united states department of agriculture rural business cooperative service rbs research report 173 marketing operations dairy cooperatives abstract the nation s 226 marketed 127 4 billion pounds milk or 83 per cent all sold to plants and dealers in 1997 these were owned by 87 938 member producers sixty three operated 203 processing manufacturing 25 with receiving stations only 138 no handling facilities 14 percent packaged fluid prod ucts 6 ice cream 61 butter 76 dry products 40 natural cheese 48 whey 10 cottage key words structure k charles ling june 1999 preface information for this came primarily from a survey us some cases data estimated nonrespondents based on their financial state ments other sources covers fiscal year ending calendar years vary within
