The 



nikiois A^cuhural Assodatioa 



RECORD 





Number 5 



MAY, 1934 



Volume 12 



Quincy Co-op. Dairy 



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HEN dairy farmers work to- 

 gether and market their milk 

 co-operatively they go places. 

 And sometimes it doesn't make much 

 difference whether or not the govern- 

 ment steps in with a marketing agree- 

 ment. If you don't believe it just con- 

 sider the Quincy Co-operative Dairy 

 out in Adams county, 111. where the 

 Mississippi bulges westward into Mis- 

 Rouri. 



Organized milk producers around 

 Quincy who own their own plant and 

 distributing business are getting $1.80 

 a hundred for 3.5 per cent milk that 

 goes into the fluid milk and cream 

 trade. Not so bad. And the Quincy 

 housewife gets a break too — a high 

 quality four per cent milk delivered 

 to her door for eight cents a quart. If 

 she wants a deeper cream line milk 

 testing 5 per cent it costs only a dime. 



But then in Quincy you don't see a 

 half dozen varieties of milk wagons 

 patroling the same block about break- 

 fast time. Nor are there any middle- 

 men between the producer and con- 

 sumer taking 25 per cent on the in- 

 vestment. 



13 Wagons 



When you see a milk wagon or 

 truck in Quincy the chances are it's 

 one of the 13 owned by the Co-op. 

 Dairy. These wagons don't just de- 

 liver milk and cream. They carry the 

 whole line. Talk about the packers in 

 Chicago using every part of the hog 

 but the squeal. Well, down in Adams 

 county, the Co-op. Dairy wouldn't 

 think of running the skim milk down 

 the drain, surplus or no surplus. It 

 goes into bottles and the pails of cus- 

 tomers who come after it. In the pro- 

 ducers' modern, sanitary plant they 

 not only bottle fresh milk and cream, 

 but they also make butter, cottage 

 cheese, ice cream, "400" (chocolate 

 milk containing 2% fat), Five-0 

 (chocolate milk no fat), Frisco cheese, 

 cheese spread, and buttermilk. 

 ; The producers who own the Quincy 

 Co-operative Dairy instituted the base 

 and surplus plan of payment a good 

 many years ago." They believe in a 



Producers and Consumers 

 Both Get A Break in Adams 



County 



high base price and a low surplus 

 price. So the base, which runs about 

 50 per cent of present receipts, brings 

 $1.80 per cwt. for 3.5 per cent milk 

 and the surplus brings butterfat 

 price. Base for each producer is de- 

 termined by his six years' average 

 production leaving out April, May and 

 June. 



How It Started 



Maybe you'd like ^ to know how these 

 Adams county dairymen got started 

 running their own distributing busi- 

 ness. Frank Gougler, director of pro- 

 duce marketing for the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association, can tell you for 

 he was county adviser down in Adams 

 about 1920. Frank started a lot of 

 good things when he was there. 



''I was in the Farm Bureau office 

 after closing time one evening," said 

 Mr. Gougler, "when one of our Farm 

 Bureau members came in swearing 

 vengeance against another member for 

 cutting prices and taking his customer. 

 Both of these men were good friends 

 of mine. Each was producing and dis- 

 tributing his own milk. It seems that 

 one of the men had been delivering a 

 sizeable quantity to the local hospital 

 when suddenly his volume was cut in 

 half or more. He soon learned that 

 his neighbor had acquired the volume 

 he had lost. 



"I talked to this member until he 

 cooled off a bit and promised him I 

 would look into the matter," said 

 Frank. "Then I called in the other 

 man and got his story. Later I visited 

 the hospital and learned that the head 

 nurse had formerly taken milk from 

 the second man until he ran short of 

 milk. And when she learned later that 

 he had extra milk to spare, and at a 

 lower price, she asked him to leave 

 some at the hospital. 



"The upshot was that I made an 

 appointment with both men and got 



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STRENGTH IN 

 UN ITY 



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them to come down to the office at ; v- 

 the same time to talk it over. They i ;• 

 came. We had a long session but be- ;. 

 fore we got through the two men : ;' ; 

 shook hands and agreed to work with ' ' ■ 

 me in setting up a co-operative milk :;V^ 



distributing plant." 



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Too Much Waste'^^^^ ; : y- ^^ 



Albert Heckle, a member of the '!^,^.■:: 

 board of directors and a leader in the ;.;: 

 organization of the co-operative dairy -r*^ 

 from the beginning can tell you about ' / 

 marketing conditions at Quincy at 

 that time. 



"About 1920 the milk industry was : 

 in a very bad condition around ! 

 Quincy," said Albert. "There was gen- 

 eral dissatisfaction among producers. 

 It was found after a survey that there , 

 were about 80 or 90 milk distributors i 

 averaging around 10 gallons per route. 

 I mention gallons because that was 

 the basis on which milk was bought ;; 

 and sold. 



"The survey also brought out that {, 

 about 60 per cent of the milk con- 

 sumed in the territory was canned 

 milk. It was plain that something 

 would have to be done. So we went 

 to the Adams County Farm Bureau 

 for help. 



"It fell to the lot of Frank A. 

 Gougler who was then farm adviser, 

 to see what could be done. Com- \ 

 mittees were named. It was finally de- ; 

 cided to go all the way from the farm 

 to the consumer. Such a plan was new 

 and untried. We called on the I. A. A. 

 for help and Chris Larsen, then di- ; 

 rector of dairy marketing (now dean : 

 of the South Dakota College of Agri- 

 culture), came down to advise us. If it 

 had not been for the untiring efforts 





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