OKITU BUTTER

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19667, 27 June 1938, Page 13

OKITU BUTTER

REMARKABLE SUCCESS CHAMPION,>HIP WINS WAIKATO AND MANAWATU HIGHEST NORTH IS. POINTS In securing Auckland chxlmpionship awards and several other prizes at both the Waikato and Manawatu butter shows this month, the Okitu Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited, has achieved success tlidt is unique in the history of the Gisborne district.

There was no butter at either Show, out of entries from all over New Zealand, that graded higher than the best of the Okitu butter, which also secured the highest points in the North Island in the provincial championship awards at the Manawatu Show. The Waikato and Manawatu butter shows are regarded as the premier exhibitions of their kind in the Dominion, and a company which scores consistently at each, as Okitu has done, has every reason to feel proud of the achievement. At the Waikato Show. Okitu won the Auckland provincial championship with a butter which scored 95.5 points, the highest grading points secured at the Show. A very close : second prize was won in the King George V Challenge Cup class—a i particularly valuable cup —the Okitu butter in that class grading 95.5, | against 95.5 points for the winning butter. Two other second awards were secured with butter which scored 95.3 points, in addition to a third prize, making five placings out of eight entries. The average grading of the five placed entries at Hamilton was 95.2 points. Provincial Gold Medal The gold ■ medal award for the Auckland provincial championship at the Manawatu Show is one that has never before come to the Gisborne district. This award is for the most points scored in four classes, including unsalted butter, and the company won the medal with a total Of 379.3 points, the highest points secured in the North Island provincial contests. The winning factory for the Taranaki provincial medal secured 376 points, and the Wellington-Hawke’s Bay prize was won with 378.2 points. Included in the provincial championship points secured by Okitu was a first prize for export butter wlrn 95.5 points, again the highest points awarded in the Show, in which the company secured six individual placings out of a total of seven entries. As factories in this part of the North Island have transport difficulties not encountered in other areas, this performance is considered unique in dairy histbry. All exhibits were made before the end of March, and transported under difficult conditions'. "

Modern Hygienic Plant

For this great achievement great credit is given to the manager, Mr. G. Forbes, and his staff, and also to the modern plant installed and the strict cleanliness and hygienic methods ruling in the factory. The suppliers in general also are able to feel that they have contributed towards this success, and the Maori suppliers, too, gave their help, for the cream from which the Show butter was made was not confined to the European supply. This was only the second occasion on which Mr. Forbes had entered Okitu butter in the dairy shows. The degree of success achieved must be encouraging to him and an incentive to further effort and, it is hoped, even greater success. One instance of how the conditions in the Okitu factory compare with the ideal is given in what occurred at {the Waikato Show. The winning exhibit in the class for butter made under ideal conditions scored 95 points, while the best Of the Okitu butter was awarded 95.5 and the five placed entries averaged 95.2 points.