398 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



market, that there is a large quantity of what we may term firsts or even 

 lower. It comes from somewhere, and I have never seen any place that 

 furnishes all of either quality. You are not furnishing all firsts, or 

 extras, but I believe that your state is furnishing a great deal too much 

 of the firsts and seconds, and you are furnishing it at a tremendous 

 sacrifice. Let us analyze the situation a little further. I will ask you, 

 are there creameries in the state that are furnishing large quantities of 

 this second grade butter? I believe I get the answer, yes. There are some 

 creameries that are producing a small amount of second grade, and some 

 are producing a large amount of it. What does this mean to the creamery 

 producing 100,000 pounds? It means $1,000. That creamery has failed to 

 receive $1,000 because of what — because of the inferior quality of the 

 goods sold. Two cents under means $2,000. Here is a point that we 

 must think about. I want to ask every one of you interested in a cream- 

 ery. Do you know that your creamery is not losing $1,000 a year that it 

 should have, or $2,000 or $3,000? 



Let us take this a little further. What are the causes of this loss? As 

 I said before, it is not because of a lack of interest; not because of leaks 

 in your process of manufacture. What, then, is the cause of this. Is it 

 the creamery's fault? I say that it is and it isn't. The responsibility 

 does not rest entirely upon the creamery for the simple reason that the 

 raw material is not always of sufficiently good quality to make butter that 

 will sell for extras, but if it is and the quality is impaired during its 

 manufacture then the creamery is to blame. How many times is that 

 the case? How many creameries have you in the state that receives 

 good, clean, sweet cream and sells butter in Chicago or New York that 

 will grade firsts or seconds? I venture to say it doesn't occur very often. 

 On the other hand, suppose your creamery receives something that is not 

 first class to begin with, do you believe your manager or buttermaker can 

 make from it a first class butter? If you can, then you can offer to the 

 dairy industry of this country a solution to this problem that is costing 

 the producers of butter billions of dollars every year. 



Why should we take second class material to begin with? It takes 

 the same pound of animal fat, the same pound of substance to produce 

 an article that will sell as seconds as it does one that will sell as extras. 

 Almost half, if not more than half, of the butter-fat sold in milk is 

 sold at a reduced price because it is inferior. Why should any butter- 

 maker be called on to make a first class product out of a second class 

 material? You have no right to ask it. Now then, is Iowa losing $1,000,- 

 000 a year on her butter? I don't know, but I do know that she is losing 

 a big sum, and I know that the poor raw material received at your cream- 

 eries is responsible for an enormous part of this loss. 



What does this loss mean to the farmer? Suppose the average herd 

 of 10 cows produces 200 pounds of butter per cow per year. This poor raw 

 material costs that farmer $40 a year. He loses this $40 because his but- 

 ter-fat sold for 2 cents a pound less than it should have sold for. Where 

 a farmer has 10 cows that will produce 300 pounds and he sells poor ma- 

 terial he loses $60. Is $60 worth anything to you, farmers? Is it a con- 



