The Bingham County news. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1918-1930, 1923-10-26
IDAHO DECLARED TO BE
AN IDEAL DAIRY STATE
c. L. MITCHELL Dairy Expert of Los Angeles Cream
Association, Gives Impression After Return From
Convention in the East.

the Challenge Cream and Butter as
sociation of Los Angeles, Cal, has
been spending few days with the
Boise Valley Cooperative creamery.
He has just returned from the east,
where he attended the National Dairy
show and the Worlds Dairy congress,
at which he read paper entitled,
mo cooperative marketing Of butter
on the Pacific coast"
The Challenge Cream and Butter
association has been in operation for
nearly 13 years, receives over 40 per
cent of all the butter reaching Los
Angeles, and it's sales for this year
will approximate $7,000,000.
The Boise Cooperative creamery
has been selling its cheese and butter
through this cooperative agency for
nearly year and attributes its ability
to outpay all other Idaoh concerns,
partly to this fact In conversation
with a Capital News reporter, Mr..
Mitchell spoke as follows:
Idaho is a wonderful state agri-
culturally. 1t raises better corn than
Iowa.. and as fine alfalfa as Califor-
mia, though not so many cuttings.
You have very fine clover and blue
grass pastures. What more could De
desired for both heavy production and
natural fine flavor than a combina-
ton of these feeds? 1t is habit 10
knock the railroads, but do you know
that Idaho butter reaches Los An
geles at a freight rate Of ony two
cents per pound, including icing,
against a charge of one cent per ID.
on butter churned within 200 miles Of
that city? Yet California dairymen
received a maximum of 81 cents for
September butterfat, as against SO
cents at Idaho cream stations, and
maximum of 40 cents which was paid
by two of your best cooperative
creameries. The whole trouble lies IN
the unorganized, demoralized cond1-
ton of the dairymen and the vicious,
destructive competitive system exist
ing here.
"Under the centralizer system,
quality, up to this time, has received
little or no consideration; although
beginning to see the hand writing on
the wall. But the centralizing sys-
tenn of handling cream is at best, too
extensive, both in cost of operation
and in loss of quality, ever to have
place in an intensive dairy district.
Idaho appears to have no dairy
sanitary laws or at least none that
the industry knows anything about.
Nor are dairy inspectors teaching AMI
enforcing the cleanly handling OF
milk and cream as we have in Cali
forpia. AS a result, there is a small
per cent of very bad cream received
nv such of Idaho's creameries and
cream stations as will take it, and
this practice does its share toward
knocking the reputation OF ldahos I
best industry Then many of the !
dairvmen here have only few COWS
and don't think they can afford % c
bring the cream to town more than
once a week Cow owners with this
view Should be required to deliver
first class product or else quit the
business. They should not be per- ,
mitted to iniure their neighbor who +
wants to make dairying profitable
business. G
"The Grove City Creamery at Grove o
City, Pa, which is operated coopera- t
lively, is an example of what can De {
done through intelligent effort. 1t t
opened in 1915, in rundown gen
eral farming district. 1t has always
refused to receive milk or cream older
than one day in summer or two days
IN winter. Any cream having any on G
favor, or the slightest sour taste Is C
rejected again and again, until the Il
lairyman reforms his methods or else a
Juits. The creamery now makes
about 1900 pounds of butter daily be-
sides other products, its business is
growing steadily. When it started, 1t
charged two cents over New York. IL
extras for butter fat has gradually d
increased to eight cents over. This II
creamery has averaged 10 cents above ci
lew York butter quotations for all
,utterfat so far this year, besides 30
.ents per hundred for first grade
kim milk. The creamery operates no
rucks but the dairymen attend to fc
heir own hauling, clubbing together II
n routes and taking turn about in Tf
,rin ging in the cream, The manager til
8 paid by the United States depart
nent of agriculture, because the de-
,artment enjoys certain privileges or ci
carrying on investigational work, but ds
therwise the creamery is run as j BIZ
commercial institution. When visit bt
ng the Grove City creamery last be
week, the manager told me that they Fl
made no effort to advertise the but tn