Page 15

oatrons in 1940. Its sales of butter in
1939 amounted to $88,000 and of skim
milk, cream for manufacturing, and
buttermilk to over $11,000.
The Ettrick Creamery Co. has the
distinction of including in its member.
ship two men wh o have been contin-
uous patrons since it was organized in
1885, N. B. Hilton and A. J. Ekern.
The butter sold in 1939 aggregated
$70,000 and other dairy products
$1,000. The creamery plant is valued
at $18,000. This co-op has recently
demonstrated its constructive outlook
by adopting the revolving-capital plan
of financing. One-half cent for each
pound of butterfat is retained from
the sales proceeds, and credited to the
125 patrons. At the end of the year
a certificate will be issued to each
patron for the total amount of "re-
tains" credited to him.
Butfer Quality Program
Has Been Effective
  Creamery operations.-Improvement
in the quality of butter has been a
major contribution of Wisconsin co-
operative creameries to the dairy
industry. An important factor in the
quality program has been the purchase
of butter on the basis of grade. Field
work has advanced the program ma-
terially. The federated associations
and some of the locals supply the
services of fieldmen to the farmers to
assist in improving the care and
fved;ng of dairy cows, the cleanly
maintenance of barns and utensils, and
tlie preparation of milk for market.
  Various methods of hauling milk
from the farm to the creamery are
Followed in different localities. In
~ome sections the farmers do the haul-
ing. Large creamery plants usually
do a large part or all of the hauling of
cream or whole milk. Commercial
assembling of milk and cream from
farms has increased rapidly in the
State.
  Manv of the local associations
market independently, the bulk of the
butter being sold to chain stores and
other large commercial distributors.
It is customary for these large organ-
izations to send their trucks to the
local creameries for the butter that
has been manufactured, and to deliver
it to their own plants for printing.
packaging, and selling.
  Each creamery has some facilities for
printing butter for local sales, the
facilities ranging from a hand-printing
box to large mechanical equipment.
  Some of the large creamery plants
have been built with railroad sidings at
the factory so that there is no freight or
trucking charge from assembly point to
destination. Shipments go forward by
rail, truck, and the Great Lakes water
route during the lake shipping season.
The bulk of the co-op creamery butter
is shipped to the large central markets
in Chicago, New York, Boston, and
Philadelphia. Wisconsin ranks first of
all the States in the volume of butter
shipped to Chicago; more than 78,000,-
000 pounds were marketed there in
1938.
  Wisconsin cooperative creameries
differ in their methods of making pay-
ments to producers. Some of them
operate on a pooling basis, making
deductions from sales proceeds for op-
erating expenses and paying the bal-
ance to the patrons for their cream or
butterfat. These pools usually are op-
erated on a monthly or semimonthly
basis. Experience enables other coop-
2739-4i
lo -