SPAIN - CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



§ 3. Results obtained. 



The following are some data which resume the activity of the co-opera- 

 tive society during the three years which have elapsed since its foundation. 



No. of days Quantity 



Year for which of milk treated Profits realized 



the season lasjed — — 

 — kilogrammes pesetas (i) 



1914 88 65,064 22,585, 



1915 87 67,132 24,751 



T916 81 51.262 23,300 



These figures need some explanation. If the cheesemaking industry 

 be always highly subject to variation it is so especially when the animals 

 furnishing the milk which is its material are not stalled, for milk production 

 is then intimately connected with the extent and quality of the pastures on 

 which they graze. The difference in the quantity of milk treated from one 

 to another of the three years considered should not cause surprise. 



Cheese is made in Infantes in the spring, and it should be remembered 

 that in 1915 there was an early and productive spring, whereas that of 

 1916 was late and little productive. 



The difference in the prices realized is similarly explained, being partly 

 due to the varying price of the cheese from one year to another. The 

 co-operative society declares that the fact that the business had entered 

 into a regular course of working contributed to the increase in individual 

 returns obta^ined in 1916. 



A fact which must at first sight cause surprise is that the manufactur- 

 ing season of the Queseria Manchega should last only from eighty-one to 

 eighty-eight days. This is due to local conditions of vegetation and to 

 the difficulty of changing local customs in the matter of sheep farming. 

 In order to lengthen the season and make a larger quantity of cheese it 

 would be necessary to sacrifice the lambs soon after their birth and give 

 fresh and abundant food to the ewes in order that they might yield milk 

 for as long as possible. This is at present impossible in this district where 

 the winter is long and unproductive and the spring very productive, so 

 that the farmers keep the lambs in order to use the abundant pasturage. 

 It is therefore only when the lambs can live without their mothers, that is 

 in spring, that the ewes are milked for the purpose of cheesemaking, the 

 practice being continued until the great heat of July begins to burn the 

 fields. The position could certainly be modified by the intensive culti- 

 vation of forage plants and the stalling of the sheep, but this presupposes 

 a complete change in the local system of sheep farming, which could be 

 accomplished only after long study on the part of the farmers. 



(1)1 peseta = i> ^/^ d. at par. 



