336 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
devote to the work originally intended as the duty of the dairy 
commissioner is lessened by the addition of other duties much 
greater in volume than those originally undertaken. These facts 
are here stated in the hope that they will be taken into account by 
the legislature and the dairy force strengthened at the coming ses- 
sion by the authorization of additional assistant dairy commis- 
sioners. 
No extraordinary changes have taken place in the past year in 
Iowa dairy conditions. The usual large amount of butter has been 
produced. The ascendancy of the central plants is a little more 
marked than formerly and the competition between them and the 
local creameries is keener than before. The number of creameries 
on the list has decreased from 594 to 552, and there have been only 
a few plants built, except in the case of rebuilding of old and well 
established plants. 
There has been little or no improvement in the quality of cream 
shipped by rail and almost the same is true of that delivered in 
other ways to the creameries of every kind. The greatest problem 
now confronting the maker of butter in this state is to get to his 
factory that quality of milk and cream from which it is possible to 
make butter of the high grade demanded by the markets everywhere 
and it has seemed almost impossible to achieve any great improve- 
ment in the raw material received. 
The creameries of the state make approximately 100,000,000 
pounds of creamery butter annually which has an aggregate value 
of nearly or quite $25,000,000. About one-third of this amount of 
butter, 32,000,000 pounds, is produced in thirty-four creameries 
of the state, which operate generally upon the plan of shipping 
cream to central points to be churned. These creameries make 
from 300,000 pounds to 6,000,000 annually each. The remaining 
68,000,000 pounds of butter is manufactured in 468 creameries, 
which also operate about fifty skimming stations. More than 100- 
000 patrons and nearly 800,000 cows are tributary to the butter- 
making plants of the state. While the tables of this report show 
an increase of perhaps 10,000,000 pounds of butter made in the 
last year as compared with the year previous, such increase is 
probably due to favorable season and other minor contributing 
causes rather than to any permanent or extraordinary factors which 
would indicate continuous increases for the future. The production 
of butter in this state is one of the settled and permanent lines of 
industry for the farm and will be subject to temporary increases 
