Top. John Dorrer, Carroll county, pullt out con from electric milk cooler 

 housed in sunken pit. Center. Sam Kleepping stands by window of well- 

 lighted cement block basement. Calves ore healthy. Bottom. Bob 

 Shubert Is pleased with new metal storage rack which keeps pails and 

 cans off floor. Right: In Bob Shubert's Carroll county dairy bam you see 

 what it takes to produce Grade A milk: clean, healthy cows; well-lighted 

 barn with painted walls, tight floor and celling. 



Plan for 



• • 



Grade A' Now 



By J. S. MASON, Director lAA Dept. Dairy IHarketlng 



D 



AIRYMEN who are thinking of 

 I modernizing their dairy barns 

 [would do well to plan their im- 

 provements to pass Grade A re- 

 quirements. New Grade A markets 

 may be open to them within the next 

 few years. 



Sam Kloepping, Stephenson county 

 dairyman near Pearl City, provides an ex- 

 ample of a farmer who planned before he 

 rebuilt. He rebuilt his old dairy barn 

 last fall to pass the inspection for Grade 

 A milk and is selling his milk now at a 

 premium price to the Prairie Farms 

 Creamery at Mount Carroll. 



Kloepping's barn, like many, was in 

 need of remodeling. It was old and 

 poorly lighted. His rebuilt barn, in conr 

 trast, is as bright inside as a modern 

 store. It has made it possible for Kloepp- 

 ing to qualify for Grade A milk at a time 

 when Illinois markets are expanding. 



Farmers who intend to build or re- 

 model to meet Grade A, as Kloepping has 

 done, will do well to check first with 

 inspectors from markets where their milk 

 will probably be sold. 



The trend in Illinois is toward Grade 

 A. Consider that municipal Grade A or- 

 dinances for bottled milk are now in ef- 

 fect at Chicago, Elgin, Peoria, Decatur, 

 Rantoul, Rockford, Freeport, Davenport, 

 la., St. Louis, Mo., and East St. Louis. 

 Rock Island and Champaign will require 

 Grade A milk late this year. McLean 

 county has passed an ordinance effective 

 April 1, 1949. Chicago also requires that 

 Grade A be used in the manufacture of 

 ice-cream, and there is a trend toward re- 

 quiring Grade A milk for additional 

 products in large metrop>olitan markets. 



Prairie Farms Creamery plants at Car- 

 bondale, Carlinville, Olney, Bloomington, 



Henry and Mt. Carroll, are either han- 

 dling Grade A now or plan to do so 

 soon. The Producers Dairy of Danville is 

 also developing a Grade A milk supply. 



Many Illinois dairymen in the Chicago 

 and St. Louis areas have been producing 

 Grade A for a long time. They have con- 

 sistantly received a premium price for 

 their efforts. 



Records kept by the Pure Milk Associ- 

 ation, the Chicago milk cooperative, show 

 that in recent years their farmers have 

 been paid from 45 to 50 cents a hundred 

 above condensery prices. This premium 

 has meant $700 a year more for the aver- 

 age producer who last year shipped 400 

 pounds of milk daily. 



To bear the Grade A label, milk in 

 Illinois must be of a high quality, and 

 produced in sanitary barns amid clean 

 surroundings. 



The milk quality is determined largely 

 by its bacteria count (less than 200,000 

 per c.c.) and by its sediment test. These 

 tests follow a standard pattern. 



The physical requirements of the farm, 

 however, vary from city to city and some 

 times from inspector to inspector. It is 

 unfortunate that these have been the cause 

 of bitterness, particularly during the pe- 

 riod when Grade A programs were being 

 started in new milk sheds. Differences 

 have usually been settled with the passing 

 of time. 



This has not been the case in St. Louis, 

 a condition Sanitary Milk Producers As- 

 sociation is trying to correct. 



Many farmers feel, and with reason, 

 that the test for Grade A milk should be 

 the quality and bacteria count of the milk 

 itseu. Unfortunately the trend is not in 

 this direction, and inspectors are placing 

 {Continued on page 21) 



V 



'U 



12 



L A. A. RECORD 



