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Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT
Newspaper Page Text
\C o June 1, 1955 id fl MONT. [wyo. Mob*. a la leads the nation in the percentage of modern milking parlor, such as this one on the Purvis Bros, dairy in C-ascade Courir. xMilk goes by pipe line directly from the cow to the cooler (MF-S photo) m sä?® !> 1 > \\ 1 1 5J ;;S3 'V 'M :> : , v - s i Hi III! : m 'W 1 À r \ ■ M m li i a :v ; * mmm Br ■ P-i V Î ; ■: * •' T i,' s r ■: à mm É, mm ! i Wé MM m ■W;-. j 1 ? i m ■ III ■ 0 a ■' i % iH j IS BIG BUSINESS JL By DAN THVRBER NORTHERN WYOMING/ ttÊ N TANA AND I m • in i 4 AIRYING in Montana is big business. To provide the thousands of families in the cities, towns and rural areas with an abundance of "nature's most perfect food" requires the production of 112,000 dairy cattle valued at an average of $168 per head or a total of $18, 816,000. To this figure must be added the investment of the farmer in land, buildings, farm equipment, milking parlors, milking ma chines and trucks, which would total considerably more than the value of the cattle. Then, to supply pure ; wholesoni» r pÄt^nlc milk. Cream, cheese, »•x host of other nutritious dairy products to our people we have in this state some 50 distribution plants in each of which the owner has an investment varying from $10,000 for the very small ones to upwards of $250,000 for the large units. The job of the distributors is important. They buy the raw milk from the producer who delivers it to their plant. The milk is then processed, and by processed we mean pasteurized, homogenized and standardized in quality to conform to the strict state requirements as to butterfat content, bacteria count, flavor, etc. It is then bottled, either in glass or paper, in quantities varying from one-half pint to a gallon. Finally it must be delivered either to the family home or the grocery store where it will be picked up by the housewife or delivered with the grocery order. All of these various processes require labor, sanitary equipment, refrigeration and management know-how in order that Mrs. House wife may serve to her family that perfect food in its most acceptable form at each and every meal. Through all of these intricate processes go 56,900,000 quarts of milk annually to the people of Montana, according to the report of A. A. Klemme, secretary of the State Milk Control Board, for the year 1953-54. If the average retail price of milk is 22 cents per quart that means the finished product has a value of (continued on page 22) D I ice. ' / \ m ■ iir , si m » ;ÏS - h-r ■> ' ■ ■ H M ■y-y.:-: i?: II ■ ' ........ >; ' i s 'y ■ % m ■ I m Montana distributors process and bottle in paper w* in glas» 56,900,000 quarts of milk annually with a value of 518,000.