P.D. 123 5 



Our program calls for the inspection of all dairy farms in Massachusetts 

 that are supplying our consuming public with fluid milk. Our law provides 

 that all dairy farms producing milk for sale in this Commonwealth will satisfy 

 the rules and regulations of the Milk Regulation Board pertaining to the pro- 

 duction of milk. Our regulations in effect today are reasonable, yet they are 

 sufficiently exacting to require of all dairy farmers the adequate facilities and 

 proper management to the end that a safe quality supply of milk will be avail- 

 able in all of our markets. 



The dairy farm inspection law that was passed by the Legislature in 1932 

 provided that certificates of registration shall be issued by the Department on 

 the basis of an inspection report from a local milk inspector, when such report 

 indicated clearly that our rules and regulations had been substantially complied 

 with. We have received valuable cooperation from many of our local boards 

 of health and while we cannot definitely state, at this time, that every dairy 

 farm in Massachusetts has been inspected either by our inspector or by agents 

 of local boards of health, we are prepared to state that considerable progress 

 has been made and we expect that within another year our objective will be 

 reached, that is, the inspection of every dairy farm in Massachusetts producing 

 milk for sale. 



Surveys of the production and distribution of milk would indicate that we 

 produce less than one-half of the milk consumed in Massachusetts. We recog- 

 nize, therefore, that a great volume of milk comes in from outside the State and 

 we have a program which calls for the inspection of all dairy farms outside 

 our state, produciner milk for sale in this Commonwealth. Our appropriations, 

 however, have not been adequate for the employment of enough inspectors to 

 complete the inspection work outside of the Commonwealth. Some of our 

 larger cities carry on a very extensive program of out-of-state dairy farms 

 and we are satisfied that such communities receive proper protection. However, 

 in some cases, economies have cut into their appropriations and they have not 

 been able to complete the program outlined by the local boards of health. In some 

 instances, we have not received reports from them indicating that they would 

 be unable to complete their inspection program until it was too late for our 

 small group of inspectors to take over these late eissignments and carry out 

 the full intent of the law. 



Our inspection program during the past year called for the inspection of 

 all dairy farms in Massachusetts, and the production of quality milk on such 

 farms, in order that we might reasonably impose upon those producing milk 

 outside of the State the same high requirements which we impose upon our 

 own farmers. We are prepared to require of all dairy farms within or without 

 the State, producing milk for sale within the Commonwealth, a full compliance 

 with the rules and regulations established by the Milk Regulation Board, and 

 unless these requirements are met, a certificate of registration will not be issued. 

 We anticipate very little difficulty in impressing upon our Massachusetts farmers 

 the necessity of complying with these rules and regulations in order that aU 

 of our Massachusetts dairy farms may have a certificate of registration. 



During the past year, the Department conducted 173 hearings in Massachu- 

 setts relating to a failure on the part of certain dairy farmers to comply with 

 our rules and regulations, and outside of the State of Massachusetts we con- 

 ducted 615 hearings relating to the same causes. We found in many cases, 

 both within and without the Commonwealth, that we were confronted with a 

 situation that called for courageous action. It was very apparent that some 

 of the farmers called into these hearings did not intend to comply with the rules 

 and regulations and were not the type of farmer that could produce a quality 

 milk for Massachusetts consumers. The only action that could be taken by 

 the Department in a case of this kind would be the exclusion of such milk from 

 our Massachusetts markets, and that recommendation was made in several cases, 

 when in our best judgment no amount of instruction would bring about a change 

 in existing conditions. 



The Department has received a high degree of cooperation from most of the 



