SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 381 



The President: Mr. J. J. Bruner will now take the floor and lead in 

 the General Discussion. 



Mr. Brunner: Mr. Cliairman, Brother Buttermakers, Ladies and 

 Gentlemen: I always believe that it is better to have discussion along 

 the line of our work rather than for me to get up and make a speech, 

 for you know that I can't do it. If Mr. Eischeid, with whom I am to 

 have a debate, is here, it would be better to have him come up here and 

 start the ball rolling rather than myself. However, I believe that there 

 are a great many things the buttermakers of Iowa can do to ad- 

 vantage, and one of the most important is the education of the farmer 

 in the production of a better grade of raw material. 



I have been making butter for the past twenty-two or twenty-three 

 years and in going over times gone by I find that we made very little 

 progress in that respect. We have recently started at Strawberry Point 

 what we call revival meetings among the farmers. We have an agri- 

 cultural expert who Is hired by the Community Club and the schools 

 of the city. The expert, the manager of the creamery, and myself go 

 out into the country schools and hold night meetings, lasting about an 

 hour and a half. The agricultural expert talks to the farmers about 

 feeding breeding dairy cattle and the secretary talks to them on cow- 

 testing associations and things of that kind. I tell them what I know 

 about taking care of milk or cream. We have found these meetings very 

 successful and I believe that nearly every buttermaker in the state 

 can do what we are doing. You don't have to be a great orator to go 

 out and talk to the farmers; they don't expect that when you meet 

 them in a little school house, and after the meeting they come up and 

 ask you questions. We find that it helps a great deal in grading up 

 the raw material. 



I think that the first step in making good butter is to get good raw, 

 material, in fact I know that all of you buttermakers know what a lot 

 of trouble is caused by a poor quality of raw material. Different con- 

 ditions demand different methods for improvement but I believe that a 

 little study will enable you to meet the conditions which confront you. 



I might add that I am a firm believer in the pasteurization of milk 

 and cream for butter making. I also believe in properly ripening 

 cream with a commercial starter. I do not think that we have paid 

 as much attention to the body of the butter as we should, in the last 

 few years, for I believe that we would not find the body of the butter 

 now on the average as good as it was fifteen or eighteen years ago. 



Member: I would like to ask Mr. Brunner what he would do if he 

 was operating a creamery receiving cream testing ten per cent to twenty- 

 three per cent and how he would handle it to improve the quality? 



Answer: I think it would be hard to handle in any way and get 

 better results. It would be best to get a heavier cream. 



Member: But suppose the patrons refused to skim a heavier cream, 

 what then? 



Answer: I don't know. I think, though, that you should keep after 

 them constantly. 



