The first milk and cream contest in this country was held in connection with the National Dairy Show in Chicago, under the direction of the Dairy Division, Bureau of Animal Industry, Department of Agriculture, February 15-24, 1906.

The object of the contest was, first, educational; second, to determine the possibilities in the handling and keeping of milk and cream produced under sanitary conditions and kept cold; third, to test a score card for rating fairly and accurately this class of dairy products. Much interest was shown in this contest from the beginning, and exhibits were sent from thirteen different States. The results were most gratifying, one of the most striking being the demonstration of the fact that clean milk, held at a low temperature, could be shipped a thousand miles across the country and kept sweet for a period of over five weeks.

It was further demonstrated that milk and cream could be scored with reasonable accurateness for flavor, chemical qualities, keeping qualities, etc., where a certain number of points were given to each.

A full report of this contest is given in Bulletin 87 of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

STATE CONTESTS.

Since the national contest was held several States have had similar exhibits in connection with the State dairy association meetings. Among them may be mentioned New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts. These contests have proved of great benefit to dairymen, particularly in pointing out defects in the product and in the styles of bottles used, and suggesting remedies for the same. One of the most common defects in milk, and one which can readily be seen, is the foreign matter in the bottom of the bottle, consisting usually of particles of manure, hair, bedding, etc. The presence of dirt indicates careless and uncleanly methods in production and handling. Another common defect is off-flavored milk, which may be due to a variety of causes, as (1) to feeding strong-flavored foods, such as turnips, garlic, etc.; (2) to feeding certain foods to excess, as, for example, silage; (3) to odors of silage or manure in the stable; (4) to particles of manure and dirt getting into the milk, and (5) to not properly rinsing the bottles after using washing powders. Dairymen as a rule have been quick to see these defects when pointed out and to appreciate the importance from a business standpoint of producing milk as nearly perfect as possible.

THE FIRST CITY DAIRY CONTEST.

In view of the success of the national contest and those of several States, it was thought that the plan might be applicable to cities. Steps were therefore taken to give it a trial. As the city of Cleveland had already adopted the Dairy Division score card for rating dairy farms, and as this city was making a special effort to improve conditions in the dairies and the quality of its milk supply, arrangements were made with the Chamber of Commerce to conduct the contest under its auspices. This organization looked after the printing of the entry blanks, score cards, and letters to dairymen and mailing the same; furnished the hall for the meetings and laboratories for the chemical and bacteriological work; offered medals for the best milk and cream and the best dairy farms, and also furnished one judge. The Dairy Division performed the chemical and bacteriological work and supplied two judges. Some 400 producers of milk for the Cleveland market were present at an all-day conference, when addresses on timely subjects were given by representatives from the Department of Agriculture and the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, extracts from which are given elsewhere in this article. Many questions were asked by the dairymen present, which resulted in valuable discussions.

There were three classes in the contest, as follows:

Class I. Market milk (raw).—This comprised all milk not “certified” or sold under any guaranty as to its quality. A very large percentage of the milk supplied to our cities is of this character. It was specified that it must not be pasteurized or contain preservatives.

Class II. Market cream (raw).—It was specified that this product should be sweet, unpasteurized, and free from preservatives.

Class III. Dairy farms.—All dairymen having exhibits of milk or cream in the above classes were permitted to enter the dairy-farm contest. These farms were visited by the judges and scored on the basis of a score card (see page 14).

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY.

Entry blanks were prepared for both milk and cream, but as they were quite similar only the one for milk is presented here:

[Dairy meeting and milk and cream contest, Cleveland, Ohio, March 16, 1907, under the direction of
the Dairy Division, Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture.]

OFFICIAL ENTRY BLANK.

CLASS 1. MARKET MILK (RAW).

P. O. address: ——, ——.

Date: ——, 1907.

C. B. Lane,
Assistant Chief, Dairy Division:

Please enter for me 6 quarts of milk to compete for prizes offered by the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, March 16, 1907, in accordance with the conditions herein prescribed.

(Signed) —— ——.

Rules: (1) Exhibitors are allowed to make only one entry in each class. This must include in Class I 6 quarts of milk in bottles (quarts or pints), placed in a box suitable for shipping. (2) The milk to be the property of the United States Department of Agriculture. (3) Every exhibitor is required to fill out and sign the following certificate:

I, —— ——, hereby certify that the milk entered in this competition is a fair sample of the product sold by me, that it is free from preservatives, and that it has not been pasteurized or sterilized.

(Signed) —— ——.
(Proprietor) —— ——.

HOW TO COMPETE.

