42 Milk Supply 



As far as the condensery is concerned it is entirely feasible to 

 pay for all milk strictly on the butter fat basis. Milk rich in fat, 

 and therefore rich in solids, yields more condensed milk than milk 

 poor in fat. To pay by the hundred weight, regardless of quality is 

 a practice which discriminates in favor of breeds of low-testing milk 

 and against breeds of high-testing milk. This practice has, in fact, 

 had the result that in the milk supply territory of these condenseries 

 the breeds and individuals of cows producing low-testing milk were 

 encouraged and developed until they largely predominated, at the 

 expense of breeds of cows producing high-testing milk. This situa- 

 tion in turn was responsible for the popular, though erroneous 

 impression, that milk from the Holstein, Ayrshire and Brown Swiss 

 breeds is better suited for milk condensing purposes than milk from 

 the Channel Island breeds. 



Within the last half decade, during which the condensed milk 

 industry has experienced so great a development, the great majority 

 of condenseries have abandoned their old way of paying for milk 

 by volume, or weight only. Many condensing concerns are now 

 buying their milk on the straight butter fat basis and nearly all of 

 the other condenseries pay for their milk on the basis of a standard 

 fat content, penalizing the farmer by lower prices for milk that falls 

 below a specified per cent of fat, and giving him a bonus for milk 

 in which the per cent of fat is over the standard figure specified. 



The great bulk of the milk supply reaches the condensery by 

 wagon or by motor truck. Usually part of the cost of transportation 

 is borne by the factory and part by the farmer. Shipments by rail 

 are rare, the uncertainty of rail transportation, with its frequent 

 delays, jeopardizes the quality of the milk. Payments for the milk 

 are generally made monthly. 



Quality. — The quality of the fresh milk is the first and most 

 important factor to be considered. The milk condensing factory, 

 ignoring this fact and accepting milk from unsanitary dairies and 

 careless dairymen, is bound to pay the penalty for such neglect 

 sooner or later. 



Polluted milk and milk that has not been cooled promptly and 

 to a reasonably low temperature on the farm, may pass through the 

 process successfully, if it is not too sour. The condensed milk made 

 from it, though, is inferior in flavor and keeping quality, and usually 



