450 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 



MARKET MILK 



This year has seen a large increase in the production of 

 milk, due in large part to the financial condition and the drop in 

 price of all farm products. 



The producer has found out that the dairy cow afifords 

 him a steady supply of cash which he has needed so badly. The 

 result has been, in many cases, a production in excess of the de- 

 mand, which has kept prices down to the producer and has been 

 reflected in lower prices to the consumer. These conditions 

 have, also, kept the price of all manufactured dairy products, 

 as cheese, butter and condensed milk, much lower than they 

 have been for several years. 



It is apparent that these conditions will continue unless 

 there is a greater consumption in dairy products. Educational 

 campaigns have been made in many cities on the value of milk 

 as a food and in every case an increased consumption has been 

 noted. It is unfortunate that in times of low income the house- 

 wife will in most cases reduce the amount of milk for the 

 family, in preference to any other food. She must be taught 

 that she can better conserve the health of her family by reduc- 

 ing the amount of any other article of food. 



One of the purposes of the National Dairy Council is to 

 promote the consumption of market milk by teaching the pub- 

 lic the value of milk, as a food and its necessity in the diet. 

 Large amounts of literature and illustrated posters have been 

 distributed to accomplish this and the results have been gratify- 

 ing. Marked results have been obtained among school chil- 

 dren, in many cities, by inducing them to drink milk each day 

 at school. An especial effort has been made in these schools to 

 get under-nourished children to drink milk and the records 

 show that this class of children have made a marked improve- 

 ment in their mental as well as physical condition, after taking 

 the milk for several months. 



I believe that the quality of the market milk in Iowa com- 

 pares very favorably with that of any other state. A law re- 

 quiring dairy cattle to be tested for tuberculosis, passed by the 

 Thirty-Ninth General Assembly and appearing elsewhere in 

 this report, will materially improve the quality of our milk sup- 

 ply. Last fall this department conducted a market milk contest, 

 in which eleven cities entered. The scoring was made in accord- 

 ance with the rules followed by the United States Department 



