Bringing In The Cream 



(Continued from page 25) 



In reviewing this table it is interest- 

 ing to note that the range of receipts 

 varies from as low as 6.1 per cent in 

 Mav received from Piatt County to as 

 high as 34 per cent received from Cham- 

 paign County. In April, Piatt County 

 supplied 8 per cent of its total volume 

 for that month and Champaign County 

 supplied 36.9 per cent. Vermilion Coun- 

 ty likewise furnished a very low percent- 

 age of the available volume. 



The low volume supplied from these 

 two counties may be partly due to the 

 fact that other co-operative creameries 

 are operating trucks in these counties. 

 Vermilion County has been served for 

 a number of years by the Cooperative 

 Creamery at Crawfordsville, Indiana and 

 these truck operators are still operating 

 in that county. PSrt of the territory in 

 Piatt County is being served by a co- 

 operative creamery at Atwood. Outside 

 of these two counties it is difficult to ex- 

 plain why there should be so large a 

 variation between Champaign and Ford 

 Counties which are furnishing the high- 

 est percentage of butterfat. 



In some instances we have believed 

 that in some counties the territory is 

 not being thoroughly covered. This was 

 brought out some time ago by Shelby 

 County. Shelby is almost three times as 

 large as Ford County, yet Ford had five 

 truck operators while Shelby had only 

 three. Naturally, Ford County should be 

 able to assemble a lot more cream be- 

 cause of having more haulers. This 

 merely emphasizes the importance of 

 securing more haulers in Shelby County 

 and having each hauler concentrate on 

 a smaller area. 



Our future program for increased 

 volume must be such that it will con- 

 centrate our efforts in working the 

 territory intensively. Truck salesmen 

 operating t\vo routes bring the cream 

 in twice a week from each route. They 

 should not be permitted to service too 

 great a territory. There seems to be a 

 tendency on the part of these salesmen 

 to want to pick out the larger pro- 

 ducers. This results in getting a load 

 more quickly, yet it means driving many 

 more miles to secure the load. 



In order to build our volume up as it 

 should be, our creameries will have to 

 adopt definite policies on this point. It 

 will be necessary to limit each truck 

 salesman to perhaps not more than two 

 townships or three at the most and re- 

 quire him to secure as nearly 100 per 

 cent of the available cream in the ter- 

 ritory allotted to him, as possible. 



Referring to this particular district 

 known as the Champaign District, it 

 should be noted that the total potential 



butterfat available in the district 

 amounts to 7,116,231 lbs. This butterfat 

 is produced by the farmers in the dis- 

 trict, owned by them and they in turn 

 own their own creamery. Therefore, 

 there is no logical reason why all of it 

 should not be secured. If we fail to se- 

 cure all the cream, it merely indicates 

 that the producers in the district do not 

 understand the advantages in processing 

 their own butterfat in their own plant. 

 If each and every producer would real- 

 ize that the only reason any creamery 

 is willing to purchase his butterfat is 

 to make a profit from it, then he should 

 realize that if he puts his cream thru 

 his own creamery, such profits would 

 revert to him in patronage dividends. 

 This idea should not be difficult to get 

 over to every producer. Once he under- 

 stands it, he will soon begin to patron- 

 ize his own creamery. 



Next in importance to building up a 

 large volume in a creamery is improv- 

 ing the quality. The greatest single 

 change made in the method of handling 

 butterfat through the co-operative plan 

 and the way it has been handled before 

 the co-operative has entered the field, 

 is the change of trucking it from farm 

 to plant twice a week rather than for 

 the farmer to take it to private cream 

 stations whenever it is convenient and 

 finally reach the creamery. This change 

 in the method of procurement has re- 

 sulted in raising the average grade of 

 butter approximately two points. Im- 

 provement in the quality of butter made 

 in our co-operative creameries rests 

 largely with the producer. A butter- 

 maker can only make a grade of butter 

 corresponding to the grade of quality 

 of cream furnished the creamery. 



The principal points which the pro- 

 ducer should keep in mind in order to 

 be able to furnish the highest quality 

 of cream to his own plant, are as fol- 

 lows: 



1. Produce clean cream and keep it 

 clean. 



(a) Keep cows healthy, clean udders 

 and flanks before milking. 



(b) Feed all dusty and highly fla- 

 vored feeds such as hay, silage and tur- 

 nips after milking — never before. 



(c) Milkers should wear clean clothes 

 and milk with clean dry hands. 



' (d) Keep cream separator in room 

 that is free from dirt, dust, vermin and 

 foul odors. 



(e) Regulate separator to separate 

 30 to 35 per cent cream. 



2. Cool Cream Promptly and Keep 

 Cool. 



(a) Never add warm cream to cold 

 cream, 



(b) Cool the cream immediately after 



separating it by placing it in the cold- 

 est water available. Stir the cream oc- 

 casionally to hasten cooling. 



(c) Keep the cream cool until picked 

 up by your truck salesman. 



(d) Truck salesmen should protect 

 cream while enroute. 



It should be clearly understood by 

 every patron of our co-operative cream- 

 eries that his County Farm Bureau and 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association 

 are a very important asset to his 

 creamery because these organizations 

 are constantly striving to assist the pro- 

 ducer in building up strong institutions 

 of this kind. County Farm Bureaus are 

 holding special meetings from time to 

 time in their respective counties where 

 the creamery program is the major point 

 of discussion. The County Farm Bureaus 

 and the State Association are constantly 

 in touch with the progress made in the 

 creameries, not only from the standpoint 

 of improving quality but also of hold- 

 ing operating costs to a minimum and 

 maintaining efficient .business manage- 

 ment. 



An interesting development that has 

 taken place between the County Farm 

 Bureaus and the several subsidiary as- 

 sociations of the Illinois Agrricultural 

 Association is the help that these or- 

 ganizations are giving each other. For 

 example, all truck drivers in a cream- 

 ery district that are distributing prod- 

 ucts of their respective service com- 

 panies are at all times urging producers 

 to patronize their creameries and giv- 

 ing other valuable information to pro- 

 ducers along this line. Likewise, truck 

 salesmen who are assembling cream are 

 not overlooking the importance of in- 

 forming non-members about Farm Bu- 

 reau service and in urging farmers to 

 patronize the service companies, to in- 

 sure their cars in their own mutual in- 

 surance company, secure their life in- 

 surance from the Country Life Insur- 

 ance Company and in short, every sub- 

 sidiary organization is plugging for 

 every other company and the parent 

 organization, the Illinois Ag^ricultural 

 Association. 



The average cost to wheat program 



signers for administering the plan locally 

 the first year was a little less than l%c 

 per bu. of farmers' allotments. Adjust- 

 ment payments were 29c per bu. 



Uncle Ab says one reason why some 



folks like to keep a dog is because a dog 

 always flatters its master. i . ■ .. 



The Illinois Agricultural Mutual In- 

 surance Co. has approximately 42,000 

 policies in force, a gain of nearly 4,000 

 since the first of the year. 



26 



L A. A. RECORD 



