1982 Dairy Facts for Washington's 4-H Members and Leaders Em4668

1982 DAIRY FACTS FOR WASHINGTON'S 4-H MEMBERS AND LEADERS EM4668 Scott Hodgson, Extension Dairy Scientist When you decided to carry a 4-H Dairy mistake of not bringing cattle with them. Project, you became a part of one of Due to the lack of suitable food, especially Washington's most important agricultural milk, the death rate was very high. In fact, industries. nearly one-half of those who came on the Mayflower died the first winter, including Dairying has a long and illustrious every child under 2 years of age. The history. According to the best authorities, mistake was recognized when the gover cattle were domesticated somewhere be nor of Plymouth Colony ordered that one tween 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. When cow and two goats be brought over for written records were first kept, milk had each six settlers. The first cows to reach already become an important food item. Plymouth Colony came in 1624. The cow was so important to the peoples of Central Asia that wealth was measured in Even earlier than the Jamestown and numbers of cattle. In time, the cow was Plymouth Colony importations of cattle, made a sacred animal and is still so con the Spanish brought cattle into Mexico in sidered by a part of the population of India. 1521. These animals obviously were the forbears of the famous Texas Longhorn. The cow was worshipped in Babylonia and Egypt about 2000 B.C. Hathor, the The first recorded importation of a goddess who watched over the fertility of known breed was in 1783 when some Milk the land, was depicted as a cow. Over 50 ing Shorthorns were imported. Jerseys references to cows and milk are found in came to America in 1815, Ayrshires in the Old Testament and the promised land 1822, Guernseys in 1831, Holsteins in was described as a "land flowing with milk 1852, and Brown Swiss in 1869. and honey." In the Pacific Northwest, Dr. John Many dairy products which we use al McLaughlin of the Hudson Bay Company most daily have a long history. The brought the first milk cows to Fort Van soldiers of Genghis Khan, who conquered couver in 1838. Cattle had an important Asia and much of Europe in the thirteenth part in the winning of the West and their century. carried dried milk as part of their bones are strewn along the rugged and ration. Vikings apparently carried cheese long Oregon Trail. with them on their voyages to the rest of Europe and across the Atlantic to the new Dairying in Washington world. Dairy farming is one of Washington· s In this country, the first cows to arrive most important agricultural industries. If came in 1611, to the Jamestown Colony. we consider the value of agricultural pro The Pilgrims who came on the Mayflower ducts. dairying stands second only to to found Plymouth Colony made the wheat. Table 1 shows the rank of the top College of Agriculture Washington State University Pullman ~ CooperativeExtension In cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. Issued in furtherance of the Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, by Washington State Cooperative Extension, J. 0. Young, Director ( 10 agricultural commodities in 1980. Washington is one of a few states in the nation where the dairy industry is grow Table 1. Rank of Crops and Livestock Products ing. Cow numbers continue to show slight in Washington, 1980 increases and production per cow con tinues to climb. % Value change Rank Commodity (000 $) 1979-80 Within our state the most dairy cows are on the west side of the Cascade Mountains: 1 Wheat 648,891 + 41 however, Yakima County, the Columbia 2 Milk 382,754 + 11 Basin, and the area around Spokane have a 3 Cattle and calves 311.142 + 32 sizeable dairy cow population. To give you 4 Hay 236,250 + 29 an idea as to where your county ranks in 5 Apples 232,540 - 30 dairy cow numbers, Table 3 gives cow 6 Potatoes 193,314 + 56 numbers by county for all those with over 7 Barley 94,500 + 119 2,000 head. 8 Hops 86,166 + 124 9 All pears 54.253 + 3 10 Eggs 53,095 + 7 Table 3. Dairy Cows by County, December 31, 1978 (all counties over 2,000 h ead) Source: 1979-1981 Biennial Report. Natural Resources Rank County Number of dairy and Recreation Agencies. State of Washington. cows In 1980, about 1800 Washington dairy 1 Whatcom 40,929 farmers produced over 2.9 billion pounds 2 Snohomish 20,043 of milk from 201,000 cows. This gave an 3 King 16,317 4 Skagit 16,129 average per cow production of 14,637 5 Yakima 14,889 pounds of milk and 537 pounds of butter 6 Pierce 13,375 fat. That made our state the leader in pro 7 Lewis 9,439 duction in the country. In 1980, 8 Clark 9,089 Washington cows averaged 29% more 9 Thurston 7.615 Grays Harbor 7,163 milk than the average cow in the United 10 11 Grant 5,133 States. 