The Fat Test for Condensery Milk. 
Let Patrons Get Together. 
HANGED CONDITIONS.—The first article on 
the front page, issue of May 29, held my at¬ 
tention because it deals with the one proposi¬ 
tion that we, as fanners, of this locality are up 
against—the selling of milk to the condensery on the 
fat basis. You ask for opinions and comments. I 
offer the following: 
A number of years ago when the condensery was 
established here in Jackson, the company, through 
their agents, informed the farmers that it was not 
high-testing milk that they wanted, and that the 
Holsteins as a breed produced milk better suited to 
their requirements than any other. We were led 
to believe that for this purpose there was very lit¬ 
tle danger of the fat content of Holstein milk ever 
running too low. We were told, and I believe this 
sery people wanted Holstein milk because it con¬ 
tained the various food elements in the most nearly 
balanced form. They wanted the whole milk, not 
merely the fat. One of their own superintendents 
stated to me (this, of course, was long before the 
fat test was adopted) that the other elements con¬ 
tained in the Holstein milk were of more value to 
them than the fat content. They wanted Holstein 
milk: but there were comparatively few Holsteins in 
Jackson County, so the company began shipping in 
Holstein cows. They brought in carload after car¬ 
load of grade Holsteins and sold them at fancy 
prices to their patrons. Nothing was said at that 
time regarding fat test, and why? Because they 
knew that the average milk produced would be well 
suited to their needs. They could have nothing to 
gain by stocking up the farmers with a lot of cows 
the milk from which would not be acceptable to 
them for condensing purposes. Now, when they 
I keep Holsteins, both grade and registered, I am 
not one of those who bought cows from the Bordens, 
so have nothing personally against them on that 
score. 
THE FARMER AT A DISADVANTAGE.—It is 
possible that the Bordens are paying us for our milk 
all they can afford to, but it is doubtful. It is hu¬ 
man nature to drive as close a bargain with the 
other fellow as he will stand. Most corporations 
seem to have this character of human nature well 
developed and we are inclined to believe that the 
Bordens are no exception to this rule. However, 
whether they are dealing with us squarely, from 
their point of view, I am not in a position to say; 
but to the average farmer, it looks as though his 
present dealings with the Bordens would bring him 
out at the small end of the horn. Two days since, 
a man owning a large herd of high-producing regis¬ 
tered Holsteins, many of which are A. R. O. cows, 
part is true, that the greater part of the food value, 
that is the “real nourishment,” was not contained 
in the fat, but in the other elements held in solu¬ 
tion. Now of course these other elements count for 
nothing, are worthless, to the man who is manu¬ 
facturing only butter. There was a time when the 
cotton plant produced value only in the marketable 
cotton fibre. Today we farmers pay from $30 to 
$35 a ton for the meal alone produced from the once 
discarded cotton seed. And so with regard to that 
part which the creamery man discards; my conclu¬ 
sion, from actual experience, observation, and dis¬ 
cussion with other practical stock raisers, is that 
this discarded part contains much more convertible 
food value than does the fat. I make no pretense to 
being an analytical chemist. I do not imagine that 
many of my statements will harmonize with theo¬ 
retical science, but I do believe that they will be 
backed up by practical experience. 
HOLSTEIN MILK WANTED.—Now the conden- 
have conditions well fixed, plenty of grade Hol¬ 
steins in the hands ‘of the farmer, the creameries, 
and therefore the creamery routes, pretty well 
drivn out, and the farmer bound hand and foot, 
they bring in the fat test as a club for battering 
down prices. All this reminds me of an incident 
the conditions of which I knew well. A man went 
to a dealer to buy a Shetland pony for his boy. He 
wanted a large-sized Shetland, and he knew this 
dealer had what he wanted; but he asked for a 
small-sized one; asked for something that he did 
not want, and that he knew the dealer could not 
sell him. The outcome was that he bought the large 
pony, just what he wanted, at a much reduced price. 
The condensery apparently is making a bid for 
something they do not want, and for something they 
have taken pains to see that there is no danger of 
getting, in order that they may secure what they 
do want at a reduced price. I might add, for fear 
some one might take me for a sorehead, that while 
and who sends more milk than anyone else to an¬ 
other Borden condensery located in the central 
part of this State, told me that he had worked the 
case out fully and had come to the conclusion that, 
while the Bordens were paying him for his butter- 
fat, he was donating to them his skim-milk and pay¬ 
ing them besides eight cents for taking it away. 
We, as individuals, might just as well save our 
breath, our paper, and our ink in this matter of 
“kicking.” As individuals dealing with this com¬ 
pany, we cannot advance our interests. By com¬ 
bining our efforts and handling this issue collective¬ 
ly we shall be in a position to accomplish something. 
COMBINED EFFORT.—With this end in view, 
was organized the Jackson County Milk Producers' 
Association. The movement has been launched. 
The patrons of other condenseries in this State are 
taking steps toward organization. In a comparative¬ 
ly short time, the condensery patrons of this State 
will be linked together. Let the patrons of every 