Milk to compete for prizes must be sent by express or otherwise from station nearest the producer direct to C. B. Lane, assistant chief, Dairy Division, care Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, Cleveland, Ohio. Express charges on exhibits must be paid to destination.

The package should be plainly addressed on outside; a card should also be tacked on box inside, giving plainly sender’s name and address, so as to avoid mistakes in identifying packages.

In order that the milk entered by the exhibitors may be of the same age when scored, it is hereby specified that it shall be drawn from the cow March 11, and shipped by express or otherwise as soon thereafter as possible.

A representative of the Department will be on hand to take charge of the milk on its arrival and will see that it is properly cared for.

Only these official entry blanks, furnished by the Dairy Division, will be accepted.

QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED BY EXHIBITORS.

1. Give date and hour when this milk was drawn from the cow: ——.

2. Give place, date, and hour at which this milk was delivered to the express company or otherwise shipped: ——.

3. Does this milk fairly represent the average product of your herd in quality and cleanliness? ——.

4. How was the milk treated from the time it was drawn from the cow until shipped? ——.

5. Do you wish to compete for the dairy-farm prize? ——.

Remarks: ——.

JUDGES.

It was arranged to give the products exhibited, as well as the dairy farms in the contest, the most careful examination possible, so that the final results would be beyond question; and it may be said that the dairymen generally expressed themselves as well pleased with the absolute fairness with which the contest was conducted. The judges were C. B. Lane, assistant chief of the Dairy Division; Ivan C. Weld, assistant dairyman, Dairy Division, and Dr. C. W. Eddy, chief of the inspection division, public health department, Cleveland.

MEDALS.

As previously stated, the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce offered medals to the dairymen. This feature increased the interest and stimulated keen competition. A gold and a silver medal were awarded for the two samples of milk scoring highest, and the same for cream. Medals were also awarded to the five dairy farms scoring the highest.

LETTER TO DAIRYMEN.

In order to bring the matter before the dairymen the following letter was sent to about 2,000 milk producers in Cleveland and vicinity:

U. S. Department of Agriculture,
Bureau of Animal Industry,
Washington, D. C., March 5, 1907.

Dear Sir: The Dairy Division of the United States Department of Agriculture is arranging for a dairy meeting and milk and cream contest to be held in the Chamber of Commerce hall, Cleveland, Ohio, March 16, 1907, in cooperation with the municipal sanitation committee of the Chamber of Commerce. The object of the meeting is to discuss with the dairymen problems relating to the production and handling of market milk and cream. A special feature of this meeting will be an exhibit of milk and cream from the dairymen supplying Cleveland. These products will be carefully analyzed by experts from the Department and scored for flavor, composition, acidity, general appearance, etc. There will be three classes in this contest, as follows:

Class I. Market milk (raw), two prizes (gold and silver medals).

Class II. Market cream (raw), two prizes (gold and silver medals).

Class III. Dairy farms, five prizes (gold and silver medals).

After being scored, all the milk and cream will be placed on exhibition, accompanied by the score. Questions regarding the scoring of the various products will be cheerfully answered. Prizes will be awarded to those scoring highest in each class. The whole object of the meeting and of the exhibits is educational and entirely for the benefit of the dairymen.

All dairymen supplying milk or cream to the city of Cleveland are invited to exhibit in one or all of the above classes, in accordance with the conditions on the entry blanks inclosed herewith.

In addition to prizes offered for the milk and cream exhibited, prizes will also be given in Class III to the five dairy farms scoring the highest. Only those dairymen, however, having exhibits of milk or cream will be entitled to have their dairy farms scored and to compete for these prizes. If you desire to compete for the dairy-farm prize, do not fail to answer question 5 relating to this on the entry blank provided for milk and cream.

If the milk and cream you handle are of high quality it should be of interest and value to you to enter the contest. If your product is not of good quality you ought to know it. The defects, whatever they are, will be pointed out to you by those qualified to make a careful examination.

Come prepared to ask questions and to get all you can out of this meeting.

Respectfully, yours,

Ed. H. Webster.
Chief of Dairy Division.

SCORING THE MILK AND CREAM.

The scoring was done on the basis of score cards, similar to those used at the National Dairy Show already referred to. The standard for perfect milk in the present contest, however, called for a much smaller number of bacteria, and the standard for fat was also made higher. The judges experienced but little difficulty in scoring the various samples; in fact it was demonstrated that milk and cream can be graded as accurately as butter or cheese by the use of the score card, although the system is comparatively new.