12 Stevens 4,524 13 Spokane 4, 138 In terms of total milk produced and 14 Wahkiakum 2,304 value of product, Washington ranks tenth 15 Benton 2 ,182 nationally. Table 2 shows the top 10. Typically, the Washington dairymen use Table 2. Rank of State.s of Valu.e of Milk Produc a double-4 Herringbone milking parlor, tion (1980) free stall housing, a liquid manure system, Value of Product pasture, and silage. They usually buy all of Rank State (000$) the concentrate feeds and alfalfa hay, and 1 Wisconsin 2,760,617 milk somewhat over 100 cows. 2 California 1,771.383 3 New York 1,401,172 The average dairy cow weighs 1400 4 Minnesota 1,173.660 pounds. She drinks about 30 gallons of 5 Pennsylvania 1,164.806 water and eats 56 pounds of dry feed each 6 Michigan 647,491 7 Ohio 552,577 day. Her production is 50 pounds of milk 8 Iowa 504,000 per day. 9 Texas 503.037 10 Washington 378.095 About half of the milk produced is sold Source: 1981 Milk Facts. Pub. by Milk Industry Founda for Class I use although all milk produced tion. in the state is Grade A. The state produces Table 4. Per Capita Consumption of Dairy Products, 1980 Consumption in Pounds Per Person Nonfat Country Fluid milk Butter Cheese dry milk United States 230.9 4 . 1 17.1 3 .0 Canada 282. 1 9 .7 16.5 4.5 New Zealand 446.6 29.3 19.1 2 .7 United Kingdom 303.3 14.3 12.9 5.3 USSR 206.5 11. 7 5.8 3 . 1 Japan 78.6 1.1 1.6 4.5 Mexico 141.9 0 .2 4.8 3.4 France 243.2 21.1 38.6 26.3 Norway 522.4 11.9 28.1 5.4 Finland 537.6 27.7 16.6 24.9 Peru 13.5 1.9 3.2 3.0 Source : 1981 Milk Facts. Pub. by Milk Industry Foundation. an excess of butter and powdered milk; Table 5. Number of Minutes an Average Person however, we import cheese to meet our Had to Work to Buy Certain Dairy Products for needs. People in Washington eat a bit more Different Years dairy products than people in the country Time in Minutes on the average. Dairy Product 1950 1960 1980 Table 4 lists how much milk and other One-half gallon milk 15.8 12.8 8.7 Pound of butter 30.0 19.5 15.5 dairy products people in several countries Quart of ice cream 17.8 11.1 7.5 in the world drink and eat. One-half lb American cheese 11.7 9.0 9.7 Although the amount of dairy products consumed in the United States appears to Source: USDA. be quite high, it has gone down some over the years. Some of our neighbors in other what is spent in this country in relation to countries eat larger amounts of dairy prod other countries. The average total wages ucts than we do. spent for food in the United States is about 16.3%, in England about 32%, and in Dairy products are considered important China it is nearly 80% . Not only are we the to good nutrition and are one of the four best fed people on earth, but we obtain our basic food, groups (dairy products, meats food supplies far more economically than and legumes, fruits and vegetables, and anyone else. cereal grain products). Dairy Products and Processes Milk and dairy products remain an ex cellent buy for the consumer. Dairy prod Whole milk has a standard milk fat ucts provide nearly a third of the nutri content of at least 3.5%. An 8 ounce glass tional needs but take only 19¢ of each food of whole milk has an energy value of about dollar. Table 5 shows what has happened 165 calories. since 1950 in how long the average person must work to buy dairy products. Two percent milk has a standard milk fat content of 2 % . It is made from fresh Another way to look at food prices is fluid whole milk. The product is extremely ( popular because it has a lower calorie con Condensed milk is evaporated milk tent-an 8 ounce glass contains about 150 with about 40% sugar added. It is high in calories . Some dairies fortify 2 % milk by calorie content. adding whole milk solids. This product is called 2-1 0 milk.

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