Its dairy products comprise milk, cream and butter in the following quantities (1916): 70,884 gallons of milk and 69,866 gallons of cream, valued respectively at $19,139 and $69,886, and 98,876 pounds of butter, at $36,584. In the central division of counties, to which the State Board of Agriculture assigns Champaign, the county ranks fifth in the annual sale of butter, which brought, on an average, 37 cents in 1916. For the raising of live stock Champaign County possesses unusual advantages, on account of its abundant and pure water supply, its equable temperature and the adaptability of its soils to the production of nutritious grasses. Its horses, especially, are hard to beat, either in quality or quantity. In this regard it stands second among the central counties of Illinois, and fifth in the entire State. In the raising of horses McLean is the star county of the State, having 49,757 in 1916, as compared to 25,424 in Champaign. In May, 1916, the latter had, also, 13,339 beef cattle, valued at $233,551, 6,719 dairy cows, at $537,520, and 25,115 hogs, valued at $375,210.
Source: A Standard History of Champaign County, Illinois, by J. R. Stewart, published by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago And New York, 1918.