294 



IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



gross returns for the cream would be $17,774, deducting from this the 

 cost of maintaining the plant, $2,059, this leaves $15,715. From this 

 there must still be deducted freight and commission, which would amount 

 to at least 2.4c per pound, or a total of $1,777. This would leave a net 

 return for the butter of $13,938, which would be $500 more than would 

 be received for the cream, had it been sold for 23c per pound. 



In the case of a plant of double this size, the saving would be $2,335 

 in favor of churning. 



A creamery manager may well consider whether it is profitable for him 

 to close down his creamery and sell cream, should such a proposition be 

 made him. The calculation cannot stop with the loss of a few dollars 

 between the price received for the cream and that received for the butter 

 for the first year. As soon as the local creamery begins to sell its 

 cream to outside parties the door is opened for all sorts of competition, 

 the result of which is almost sure to ruin the creamery. Competition 

 between cream buyers in many sections is very keen and all sorts of 

 methods are resorted to to secure the goods. The usual prices are raised 

 and sometimes tests and weights are juggled. 



The incentive that is given a farmer to produce a good article of 

 cream is largely removed because he no longer sees the result of his 

 cream in butter. 



With the local creamery there is a certain pride in the neighborhood 

 which assists in keeping up the quality of the product. This is par- 

 ticularly true if the creamery is a co-operative one and the farmer feels 

 that the product is a part of his own work and he has a pride in know- 

 ing that it will bring the highest market price and that his creamery 

 will bring the most returns to himself and his neighbors. 



As has been previously stated, there is a large number of creameries 

 reporting to the U. S. Department of Agriculture every month, on blanks 

 which give a complete statement of the business done, the overrun ob- 

 tained, the prices received for butter and the prices paid for butter fat, 

 and, in case of co-operative creameries, the expenss of operation. 



TABLE No. V. 

 Comparative Prices For 1907. 



