Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-06
Trend in MiK HandZnG:'


THE steady shifting of population to the
great urban centers of the East together
with the greatly increased consumption of milk,
has brought about q revolution in the system
Of milk production and handling.
The old-time country milk station which
shipped in cream and whole milk has gradually
given way to the modern milk plant, which Is
equipped to travel almost the whole range Of F,
milk activities.
Not so many years ago it was usual to have
two types of plants handling fluid milk, one q
whole-milk plant, which sent the milk as re-
ceived into the city bottling plants, and the
creamery which received only cream from the
farmer or, taking his whole milk, separated the
cream and either returned the skim milk to the
farmer for stock feed or manufactured it into
cheese. Sometimes one plant would cover all
three of these activities.
Nowadays, however the whole field has been
changed. The great cities of the East present
pressing demand for milk and this demand Is
fairly steady the year round Unfortunately, the
cows are not so steady as the demand, with
the result that far greater stock of cattle
must be maintained than is necessary in timea
of flush production in order that the supply
may meet the demand during the of season.
One factor acts to balance the supply and
demand to some extent, and that is the fact
that in some sections Summer dairying" is
carried on, while in others it is Winter dairy
ing that meets the most approval. There are
arguments in favor of both.
In the case of Summer dairying, the cattle
at times of peak production are out in the
pastures and the feeding expense is greatly
reduced To counterfeit this advantage, how
ever, is the greater care necessary to keep the
milk sweet and pure during hot weather and
the time taken from other farm work during
crop seasons to tend a dairy and take the
product to the milk station. In Summer dairy
ing the farmer is specialist who confines
himself to dairying and certain amount of
feed raising. .'t
The Winter dairy, on the other hand, per-
mitS the farmer to devote growing seasons to
crop raising and confines his intensive dairy
ing work to the seasons when he can do little
else around his farm There is no danger of
milk spelling from lack Of refrigeration and
this loss is eliminated However, Winter
dairy calls for large quantities of gh-priced,
dry feeds. and, counterbalancing the hazards
Of Summer high temperatures there is the
danger Of freezing the blocking Of roads by
heavy falls Of snow and the decidedly ncom-
Portable task Of milking in frigid barn.
There are advocates Of both schools Of dairy
ing, but the majority Of the farmers run 30
Summer diaries. Therefore, to meet the de-
mands Of the Winter market, far more COWS
must be carried than are necessary for Sum
mer. The only answer to the problem is the
manufacture Of the surplus milk In Summer.
To give some idea Of the variation between
flush and slack production, figures of one milk
plant in the Adirondacks may be used. In
Summer, when production IS at its height, this
plant received as high as $1,000 pounds Of milk
daily, while in Winter the receipts dropped to
around $4,000 pounds. t~t..
This plant is q fair example Of the modern
trend in milk handling. It was equipped to
manufacture condensed milk primarily and
during the flush, seasons did, but during the
slack seasons the milk was pasteurized and
shipped to New York City. The orders varied
from time to time, and in addition to shipping
milk sometimes cream was shipped and the
skim milk manufactured, into a condensed skim
milk or into cheese. Another variation was
the manufacture Of "superheated milk" milk
heated in the .condensing retort or pan, as It a.
called. and then subjected TO live steam which
was injected into the milk, providing very
light and fluffy product ideally suited to the
manufacture of ice cream <s "a.
A further development that has changed the
trend Of the milk industry is the diyerting Of
large quantities Of mild Western milk TO the
market Of the East in times Of great demand.
The result has been the shifting Of the butter
industry even farther West and has stimulated
the growth Of the dairy industry In Wisconsin,
Minnesota and Iowa.