472 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The farmer should then insist that the butter maker make an 

 accurate test of his cream and that he make a quality of butter which 

 will bring the highest quotations. 



CHEESE MAKING IN IOWA. 



The number of cheese factories in Iowa has never been very large, 

 nor the amount of cheese made enough to make a beginning toward sup- 

 plying the demands of our own people. The number of cheese factories 

 as shown by the dairy commissioners' reports are as follows : 



1894, 64; 1895, 81; 1896, 71; 1897, 76; 1898, 67; 1899, 69; 1900, 73; 1901, 

 59; 1902. 59. 



In 1894 there were 780 creameries and skim stations, which made 

 54,572,902 pounds of butter, an average of 70,000 pounds. In 1902, there 

 are 920 creameries and skim stations, which made 77,885,696 pounds of 

 butter, an average of 84,000 pounds of butter. From these figures, it will 

 be seen that the number of creameries has increased one-sixth and their 

 butter product has increased nearly one-half, and yet, the number of 

 cheese factories of the state has not shown any perceptible increase 

 during these eight years. 



A study of the following table will in some degree make plain the 

 reasons why butter making and creamery operation has increased much 

 more rapidly than cheese making. The average amount of butter made 

 by the creamery from each cow is 135 pounds, which has a value of about 

 $27.00. The value of the skimmed milk from each cow is variously esti- 

 mated at from $3.00 to $5.00 so that the total value of the product of the 

 cow in the form of butter is not far from $30.00. 



The average number of pounds of cheese, per cow, as shown by the 

 following table, is only 200 pounds, and has a value at ten cents a pound 

 of $20.00. The by-product, whey, can not exceed in value a dollar, so that 

 the total value of the product of the cow, when made into cheese, under 

 existing Iowa conditions, in existing Iowa cheese factories, is $21.00. 



The cheese factories report that the expense of cheese making varies 

 from one cent a pound to one and four-tenths cents. It takes approximately 

 ten pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese and twenty-three pounds 

 of milk to make a pound of butter. The cost of making a pound of 

 butter is about 2.25 cents. From this, it will be seen that the expense of 

 making milk into butter is practically the same as the expense of making 

 cheese. The expense of hauling the milk will be the same in either case, 

 so that under existing conditions, the income from the cow whose product 

 is sent to the creamery is about fifty per cent more than the income from 

 the cow whose milk is sent to the cheese factory. 



There are about a dozen cheese factories in the state that are operated 

 on a scale sufficiently large to make them profitable, and they are making 

 a product that will compare favorably with the cheese from other states. 

 These factories, without exception, were established, either before cream- 



