Rep07't of Missouri Farmers' Week. 389 



the producer of an article so valuable as butterfat should allow his 

 business to run without any idea at all of the cost of the article 

 which he produces, is the peculiar thing about the dairy industry. 

 There are a few men interested in the production of milk and butter 

 fat who can tell you very closely what their product is worth from 

 a production standpoint, but they are very few. The average 

 man does not know whether it costs ten, twenty or forty cents to 

 produce a pound of butter fat. He observes the price paid for his 

 product very closely; he complains bitterly if the price declines a 

 cent or two per pound, but he does not seem to realize that he 

 could reduce the cost of production five, seven, or possibly ten cents 

 on each pound by doing a few very simple things. 



The commercial importance of the dairy industry consequently 

 has suffered in a great degree from the manner in which the 

 business has been handled. There probably is no other business 

 that could survive under such treatment. There probably is no 

 other business that has done as much for the poor man and rich 

 man alike, and yet it gets little credit. In the great majority of 

 cases the business is handled as a side line, as it were — handled 

 only, in many instances, because it is necessary in order to get 

 enough money to make ends meet. 



The commercial importance of this business could be doubled 

 without increasing the number of cows manufacturing the product 

 at the present time, by intelligent and careful handling on the part 

 of their owners. This doubling of the revenue derived from this 

 industry is almost possible without the addition of any more invest- 

 ment. It is almost possible to do this simply by providing better feed, 

 giving the animals better care, and marketing the product when 

 prices are most favorable. Strange as it may seem, 75 per cent of 

 the total product of this industry in this section, marketed in the 

 shape of butter, is sold during a time when sales have to be made 

 at a figure something like eight or ten cents less than the prices 

 prevailing during the other six months of the year. 



I am mentioning butter because it represents more than 

 two-thirds of the total of dairy products. A more general disposi- 

 tion toward winter milking would mean a better average price for 

 the year and a better flow of milk. Thousands of dollars in Mis- 

 souri alone are lost to the producers each year on account of the 

 tendency toward summer dairying. A still larger amount is lost 

 on account of poor quality. This condition not only means the 

 loss of a great amount of revenue in the price alone, but it means 



