Report of Dairy Commissioner. ' 79 



As an interesting example of what can be done in the dairy 

 business on indifferent land, I have the information from the man 

 himself, Mr. Turner ProfRtt, who lives twelve miles from West 

 Plains, his nearest railroad town, that he received in one year from 

 butter fat $1,177, $833 for hogs and $500 for hay, making a total 

 income of $2,510 from 240 acres of land, which he originally would 

 have been glad to have received $25 an acre for, and for which he 

 now says he would not accept $65 an acre. He sells the butter fat, 

 feeds all the skim to the hogs, grows only enough grain for his silo 

 and grain-feeding, the balance of the land being in grass, cowpeas 

 and cane. He also sells some hay. He considers that the cow has 

 made him the difference between $25 and $65 an acre in the length 

 of time he has been in business. 



Another instance is that of W. M. Breedlove, seven miles from 

 West Plains, who has 129 acres of the same kind of land and milks 

 sixteen cows. His income from these cows and land in one year 

 was $480 for butter fat, $300 for hogs and $120 for hay, making 

 a total of $900 from sixteen cows and 129 acres. 



He says since building his silo that he is enabled to grow all 

 the feed necessary for a balanced ration for his cows and expects 

 to increase his profits. He is building a fine barn besides a silo, 

 and claims to be making as much money again as ever before, and 

 will increase his herd to thirty cows. 



The Commissioner has been having considerable difficulty late 

 in the fall with some parties in the State manufacturing so-called 

 "moonshine" butter. This is made up of renovated butter stock 

 to which has been added gum tragacanth, which has the faculty 

 of absorbing a great deal of water, the chemist in Springfield where 

 this butter was sold finding as high as 50 per cent moisture in the 

 sample. This is a dishonest practice, as it is unfair to legitimate 

 butter makers, who are not permitted under the law to have more 

 than 16 per cent moisture in their butter. The cases were prose- 

 cuted. More prosecutions are pending, and the Internal Revenue 

 Department of the government has been notified. About 2,300 

 pounds of this stuff was held up by the department. 



In the way of recommendations, an antidiscrimination law 

 should be passed by the Legislature requiring creameries to pay 

 the same price for butter fat wherever they buy in the State, the 

 object of this being that it will make it impossible for a big insti- 

 tution to go into a new field and crowd out a small creamery by pay- 

 ing more for butter fat, and reduce the price at another point 

 where they have no competition. 



