HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



Continued from page 2, column 3 

 They concluded from these studies that 

 cows producing- an average of fifty-six 

 hundred pounds of milk in a year are not 

 good enough to pay a profit in times of 

 such low prices as now prevail. And the 

 average Massachusetts cow is making 

 only fifty-eight hundred pounds of milk 

 in a year. 



Massachusetts Farmers are Improving 

 Their Herds 



The importance of high producing cows 

 has long been known to Massachusetts 

 farmers. The objection is sometimes 

 made that the high producing cows must 

 be pure bred and hence very high priced. 

 At some of the Massachusetts State In- 

 stitution farms cows producing ten thou- 

 sand to fifteen thousand pounds of milk 

 in a year have been developed from grade 

 dams bred to sires fronv high producing 

 parentage. The Wisconsin Station in 

 their studies found that grade herds sired 

 by high producing pure bred sires were 

 more profitable than many pure bred 

 herds when measured in terms of the 

 milk pail. They found a tendency in 

 pure bred herds to retain the culls in the 

 herd until they can be sold at pure bred 

 prices. And pure bred culls are no better 

 than any other scrub cows! 



Massachusetts milk production per cow- 

 ls on the increase. By careful breeding 

 from present stock, with rigid selection 

 as measuied by the milk scales and the 

 Babcock test, without appreciable cost in- 

 crease, more milk of better quality can be 

 had from a lessened number of cows. 

 The County Agents in the dairy counties 

 are and have been teaching this by word 

 of mouth and by demonstrations. And 

 much of the improvement made in yield 

 in the past decade can be traced to these 

 teachings. 



Mass. Dcpt. of Agriculture. 



FEDERATION PLAN FOR 



MILK MARKETING 



Last month we published the story of 

 the Holyoke Producers' Dairy Company, 

 using it as an example of a successful 

 locally owned cooperative. There are 

 several similar plants in the State. Rep- 

 resentatives of these plants meet regular- 

 ly to compare operating costs and to dis- 

 cuss common problems. It is reasonable 

 to suppose that as a result of these meet- 

 ings that pressure is brought to bear on 

 the managers of the less efficient plants 

 which will result in greater economy of 

 operation. In fact these plants are show- 

 ing a remarkable spirit of cooperation. 



Since there has been considerable talk 

 about the Federation plan suggested by 

 the Honorable E. S. Brigham, Ex-Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture of Vermont and 

 since few people know what this plan is 



we are giving it as published on page .54 

 of Hoard's Dairyman for August 1, 1924. 



"Each community having a sufficient 

 number of dairy cows (.500 or more) 

 should form a local cooperative corpora- 

 tion for the purpose of erecting or pur- 

 chasing a plant adequate to receive, pro- 

 cess, and manufacture the dairy products 

 of the community. 



"The plant, if located sufficiently near 

 the railroad to make milk shipping pos- 

 sible, .should be equipped with facilities 

 for handling- fluid milk for shipment to 

 market and with facilities for manufac- 

 turing milk into one or more by-products. 

 If the plant is located a great distance 

 from the railroad, manufacturing facili- 

 ties only need to be provided. 



"The local cooperative corporation 

 should be financed by sale of stock to 

 the dairy farmers of the community who 

 agree to deliver the product of their 

 dairies for a stated length of time. The 

 stock should be in proportion to the num- 

 ber of cows owned by the patron and 

 may be issued on the stock rotating plan. 



"The local cooperative corporation 

 should be managed by a duly elected 

 board of directors chosen from members 

 of the local organizations, who should 

 have authority to employ a manager for 

 the plant and other employees and to 

 carry on the general business of the plant 

 as outlined by the by-laws adopted. 



"When a sufficient number of local co- 

 operative corporations have been or- 

 ganized and are operating plants, the 

 next step should be to form a federation 

 of such plants, delegating the federation 

 such functions and such authority in the 

 management of the local plants as may 

 be agreed upon. 



"The federation should be organized as 

 a cooperative corporation, having each 

 local plant as a member and should have 

 a board of directors and other officers 

 as provided by law. 



"The federation .should employ a gen- 

 eral manager who should be the chief 

 officer and who should have, subject to 

 the approval of the federation board of 

 directors, the right to exercise the au- 

 thority to the federation by its contracts 

 with member local cooperative corpora- 

 tions. 



"This authority should include the fol- 

 lowing : 



(a). The employment of an inspec- 

 tion force to inspect milk and cream at 

 the plants and to visit farms contribu- 

 ting product of inferior quality, with a 

 view to making improvement. These in- 

 spectors should have the right to reject 

 milk or cream which did not come up to a 

 certain standard agreed upon. 



(b). The employment of trained 

 specialists in the processing of market 

 milk and in the manufacture of all kinds 

 of dairy products, whose services .should 

 be available to the managers of the local 

 plants and to whom such managers should 



render reports, so that all milk should be 

 handled in such a way that a unifonnly 

 high quality of milk and other products 

 should be off^ered in the market. 



(c). The provision of storage facili- 

 ties so that products like cheese could be 

 held and cured under suitable conditions 

 until ready for market, and where prod- 

 ucts re.sulting from .seasonal surplus 

 could be held and relea.sed when the mar- 

 ket would take them. 



(d). The establishment of a selling 

 agency in city markets as necessity de- 

 veloped. A sales force should be em- 

 ployed to make sales and see that cus- 

 tomers have service. A laboratory should 

 be established to make butterfat and 

 quality tests. Facilities for carrying 

 necessary stocks to meet the demand of 

 customers should be provided. 



(e). The establishment of a purchas- 

 ing agency through which local member 

 plants could purchase all supplies. An 

 effort should be made to standardize sup- 

 plies and equipment and thereby simplify 

 the problem of stocking repairs and .sup- 

 plies likely to be needed on short notice. 



(f). The establishment of an ac- 

 counting service which should provide 

 member plants with an adequate method 

 of bookkeeping and with supervising ac- 

 countants. 



(g). The advertising of the products 

 ofi'ered for sale by the federation. 



"The current expen.ses of the federa- 

 , tion should be met by an assessment made 

 I upon each dollar's worth of product 

 handled through it. 



"Property purchase should be made by 

 stock issues .subscribed for by members 

 plants. 



"The contract of the federation with 

 member plants should provide for the 

 manufacture and sale of the entire out- 

 put of such member plants in such form 

 and manner as the general manager of 

 the federation should direct. The re- 

 ceipts of such sales should be prorated 

 to member plants on the basis of amount 

 of product contributed, subject to such 

 equalizations for difference in cost of 

 transportation, quality of product, cost 

 of manufacture of different products, and 

 allowances for seasonal variation in pro- 

 duction as a board of equalization com- 

 posed of a representative from each con- 

 tracting member plant and the board of 

 directors of the federation should agree 

 upon. 



"Seasonal surpluses should be cared 

 for insofar as possible by withdrawing 

 from milk shipping plants least advanta- 

 geously located and the manufacturing of 

 the entire output of such plants. 



"The aim of the federation should be 

 the production and manufacture of the 

 finest quality dairy products in the most 

 efficient manner possible, the feeding of 

 such products into the markets as they 

 are needed, and the creation of demand 

 Continued on page 11, column 2 