All the milk and cream entered in the contest was produced March 11 and shipped to a cold-storage house in Cleveland. The scoring was done March 14, when the product was three days old.

The score cards used in this contest are presented herewith:

Score Card for Market Milk.

Exhibitor: —— ——.
Address: ——, ——.

NUMERICAL SCORE.
Flavor, 40.	Composition, 25.	Bacteria, 20.	Acidity, 5.	Appearance of package and contents, 10.	Perfect score, 100.
					Judge’s score.

DESCRIPTIVE SCORE.
Flavor.	Composition.	Bacteria.	Acidity.	Package and contents.
Excellent.	Perfect.	Perfect.	Perfect.	Perfect.
Good.
Fair.	Fat, —— per cent.	Total, ——.	—— per cent.	Foreign matter.
Bad.
Flat.	Solids not fat, ——	Liquefiers, ——.		Metal parts.
Bitter.	per cent.
Weedy.				Unattractive.
Garlic.
Silage.
Manure.
Smothered.
Other taints.
....
....

Remarks: ———.
Date: ———.

——— ———, Judge.

Directions for Scoring.

FLAVOR.

If rich, sweet, clean, and pleasant flavor and odor, score perfect (40). Deduct for objectionable flavors and odors according to conditions found.

COMPOSITION.

If 4 per cent fat or above and 8.5 per cent solids not fat or above, score perfect (25). Deduct 1 point for each one-fourth per cent fat below 4 and 1 point for each one-fourth per cent solids not fat below 8.5.

BACTERIA.

Less than 10,000 per cubic centimeter	(perfect)	20
Over 10,000 and less than 25,000 per cubic centimeter		19
Over 25,000 and less than 50,000 per cubic centimeter		18
Over 50,000 and less than 75,000 per cubic centimeter		17
Over 75,000 and less than 100,000 per cubic centimeter		16
Deduct 1 point for each 25,000 above 100,000.

When an unusually large number of liquefying bacteria are present, further deduction should be made according to conditions found.

ACIDITY.

If 0.2 per cent or below, score perfect (5). Deduct 1 point for each 0.01 per cent above 0.2 per cent. (If Mann’s test is used, discontinue adding indicator on first appearance of a pink color.)

APPEARANCE OF PACKAGE AND CONTENTS.

If package is clean, free from metal parts, and no foreign matter can be detected in the contents, score perfect (10). Make deductions according to conditions found.

Score Card for Market Cream.

Exhibitor: ——— ———
Address: ——— ———.

NUMERICAL SCORE.
Flavor, 40.	Composition, 25.	Bacteria, 20.	Acidity, 5.	Appearance of package and contents, 10.	Perfect score, 100.
					Judge’s score.

DESCRIPTIVE SCORE.
Flavor.	Composition.	Bacteria.	Acidity.	Package and contents.
Excellent.	Perfect.	Perfect.	Perfect.	Perfect.
Good.
Fair.	Fat, —— per cent.	Total, ——.	—— per cent.	Foreign matter.
Bad.
Flat.		Liquefiers, ——.		Metal parts.
Bitter.
Weedy.				Unattractive.
Garlic.
Silage.				Lumpy.
Smothered.
Manure.				Frothy.
Other taints.
....
....
....

Remarks: ————.
Date: ————.

——— ———, Judge.

Directions For Scoring.

FLAVOR.

If rich, sweet, clean, and pleasant flavor and odor, score perfect (40). Deduct for objectionable flavors and odors according to conditions found.

COMPOSITION.

If 20 per cent fat or above, score perfect (25). Deduct 1 point for each one-half per cent fat below 20.

BACTERIA.

Less than 10,000 per cubic centimeter	(perfect)	20
Over 10,000 and less than 25,000 per cubic centimeter		19
Over 25,000 and less than 50,000 per cubic centimeter		18
Over 50,000 and less than 75,000 per cubic centimeter		17
Over 75,000 and less than 100,000 per cubic centimeter		16
Deduct 1 point for each 25,000 above 100,000.		-

When an unusually large number of liquefying bacteria are present, further deduction should be made according to conditions found.

ACIDITY.

If 0.2 per cent or below, score perfect (5). Deduct 1 point for each 0.01 per cent above 0.2. (If Mann’s test is used, discontinue, adding indicator on first appearance of a pink color.)

APPEARANCE OF PACKAGE AND CONTENTS.

If package is clean, free from metal parts, and no foreign matter can be detected in the contents, and physical condition of product is good, score perfect (10). Make deductions according to conditions.

The composition, condition, and numerical scores of the entries of market milk and cream are given in the following tables: