pat
rons, Who Sold 8,24O,797
Pounds Cream to Local
Creameries.

According to the 1914 report of
the Iowa Dairy Commissioner,
there are ten creameries in Winnie
shiek county, with 2279 patrons
furnishing cream. They own 15,2O4
cows and operate 2O4O hand separ-
ators. S,240,797 pounds of cream
was sold to these ten creameries in
Winneshiek the past year and O.
967,506 pounds of butter was man
ufactured
Reports coming in to the state
dairy and food department indicate
that Iowa creameries have made
about 95,0O0,0O0 pounds of butter
during the twelve months ending
July 1st. This is slight increase
over the amount made last year. At
an average price of thirty cents per
pound this annual output would be
worth over s2S,O00,OO0. The total
dairy products for the state, includ-
ing butter, cream, milk and ice
cream will total in value from $780,
100000 to $55,O00,00O.
Especially during the late spring
and early summer months this sea-
son has there been an increase in
the creamery output The abundance
of excellent pasturage has increased
the milk flow of the average COW
and has made dairying more profit
able than during the past few sea-
sons when bare pastures reduced
the feed. ~
1t has been observed in the Office
of the state dairy commission that
when crops in general are good
there is falling off in the amount
of milk sold to the creameries and
consequently in the dairy output.
Farmers seem to prefer to do gener-
al farming to dairying when they
can grow the crops. But when from
too much rain or from dry weather
or other causes the crops do not
turn out we'll, many farmers supple
ment their income by selling milk
to the local creamery. The present
season has not been so good for
crops in general in many localities
and hence more farmers are turn
ing to dairying than has been the
case in recent years. ,
Although the state is credited
with 1,377,000 milk cows only about
fifty per cent of these supply milk to
creameries. The dairy commission
er's report shows that in the neigh
borhood of $4,000 cows are own
ed by patrons of the creameries of
the state. Many of the hlilch. cows
are general purpose cows on the
farm while large number are kept
only to supply milk for private fam
lilies or for small neighborhood
dairy business. /,
While southern Iowa is naturally
best fitted for dairying because it is
a good grass country and has a long
er season than the northern part of
the state, yet northern and north
eastern Iowa are the big creamery
sections of Iowa. There are q num-
Der of counties in southern Iowa
without a single creamery. The far
mers who are engaged in the milk
business in these regions send their
milk and cream to one of the large
centralizers, as the big plants are
called, either at Des Moines, Omaha
or st. Joe. Bremen county leads in
the number of creameries having
25 according to the latest report.
Fayette county has twenty-one, Kos
suth eighteen, Dubuque seventeen,
Delaware sixteen, Butler fifteen,
Black Hawk fourteen and Clayton
fourteen. A number of counties have
ten or a dozen creameries.
The number of cooperative cream
cries has increased in the past few
years since the law went into effect
which prevents the big companies
from raising prices on them at buy
ing points. The big creameries are
compelled to pay the same prices for
cream and milk at one buying point
that they do in another. Before this
law went into effect if big cream
cry, buying cream at several points,
wanted to put competitor out Of
business, they would overbid the
small creamery, paying more than
the market would justify.
Some folks just can't get over a