DAIRY FACTORIES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4736, 9 December 1886, Page 3

DAIRY FACTORIES.

The Canterbury Press in an article on dairy factories writes :— The Ashburton factory was re-opened by the guarantors for cheese making on October loth (bacon •uring having been carried on from the close of the last milk season up to October of this year.) A good supply of milk has continued to come forward, the result being that there is every reason to believe the current season's output of chueso will result in a satisfactory margin of profit, over and above all expenses connected with resuming operations and the cost of working the factory.

In 1882 the experience in connection with the establishment of new industries kad to be bought, and in many instances a pretty stiff price was paid ; a corresponding loss being thus added to the initial expense of launching a company. Even at Ihe present time experience has to be paid for, but it can in many cases be bought at a greatly reduced price, and procured in a much more agreeable form than was the case before a lengthened season of great depression coupled with the keenest competition on all sides, had taught us to be less lavish in our expenditure. The few figures given below have been obtained from an available source, and may be safely taken as the approximate cost of starting a cheese factory. A good, substantial, and suitable building, of sufficient capacity for a 400 cow factory, should bo completed at a cost not exceeding ±'400, providing the situation is such as not to necessitate extra freight on the timberorother material. If the factory h to be situated in a locality where the timber could be procured at a cheaper rate fchan, say in Christchurch, the building could probably be erected at a figure representing something less than £400. To fit the factory up with a thoroughly complete plant, including vats, curd mills, oheese presses, engine and boiler for working the mill, generating steam for heating purposes and giving a plentiful supply of hot water for cleaning the utensils, &c, the cost would be about £000. Thus £1000 should cover the first cost of buildings and plant necessary for a factory having a capacity of receiving 12,000 gallons of milk per day. Should the regular milk supply not be likely to reach this figure, the cost of building and plant could be proportionately reduced. Under favorable conditions as to character of grazing land and tho prospect of a payable market for the cheese, the capital necessary for starting and carrying on a cheese factory would be at the rate of £5 per cow ; thus a 400 cow factory would require a capital of at least £20,000. From four years experience in connection with the working of the Ashburton factory, it has been found that it takes on an average 111 b weight of milk to produce lib of cured cheese, and the cost •f making the cheese (exclusive of the price paid the farmer for the milk) averages a penny|per lb, after allowing for a shrinkage of about seven percent, during the three months generally allowed for the cheese to mature and be ready for the market. The milk is delivered once a day (about eight a. ra.)except Sundays. The milk is brought to a covered platform at the end of the vat room, weighed, and then emptied direct into the milk vats. At one end of the receiving platform are steam and hot water appliances, to enable the farmers to thoroughly cleanse their milk tins as soon as they are emptied. At stated intervals the manager of the factory tests the milk with a cream tester, and this is usually done in the presence of a representative from the milk suppliers. Private tests are made of course, whenever the manager thinks fit. The weights of the cheese now being made are 14lb and 351 b, tho cheese being iqtended fer the colonial markets. The Bystem adopted in making and curing is what is generally known as the ordinary factory system, and the cheese is usually ready for the market in three months after first making. The milk 3eason commenced on Oct. 15, and will close at tho end of April. With good grazing country, a liberal supply of milk, economical management in connection with the working of the factory, and the hearty interest of co-operation of the milk suppliers or farmers, there is no reason why a dairy factory should not be made to pay a good dividend to the shareholders. As to the direct benefits derived by the milk suppliers there can be no two opinions, and to make a dairy factory a thorough success, every assistance and encouragement should be extended to it by the farmers themselves.