McLeod County, Minnesota - Chapter 19: Dairying and Creameries, 1917

The dairying industry is an important one in McLeod county. In 1914, there was paid to the patrons of the McLeod county creameries, some $824,000 in cash. In this respect it ranked sixth among all the counties of the state. Ramsey stood first with $3,238,364.28; Hennepin second with $1,756,588.63; Stearns third with $1,371,825.14; Freeborn fourth with $1,- 127,732.15; and Steel fifth with $932,204.53. The exact figures for McLeod county were $823,489.59.

The receipt of the monthly creamery check has revolutionized McLeod county farming. No longer does the farmer exchange butter with the village merchants for the goods that he needs at home. No longer does he have to wait for ready cash until his crops and stock is sold. Steadily the monthly income is received, giving the farmer a banking account and ready money, and placing him on a high economic footing.

According to the latest report of the State Dairy and Food Department, there are now seventeen creameries in McLeod county, of which ten are co-operative, six are independent, and one is operated by a stock company. The co-operative are: The Acoma Creamery Co., the Biscay Creamery Co., the

Glencoe Butter & Cheese Co., the Hutchinson Co-operative Creamery Association, the Plato Dairy Association, the Rich Valley Creamery Co., the Round Grove Creamery Co., the Silver Lake Creamery Co., the Sumter Creamery Co., and the West Lynn Creamery Co. The independent creameries are: the Brownton Creamery Co., the Lake Superior Produce Co. (Hutchinson), the Metropolitan Milk Co, (Lester Prairie), the Model Creamery (Hutchinson), the Pleasant Hill Creamery and the Stewart Creamery Co. The Winsted Creamery is conducted by a stock company.

The first settlers in McLeod county engaged in wheat raising almost exclusively, the principal exceptions being the potato and rutabaga crops, and a few garden vegetables for home use. Those who settled on the prairie had only to break the sod and put in the seed. In the Big Woods which covered the greater part of the county, the first seed was put in among the stumps. Year after year, as the land was cleared, the virgin soil yielded twenty to thirty bushels to the acre of No, 1, hard. For many years this staple had to be hauled across the country to market points. With the coming of the railroads, transportation was made easy, and there was a corresponding increase in wheat culture. Year after year more land was broken, and year by year a larger acreage was tilled.

But the wheat decline, starting in 1878, and coincident with the big drop in wheat prices, caused the farmers to turn their attention to diversified farming and dairying. Progress in the direction of dairying, however, was slow. It is true that the early settlers brought with them a few cows for dairy and beef purposes, a few hogs which they marketed to some extent, and some poultry, but it was not until after the wheat decline that stock raising was considered as a leading feature of farm endeavor. Following the decline, Shorthorns and native cattle were bred, and a portion of the former large wheat fields were turned into pastures. However, large herds were the exception rather than the rule, and dairying was conducted on only a small seale.

At that time agricultural experiment in this county was in its infancy, and the modern method of acclimation was unknown. Corn brought from more southern states and planted here was an uncertain crop, owing to the late springs and the early autumns. It was believed that only tame grasses like clover and timothy could be raised here. Without corn and cultivated grass, McLeod county beef could not compete with the better class of stock sold in the market, nor could extensive dairying flourish under these circumstances, though the prairies in McLeod county, and the meadows which spangled the Big Woods furnished better pasturage than that found in some other parts of the state. The average farmer owned four or five cows. A few herds were gathered here by traveling drovers, and shipped annually from this county to the western plains and ranges, and in the earlier days a few herds were brought here from other counties for temporary pasturage. Horses were raised to some small extent and sold for @ time at a profit in the northwestern markets, chiefly in the larger cities. Animal raising, however, under such disadvantages, brought little, if any, profit, and then too, the market value of horses soon fell, It was while the McLeod county farmers were realizing less and less each year, and While they were in doubt as to what brand of agriculture to adopt next, that their attention was attracted to the new process of making butter from cream separated from milk by machinery,

The churning of butter had for many years been an irksome task on nearly every McLeod county farm. Milk was placed pails, cans, or other containers, and the cream allowed to rise. This cream was skimmed off the milk, and when a sufficient quantity had been saved, churned into butter. At first. the churning was done with a paddle. Later a hand dash was introduced, Still later the revolving barrel churn came into use. Most of this dairying was on a small scale, and the butter of poor quality. A farmer here and there kept as high 88 a dozen or more milch cows and established a reputation in the neighobrhood town for his witfe's butter, that enabled him to realize a fair price for his product. But private dairy~ ing meant doubtful profits, slavery for the women on the farms, and much annoyance and waste of time for the farmer and his hired help.

Then came the first creameries and cheese factories, followed by the modern creamery. One of the first steps in the proress of the creamery industry in McLeod county was the factory Separator. A few years afterwards the factory separator came into use, the farmers began to purchase the hand Separator, and this also marked an important step in the Progress of the county.

