McDONALD COUNTY — June Dairy Month, an annual tradition developed to celebrate the dairy industry and its many contributions to our society, originated in 1937. During its first two years, it was called National Milk Month and ran from June 10 to July 10. The 1937 event, sponsored by chain stores, was given the theme “Keep Youthful - Drink Milk.”

Originally supported by the National Dairy Council (NDC), June Dairy Month was established to help stabilize dairy demand during periods of peak production. To assist in that effort, NDC provided promotional materials to the 6,300 stores participating.

June Dairy Month became the o◊cial title of the promotion in 1939 and focused on greater use of dairy products. Campaign material, prepared by NDC, was offered to producers, processors and dairy product distributors. June Dairy Month was initially funded by a one-cent per pound butterfat assessment in June.

During the war years, less emphasis was placed on promotion and more on surviving the war. The retailers helped customers receive an adequate supply of dairy products and provided information to help use them properly.

After the war, efforts focused on resuming dairy product usage and regaining “lost” butter sales. In 1947, the slogan was “30 Days for ADA in June.” The goal was “Sales, not Surplus.” By 1950, retailers, producers and processors all worked together to promote June Dairy Month.

In 1955, the American Dairy Association (ADA) became the national leader for June Dairy Month campaigns. The emphasis changed to sales promotion programs for dairy products, and advertising and merchandising programs were added to an alreadyeffective public relations program. The June promotion became a month-bymonth merchandising event in which one or more foods made from milk were highlighted nationwide on a monthly basis. This advertising was visible evidence of dairy farmers’ dollars at work.

June Dairy Month continued to evolve over the years and entire communities across the country, both rural and urban, have embraced it and have become involved in many ways. The cooperation between farmers and other community members are really the basis of what June Dairy Month is all about - celebrating and using a wonderful product.

So, raise a glass of ice-cold milk and toast America’s dairy farmers who make it possible to enjoy an abundance of fresh, delicious products, like milk, cheeseand yogurt, every single day!

Dairy Trivia

◊Americans eat the equivalent of 10 acres of pizza (and mozzarella cheese) every day.

◊Just ate spicy food? Milk is better than water for cooling your mouth. A proteinin milk called casein, cleanses the taste buds.

◊Cheddar cheese was first developed in the town of, yes, Cheddar Gorge, England, more than 400 years ago.

◊A gallon of milk weighs 8.59 pounds.

◊A cow has four stomachs and 24 teeth.

◊The most common breed of dairy cow in the United States is the Holstein; Jersey cows produce milk with the highest butterfat content.

◊An average cow produces about 350,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.

◊Plastic milk bottles were fi rst introduced in the United States in 1967.

◊McDonald’s and Wendy’s introduced single-serveplastic milk containers in the summer of 2004.

◊The tradition of making Swiss cheese in 200-pound wheels began in the Middle Ages, when the Swiss government taxed cheesemakers on the number of pieces they produced, rather than according to the total weight of the cheese they made.

◊To get the same amount of calcium provided by 8 ounces of milk, you would have to eat 2 1/4 cups of broccoli, 6 3/4 oranges or 6 slices of wheat bread.

◊If you open the refrigerator in 96 percent of all households, you’ll find a container of milk; 94 percent of all households have cheese.

◊Forty percent of all cheese is served at restaurants and cafeterias.

◊An average dairy cow weighs 1,400 pounds and consumes about 50 pounds of dry matter (e.g., hay,grass, grain) each day.

◊The average cow drinks from 30 to 50 gallons of water each day - about a bathtub’s worth.

◊Cows have an acute sense of smell, and can smell something up to six miles away.

◊ Most cows chew at least 50 times per minute, and spend 10 hours a day chewing their cud in order to aid in digestion.

◊Cows arrived in America with the Jamestown settlers in 1611.

◊Tank trucks for transporting fluid milk were fi rst introduced in 1914.

More Dairy Trivia

And Milk Facts

◊It takes 12 pounds of whole milk to make one gallon of ice cream.

◊It takes 21.2 pounds of whole milk to make one pound of butter.

◊It takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese.

◊Americans eat an average of 29 pounds of cheese every year - over a lifetime that’s more than a ton of cheese.

◊Greeks eat the most cheese - an average of 54 pounds per year.

◊Vanilla is America’s favorite ice cream fl avor.

◊George Washington enjoyed ice cream so much he ran up a $200 ice cream bill one summer.

◊ The milk mustache advertising campaign was launched in 1995.

◊The natural yellow color of butter comes mainly from beta-carotene found in the grass the cows graze on.

◊Wisconsin is the only producer of limburger cheese in the U.S.

◊According to legend, cheese was discovered accidentally, when an Arabian merchant was carrying milk in a pouch made from the stomach of a freshly killed calf. The hot desert sun and the rennet remaining in the pouch caused the milk to separate into curds and whey.

◊The milk bottle was invented in 1884.

◊Wisconsin has the best tasting cheeses because of the grass the cows eat. The grass in less acidic than in other parts of the country, creatingmilder fl avored cheeses.

◊An average U.S. cow produces 53 pounds of milk per day, or 6.2 gallons.

◊12.27 percent of the food dollar is spent on dairy products.

SOURCE: NATIONAL MILK PRODUCERS FOUNDATION

News, Pages 6 on 06/14/2012