412 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



could concentrate or centralize their milk and cream, they 

 found a ready market for their surplus. The industry grew 

 steadily. The dairy cow was given first place over all the farm 

 animals, and instead of selling heifer calves for veal they were 

 raised to maturity, and if they met the requirements they were 

 made a part of the herd. The desire to own a dairy herd kept 

 increasing, because the cow fully demoastrated her worth, both 

 by making her owner money through her commercial products 

 and the building up of his land. 



As time went on the desire for more and better dairy prod- 

 ucts increased, and communities began to talk local creameries. 

 Realizing that if they could keep the raw material in proper 

 condition a better finished product would result, local cream- 

 eries and cheese factories were established and were successful. 

 Many of them were owned, operated and managed by the 

 creamery and cheese factory patrons, or those selling milk and 

 cream to the factories, and were called co-operative. Most of 

 these factories in Wisconsin and Minnesota today are co-oper- 

 ative and many of them have been in constant operation for 

 years, proving conclusively that community co-operation is a 

 success. 



HOW THE CREAMERY IS STARTED. 



A co-operative creamery is one where most, if not all, the 

 creamery patrons own stock in the creamery and share equally 

 in all the accrued profits. 



After deciding a creamery is needed in a community a 

 meeting is called to determine whether or not there are sufficient 

 cows in the neighborhood to sustain a creamery. If it is de- 

 cided to start a creamery the amount of capital stock is agreed 

 upon and the stock offered for sale at a price depending upon 

 the number of patrons and prospective shareholders. After the 

 stock is all subscribed a meeting is called for the purpose of 

 electing a board of directors of five or seven members and a secre- 

 tary or manager. Great care is exercised in selecting these officers 

 as the success of the enterprise is entirely in their hands. So far 

 as possible a director is selected from each of the different sec- 

 tions in which the stockholders live, in order to give all stock- 

 holders a voice through their respective directors. These di- 

 rectors are generally representative men in their neighborhood 

 with more than ordinary business and executive ability. There 

 are many co-operative creameries that have been successfully 

 operated for years whose directors meet but once annually, so 