McLeod county was a pioneer in the co-operative creamery movement, The Biscay Creamery, started in 1889, as a creamery and cheese factory, was the first co-operative creamery in the state and has since been in continuous operation.

Since the establishment of the dairy industry, and in connection with it, the McLeod county farmers have adopted the intelligent and safe policy of diversified farming. Few large fields of any one crop are now grown, but instead many crops are put in, so that there is certain each year to be a good yield of something. To add to the resources of the county, it was discovered that the former belief that tame grasses could not be grown was erroneous, for now clover and timothy, millet and grasses of all varieties grow here in great luxuriance, and possess such unusual qualities, that Minnesota butter exceeds in flavor and body, that produced in other states. Corn, too, whether from acclimation of the seed or from longer seasons or from better cultivation, or from all these causes, has become a valuable crop.

The improved economic conditions in McLeod county since the introduction of the cream separator and the modern type of creamery are apparent on every hand. The small houses or log huts of the earlier periods have given away to spacious farm houses, well furnished, and arranged for the convenience of the housewife. The straw sheds and rough stables have been replaced by the big barn with plenty of room for the cattle and horses, and hundreds of tons of hay and feed. The grain and corn binders, rakes, hay loaders and stackers, cultivators and machinery and tools of all kinds are sheltered in well-built sheds. Nearly every farm has a granary, an artesian well or a deep tubular well and a windmill, sometimes with gearings and attachments for grinding feed. Many of the farms have a gasoline engine, equally adapted for using as motive power for a plow or for power to turn the family washing machine. The fences are of barbed or woven wire, and in good repair. The stock is of good breed and is improving rapidly year by year. The seed for crops is better selected, The fields are plowed in the fall, and fertilized abundantly from the barnyard and tilled with the greatest care. The roads are better worked, graded and drained, and each year more miles of improved roads are added, and travel made more easy to the creamery and market. There is a school house, well equipped and comfortably built, within reach of every home. The farmers from being the debtor class have become the creditor. They buy more and better goods than formerly, and pay for what they get in cash which they receive from the creamery each month, They drive better rigs, or even automobiles, and travel more, study more, read more, deal more with each other, are more in touch with business, acquire expe- rience in bookkeeping and finance - in short the status of the McLeod county farmer has improved in every respect, and he himself attributes to a large degree, this changed social and economic condition to the cream separator and its resulting modern creamery.

The large returns from milk and cream in the past few years have enabled the farmers to breed better cattle, and the number that are now using pure bred sires has increased very materially in that time, and another five years will add many full grade animals to the herds. Several full-blood and highgrade dairy animals have sprung up in the past few years. The dairy cow is the queen of the farm, and one of the greatest mortgage lifters in existence, She is virtually a machine which turns products of the farm into the greatest profit. She affects almost every branch of farming, and she is the most ®conomical producer on the farm.

In 1860, there were 22,290 pounds of butter and 1,520 pounds of cheese made on McLeod county farms. In 1870, there Were 168,438 pounds of butter made, and 11,072 pounds of cheese. In 1880 there were 485,206 pounds of butter made and 8,615 pounds of cheese. There were 31,805 gallons of milk sold or sent to factories. In 1890 there were 563,231 bounds of butter made, 17,114 pounds of cheese, and 3,096,165 Zallons of cream. In that year McLeod county had four cheese factories and three creameries. In 1900, the statistics Showed these figures: Butter produced, 499,708 pounds; butter Sold, 318,059 pounds; cheese made, 1,714 pounds; cheese sold, 1,464 pounds; milk produced, 5,980,982 gallons, milk sold, 3,- 353,000 gallons; cream sold, 91 gallons.

Tn 1910 the figures were: Butter produced, 787,174 pounds; butter Sold, 489,029 pounds; cheese produced, 200 pounds; cheese gold, 90 pounds; milk produced, 4,213,903 gallons; milk sold, 1,563,203 gallons; cream sold, 12,855 gallons; butterfat Sold, 716,424 pounds; value of dairy products excluding home use of milk and cream, $596,884; receipts from sale of dairy Products, $509,683. The foregoing figures from 1860 to 1910 Melusive, are from the reports of the Federal Census, and Telate solely to farm dairy production.

The report of State Dairy and Food Department relating to the Production of the creameries of the county is equally interesting, The report for 1910 shows the following figures:

The report for 1914 shows the following figures: Co-operative creameries, 10; independent creameries, 7; number of patrons, 2,297; cows owned by patrons, 19,161; milk received, 58,276,173 pounds; cream received, 2,224,417 pounds; butterfat received, 2,684,505 pounds; butter made, 3,236,750 pounds; average paid patrons per pound for butterfat, $0.3006; paid patrons for fat, $823,489.59; running expenses, $69,242.82; received for butter, $939,722.69.