Part II.] SHORT-TIME CREDIT. 41 



One man who has 7 of our cows, out of a total of 13 in his 

 herd, has the highest producing herd of grade cattle in our 

 vicinity. Practically all who have kept records have made an 

 average of over 10,000 pounds of milk per cow per year. The 

 average production in Massachusetts is somewhere near 5,000 

 pounds. A few of our grade cows have given over 80 pounds of 

 milk per day; several over 70 pounds. These records were prac- 

 tically unknown before w^e began shipping in this class of stock. 



For a long time farmers have been urged to buy higher pro- 

 ducing cows, feed more balanced rations, keep records and to 

 know whether or not each individual cow was profitable. We 

 have helped to accomplish these things in numerous cases. 



After a year of thorough investigation and endeavor to con- 

 vince the dairy men of the wasteful competitive delivery of 

 Brockton's daily supply of milk, some of the over-lapping 

 routes have been abolished. Under the title of the Producers' 

 Dairy Company 88 farmers have combined their entire output 

 of milk, and are handling it through a central pasteurizing and 

 delivery plant. 



The company is capitaHzed for $150,000, with $100,000 in 

 common stock and the remainder in preferred. The initial sub- 

 scription totaled $50,000. 



Contracts for building and equipping a model dairy plant 

 have been let, and completion of the building is expected some 

 time in November. 



The business of the company will in time be extended to in- 

 clude the production of every commodity that milk or cream 

 will make, and the marketing of the combined produce of all 

 the farms; besides which, co-operative buying will be extended 

 to practically cover the whole field of purchasable supplies. 



Our co-operative buying is a very valuable feature. Since a 

 year ago February there have been bought in this way 33 cars of 

 grain at an average saving to the farmer of about $5 per ton. 

 Reckoning the car as containing 20 tons (and we have had 

 several cars of 30 tons), this makes G60 tons at a saving of over 

 $3,300. One farmer acknowledged that he had saved enough 

 money to pay the wages of a hired man for a year. On the last 

 2 cars in Easton, aggregating 52 tons, there was a saving of 

 over $8 per ton. 



