Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1925-09-10

"That," says Mr.. Arey, "is what
we have found in this cheese fac
tory work. The factories are small
manufacturing concerns, owned by
the cooperating farmers. All profits
after deducting the cost of opera
tion are given back to the produc-
ers and the factories are furnishing
a steady monthly income to folks
who have not much to sell and little
means of sellin what they do produce.
These factories have had rather hard
shedding. Our folks are not yet re-
conciled to milking cows, but when we
first established the factories milk
and cheese were both high and the
profits were good. Then came nor
NAL prices and those farmers who
had been stripping beef cows to sell
milk to the factories, did not get e.
nough money out of it to justify
milking such poor producing cows.
Therefore, they quit milking. The
cheese factories closed. Only those
surrounded by good dairy farmers
were able to keep open on these, we
are now concentrating our attention.
They are coming through successful
ly and with more farmers becoming
interested in dairying and buying or
growing high producing cows, we can
look forward to the time, when more
factories will be opened and these
now in operation will be turning out
larger quantities of good cheese.
w. H. Mast, one of the directors
of the Cove Creek factory agreed
with Mr.. Arey.
9 81 could hardly get along without
my monthly milk check" he said.
"We haul about $500 pounds of
cheese to Hickory from this factory
each week and it nets US about $500
defending on the market. This
would mean that we would have to
get the same money, even if we were
able to find buyers for the milk and
could get it to them fresh and pure.
If we were hauling hay, it would cost
more for carrying charges than the
hay would bring, so it seems to me
that the only thing we can DC is to
iced our hay and milk into cheese and
haul out the cheese.
The Cove Creek factory was built
in 1924 and when it first opened
only about so gallons of milk was
delivered. Now the factory gets a.
bout 700 pounds per day. Before
the drouth became so severe, the
factory was receiving about 1,70G
pounds per day and this is about the
same thing that happened to other
factories. The Cove Creek factory
is now making 600 pounds of cheese
per week which is a drop of $50
pounds since the drouth began This
cheese is now selling for about "a
cents per pound wholesale.
The Beaver Dam factory is small
er than the other two but makes fine
cheese and brings in a good income
to the small farmers of that valley.
The factory at Banner Elk has been
in litigation but has now opened and
is making good cheese.
Wherever we went through the
valleys and coves of Watauga, we
found the people thinking of dairy
cattle. Some, like Wray w. Wilson,
of the Beaver Dam Community, have
put in fine Holstein cows
and are getting ready to supply more
milk.
At Vale Crucis, the fine herd of
dairy cattle being managed b. Miss
Effie Heffner is being used to pro-
vide milk for ice cream made at
the school and sold outside. The
cheese factory here has ceased opera
tion until the milk flow increases or
until the neighboring farmers find
means to secure more dairy cows
Throughout the entire county, the
farmers are finding that dairy cat
tie are proving more profitable than
beef. Some still have their beef herds
but the larger number are breeding
towards the dairy type and this with
the sheep and wool, the cabbage. po-
tatoes and apples largely furnish the
income of the farmers. On nearly
every farm, one sees the cabbage and
potato patches, the corn im the bot
toms, the orchard high on the hill