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      ConsdWted Badger Cooperative.-
    The Consolidated Badger Cooperative
    at Shawano in northern Wisconsin is
    one of the large associations selling a
    variety of dairy products. Wholesale
    and retail sales of milk and cream
    aggregated $650,000 in 1939, and other
    dairy products were marketed for over
    $1,350,000. Millions of pounds of
    whole milk were manufactured during
    the year into such products as evapo-
    rated milk, butter, milk powder, cheese,
    and ice-cream mix. Many of these
    manufactured products, especially but-
    ter and evaporated milk, are sold
    through Land O'Lakes Creameries,
    Inc. Milk is not manufactured into
    butter when it can be used for a prod-
    uct that will yield a higher net return.
    The co-op has a large up-to-date plant
    at Shawano. It owns and operates
    branch plants at Eland, Tigerton, and
    Bonduel, in Shawano County, and
    another at Appleton in Outagamie
    County, which borders Shawano Coun-
    ty on the south. The Appleton plant
    was taken over when a group of farm-
    ers there became members of the Badger
    co-op in 1938.
      The association ships to the Chicago
   market a large volume of cream and
   some milk for those producers whose
   farms have been inspected for the sale
   of milk on the Chicago market. In
   Appleton and other areas in the Fox
'  River Valley, the co-op sells at whole.
  sale and retail fluid milk and cream, as
  well as other products such as cheese,
  butter, chocolate milk, and an orange
  drink.
    All told, more than 1,400 farmers are
  patrons of this co-op. The associa-
  tion reports that the average price
  patrons received in 1939 for all milk
  was 19 cents per hundred pounds
higher than the average paid in the
entire State. When the association
was formed 9 years earlier, the average
price received in Shawano County was
12 cents less than the State average.
Organized on a capital-stock basis, the
cooperative has paid a patronage stock
dividend on a butterfat basis each year
since 1933. At the end of 1939 these
dividends totaled more than $189,000,
which was 44.6 percent of the amount
invested in common stock.
   Not long after the organization of
 the co-op in 1930, the management was
 faced with many serious problems due
 to low milk prices resulting from the
 economic depression. At that crucial
 time the decision was reached to keep
 the members informed at all times of
 problems and policies. As a result
 the co-op has been able to develop
 membership responsibility throughout
 the territory as well as strong member-
 ship support. Keeping the farmer-
 directors currently advised of the
 status of all departments of the busi-
 ness is another constructive activity
 of this farmers' organization. A semi-
 monthly operating statement is pre-
 pared for the directors, as well as
 monthly reports on such matters as the
 condition of the property, improve-
 ments needed, the condition of loans
 and mortgages, operating capital avail-
 able, inventories, and the program of
 operation and sales for the following
 month.
 Revolving-Capital Plan Is Popular
 This cooperative has developed a re-
 volving-capital plan of operation that
 is very popular with the farmers.
 Rather large sums of money are re-
quired as working capital during cer-
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