394 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



There are still 51 creameries in this state receiving nothing but 

 whole milk and 135 creameries that receive both milk and cream 

 and 357 creameries that receive nothing but cream, and the ten- 

 dency seems to be rapidly in the direction of eliminating the whole 

 milk system altogether in this state, as appears from figures given 

 above. Only ITVo per cent of the creamery butter product is made 

 from milk. 



It is not possible to make any hard and fast definition of a cen- 

 tralizing creamery, for the reason that 117 creameries now receive 

 some cream by rail. There are, however, 41 creameries in the 

 state, which, in the opinion of the commisssioner, are properly 

 classed as centralized creameries. They cover practically the whole 

 area of the state with their cream agents and advertisements for 

 business and they make from 150,000 to 5,000.000 pounds of butter 

 each — an aggregate of 36,000,000 pounds. It follows that the 

 strictly local creameries make 05,000,000 pounds per annum. The 

 central creameries average 900,000 pounds each, and the local 

 creameries average 140,000 each. ]\Iore than half the creameries 

 of the state are co-operative — 292 being so listed by their man- 

 agers and 78 creameries as stock companies, most of which operate 

 on a co-operative basis. The numl)er of individually owned cream- 

 eries is 167, which includes the 41 centralized creameries mentioned 

 above. There is one creamery at the Agricultural College at Ames 

 which is state property and there are three condensed milk factories 

 in the state at Waverly, West Liberty and Perry respectively. 



Great pains have been taken to make the creamery list accurate 

 and complete up to November 1, 1909. The statistics given are for 

 the year ending July 1, 1909, and are as accurate as possible to be 

 obtained. The number of creameries is approximately the same as 

 last year, there having been few changes in the creamery list and 

 those mainly due to the unavoidable errors in previous reports. 

 The fact that so few changes have occurred seems to indicate that 

 the causes for the closing of so many creameries which have hereto- 

 fore operated in this state, seem no longer to be effective in closing 

 the smaller creameries. It is also a fact that the relations existing 

 between centralized creameries and local creameries are not so 

 strained as heretofore and those interested in either of these sys- 

 tems are devoting their energies to the management of their re- 

 spective busines"-es and the upbuilding of the buttermaking indus- 

 try in Iowa in general. It is not too much to predict that at least 

 in the immediate future the energies of the creamery people of the 



