Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-07-08
KnOgv Wisconsin Better

creameries and cheese factories 81
the state, and Wisconsin beoan -
challenge the supremacy Of New
York. - I've"
In 1870 Hoard established tho
Jefferson County Union, a weekly
devoted to dairying, out of which
boards Dairyman became the
foremost dairy paper of the world
Through the columns of these ma.
pers and others an incessant cam
palgn OF education was carried on.
The development of dairy farnin o
was slow, but steady and sound.
In 1880 came the turning point
IN Wlsconsin's new agricultural era
the invention by DIR. Babcock of
the State Agricultural Experiment
Station, of a simple test by which
the farmer could be paid for the
actual butter fat in his milk not
merely on the basis of the total
weight of milk he brought to the
factory. The dairy industry was in
a position to respond at once to
this stimulus and forged ahead ra-
pidly.
Figures Can Tell the Story.
In February 1922 the fftieth an
nlversary of the organization of
the Wisconsin Dairymen's Associa-
tion was observed, and an amazing
story OF achievement was recited.
The total value of the dairy pro-
ducts Of Wisconsin for 1923 was no
less than 1914, S65, 2OO.87.
Wisconsin has more dairy COWS
than any other state in the Union,
and more Guernseys and Brown
Swiss cattle than the countries of
the origin Of these breeds.
A large part of the cheese fac
tories and creameries are co-opera-
tive enterprises owned by the farm
ers. The Barron cooperative Gre
amery is the largest creamery in
the world. In the year 1920 the av-
erage number Of patrons was 90
and the creamery produced 1885,
coo pounds of butter valued at ST.
058,000 and paid to the farmers for
butter fat S977 $50. 1t has very
interesting machine that dries the
buttermilk to a powder, which is
then sold as a stock food.
(Some people think Of Wisconsin
as being a dairy state alone. While
we are all proud of the part dairy
ing has played in the state and we
hope for more of it, the fact is
Wisconsin is one Of the most di-
versely cropped states in the ma
ton. Flax, clover seed, tobacco and
peas-nothing similar about these.
Yet Wisconsin either leads in the
yield per acre or in total produc-
ton. Where you find wide diver
sity Of crops, you will usually dis
cover greater prosperity. When
the markets are low for any one
crop, prices for others may help to
compensated
Agriculture in Wisconsin has not
been confined solely to dairying. 1t
is also a state of diversified crops.
The value of the q leading crops in
1919 was S389,OO0,000. The total
value of the livestock production
in that year was $372,O00000. There
are in Wisconsin today 176,24c
farmers. According to the census
of 1920 every one of the Middle
West states showed a decrease in
the number of farms in the ten
year period beginning in 1910 with
the exception of Wisconsin, which
showed an increase of 1909 IN that
decade. One-eighth of the new
farms opened to cultivation in that
time in the entire United States
were opened in Wisconsin. One fea-
ture of farming that bodies we'll fol-
the future of the state IS that
there are few tenant farmers
Eighty-hve per cent Of the farms
are owned by the men who operate
them.
20 Counties Free of 7. B.
Wisconsin leads in the yield pei
acre of flax; in the production OF
clover seed; has more COW testing
associations than any other state
has more community breeders asso
Citations and leads in the number Of
tuberculin tested cattle. One of 1T!
counties, Barron, was the hrs
county in the United States II
which every COW was tested and al
the tubercular animals eliminated
Today there are 20 counties where
all the cattle are free OF disease.
When we think of tobacco oul
minds naturally revert to Kentuck,
and North Carolina, Virginia o
, other southern states. 1t VIII b.
somewhat surprising to m