^^^]^ RODUCTION of high-score 

 JL/ butter in the State of Illinois 



-f- presents many problems. A 

 vast amount of educational and regu- 

 latory work must be done before it 

 may be accomplished. There are many 

 years of work ahead in Illinois for 

 the most experienced, capable and ag- 

 gressive agricultural workers in regard 

 to these problems. 



The task is not easy. It is a chal- 

 lenge, but I believe the challenge can 

 be met. Illinois farmers are intelli- 

 gent producers. Many of them, how- 

 ever, have drifted into the use of care- 

 less methods. 



Manufacturing of butter is a more 

 specialized business than either market- 

 ing or distribution. It is more spe- 

 cialized than production for there are 

 a smaller number of people employed 

 in manufacturing than in production. 

 Gampetition has taken out many of the 

 weak and inefficient. 



Let me ask three questions of butter 

 manufacturers. 



1. What percentage of present cream- 

 cries in Illinois are so efficient and ec- 

 onomical in their methods and prac- 



More Profits From Cream* 



By ROY C. POTTS, 

 U. S. Bureau of Agricultural Economics 



its own costs, or are profits from one 

 grade used to pay losses on another.' 



3. Are the methods generally em- 

 ployed by creameries and by the dis- 

 tributing trade in marketing and mer- 

 chandising high-score butter (92 and 

 93 score) so efficient and so econom- 

 ical that larger profits are not possible 

 from production, manufacture and dis- 

 tribution of this grade of butter. 



The third question is one about 

 which butter manufacturers have done 

 the least, and about which they per- 

 haps know the least. Many butter 

 manufacturers have left this problem 

 entirely to others. 



We all know, or at least many of 

 us older ones know, how 25 years ago 

 it was the general practice of cream- 

 eries to consign their butter to whole- 

 sale commission houses that took five 

 percent commission charges on gross 

 sales as their reward for getting but- 



GRADE "A" CREAM PRODUCER ON THE AIR 

 "Nothing fancy is needed to get Grade "A" cream checks. It's all in the care 

 I give the cream after I get it from the cows," Everett Frahnn tells short wave 

 radio listeners while C. C. Burns holds the "mike" and WDZ, Tuscola radiomen, 

 Mrs. Frahm, her father-in-law, and Douglas County Farm Adviser J. Q. Scott 

 listen. j 



tices of cream procurement that they 

 could not be improved at least 10 per- 

 cent from the standpoint of sanitation, 

 prevention of deterioration of quality 

 and more economical or lower costs? 

 2. How many Illinois creameries di- 

 rect manufacturing methods and costs 

 toward the manufacture of 92 and 93 

 score butter.' Is the cream graded and 

 a premium price paid for U. S. Grade 

 A quality? Is a lower price paid for 

 U. S. Grade C cream than Grade B? 

 Is each grade of cream made to carry 



30 



ter into the hands of another whole- 

 saler, jobber or jobbing distributor. 



Speaking of problems in making pro- 

 duction of high-score butter more pro- 

 fitable brings forth an interesting ques- 

 tion. 



On how many farms, or on what 

 percentage of all dairy farms, and to 

 what extent, would it be possible to 

 reduce the cost of milk production at 

 least ten percent by using more effi- 

 cient and more economical methods 

 and practices? 



Profits in a business such as that of 

 manufacturing butter are dependent 

 upon various factors of cost; first in 

 the procurement department, second in 

 the manufacturing department and 

 third in the sales department. In each 

 of these departments net results and 

 net profits are dependent upon the 

 economical and efficient methods and 

 practices which are employed. No one 

 will say that it is not possible to use 

 more efficient and more economical 

 methods in each of these departments. 

 To so state would be to admit that no 

 further progress can be made in at- 

 taining greater economy or greater ef- 

 ficiency in the operation of a creamery. 



If the Cow Test Association records 

 furnish any criterion of the possibil- 

 ities of greater economy and efficiency 

 in milk production, then the possibili- 

 ties of reducing costs on most farms 

 are tremendous. These records show 

 that about one-third of the cows in 

 all our herds are kept at a loss, one-third 

 a profit and the returns from about 

 one-third break even with the costs. 



Low production costs are basic to the 

 success of any industry. Surely the 

 profits from producing high-score but- 

 ter could be increased greatly if more 

 effort were put forth in stocking our 

 dairy farms with a more profitable type 

 of producing dairy cows. 



Farms that produce cream that will 

 make 92 and 93 score butter probably 

 are above average. Therefore, on at 

 least 60 percent or more of our farms 

 supplying cream to creameries, sanita- 

 tion and other conditions that affect 

 cream quality offer opportunities for 

 the improvement of the quality of the 

 milk and cream produced. 



* Excerpts jrom address before dairy short 

 course, University of Illinois, Urhana. 



Ninety-six per cent of the Farm Bu- 

 reau members in Randolph county pat- 

 ronize the County Service Company — 

 a state record. 



Commercial slaughter supplies of cat- 

 tle and calves in 1937 will probably be 

 smaller than in any of the last three 

 years, according to the Bureau of Agri- 

 cultural Economics. 



More farms were purchased from the 



federal land banks in 1936 than in any 

 previous year of the banks' history. 



Uncle Ab says that too many things 

 are bought on the uneasy payment plan. 



LA. A. RECORD 



f»j% 1 m. 



