546 iOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



and prohibit the possibility of obtaining a representative sample and 

 an accurate test. 



CREAMERY BUTTER. 



The amount of creamery butter manufactured within the state as 

 reported by the 494 creameries for the year ending June 30, 1912, 

 shows some decrease as compared with the year previous. According 

 to the best reports obtainable, the creameries of Iowa manufactured 

 91,738,573 pounds of butter which is a decrease of 4,957,011 pounds. 

 The decrease in the butter output does not furnish evidence that dairy- 

 ing is on the decline in this state but merely reveals that the milk and 

 cream produced on the farms is being marketed through other chan- 

 nels. The creameries of Iowa report having manufactured more than 

 double the amount of ice-cream that was manufactured the previous 

 year, the total amount being given as 519,890 gallons. We are unable 

 to secure accurate figures showing amount of butter fat annually used 

 for ice-cream purposes but a conservative estimate places this amount 

 at 2,52 0,000 pounds. The steady growth of the ice-cream trade has 

 had a tendency to reduce the amount of butter manufactured and this 

 reduction will continue to exist until changing industrial conditions 

 cause the farmers to again resort to the production of milk and cream 

 as the best means of converting their crors into a commodity that will 

 bring them the most money. It is a notable fact that the production of 

 butter has increased during those years when the price of farm crops 

 has been lowest and to a certain extent the reverse has been true when 

 crops were good and high prices ruled. The production of milk and 

 cream necessarily demands close application and painstaking work on 

 the part of the farm^ers and a period of prosperity makes it possible 

 for many farmers to realize a good income without giving their atten- 

 tion to the production of milk. It has been said that the average man 

 is as lazy as he dares to be and this statement comes very nearly being 

 illustrated in connection with the production of butter fat by the 

 average farmer. On many farms, dairying has been conducted as a 

 side line and when high prices rule and the farmers generally are very 

 prosperous, they feel in many cases that they are justified in discon- 

 tinuing their milking operations on account of the exacting nature of 

 the work. When a period of financial depression affects the general 

 prosperity of the farmers, we believe large numbers of our farmers will 

 again look to dairying as the most profitable branch of their farming 

 operations. When this occurs we can reasonably expect a large in- 

 crease in the production of creamery butter and the improved cattle 

 and better methods which have been introduced during the past few 

 years will make the production of butter fat more profitable than it 

 has been at any time in the past and will lend encouragement to many 

 to adopt the production of butter fat as their special branch of agri- 

 culture. 



RENOVATED BUTTER. 



Since the price of butter has been extremely high, considerable quan- 

 tities of process butter, otherwise known as renovated butter, have 



