Westland Co-op. Dairy Co., prosperous enterprise

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32679, 7 August 1971, Page 11

Westland Co-op. Dairy Co., prosperous enterprise

Farming on the West Coast of the South Island has made significant progress in recent years and farms supplying the Westland Cooperative Dairy Company give a good indication of this. In 1937, when the company was incorporated, it had 147 suppliers and produced 445 tons of butter: with only 80 more suppliers in 1971, projected output it five times as great, —2600 tons.

Add to this 3000 tons of milk powder, as the company diversified into producing this commodity in 1966 along with tanker collection of milk. The Westland dairy factory is at Hokitika, a town which came into being through the gold rush in the 1860 s. If the town is founded on the wealth of gold, its prosperity today is to some extent the result of excellent prospects for farming. The well distributed rainfall ,and the high sunshine figures of the West Coast (higher, for example, than that of Christchurch) are a part of the reason for good dairy farmmThe dairy company’s

tanker collection runs at maximum efficiency, since the high standard of reading in the area allows the largest tanker permissible on New Zealand roads (5200 gallons). Each driver can therefore handle bigger loads, and few other areas in New Zealand —including the North Island —can make tanker collections of this size. Wide area Milk and cream are collected from a very extensive area, from Franz Josef (90 miles south of Hokitika) to Lyell in the Buller Gorge (105 miles north of Hokitika). The Kokatahi-Kowhitirangi area, the base region for the Westland Dairy Company, has always been regarded as having a progressive spirit

in Its fanning, with close settlement and friendly competition which has encouraged the dissemination of new ideas. Development was slow in the early years after the dairy company was founded in 1937, but rehabilitation and land settlement after the war resulted in increased growth. There is no bovine tuberculosis in the area and dairy production, which has doubled in the last five years, has every chance of doubling again within a further 10 years. A number of dairy units are being developed by the Lands and Survey Department, and if these are

settled and private development continues further rapid growth is likely. Farming in the Grey Valley to the north of Hokitika or at Harihari to the south has only recently caught up to the production level of the Koka-tahi-Kowhitirangi progressives. With modern transport, good roads, television and air travel West Coast farmers are no longer isolated as in the past. Land is comparatively cheap and many young fanners have been attracted to the area. This influx has been more noticeable since tanker collection was introduced, and farmers from

Canterbury, Nelson and as far away as the Waikato have come to the West Coast to settle. . The move into milk powder production and tanker collection inspired an approach from the Inter-Wanganui company at Harihari for amalgamation, and this took place in 1967. Last year the Golden Coast Dairy Company, which has dairy factories at Greymouth and Reefton, amalgamated with the Westland dairy, which is now the biggest in the South IslandAutomatic stoking An example of the Westland dairy factory’s progressivness is its approach to fuel for its modem milk powder plant. Although some distance from the West Coast’ coalfields, the factory uses a modem .installation which allows it to secure the full benefits of the cheaper cost of coal. Railway trucks of coal arrive over a pit, the boilerman pulls a lever which allows the load to fall out, and from that time never sees it again: the whole installation is automatic. While coal-fired plant has a higher capital cost than other fuels, the advantage, is a cheaper annual fuel bill. The company, with a staff of 65, is a major employer at Hokitika. Total value of dairy products manufactured this year will exceed $2,000,000 and wages paid will exceed $lBO,OOO. With Hokitika’s gold now confined to a few grains panned by tourists, another form of gold has replaced - the mineral as a source of wealth for the district—the creamy gold of New Zealand butter. The continuing expansion and progress of the Westland Dairy indicate the prospects for healthy growth and wealth in the district. A Publicity Division release.