WHEY BUTTER

Southland Times, Issue 17225, 21 December 1912, Page 6

WHEY BUTTER

OPDXIXG OK DDDXDADD I'ACTORV. A PROMISING VDXTDDD. Another link in the cnain of progress in emmeclion with the denying industry was forged yesterday at Ddendale, when the manufacturing of butler from whey was duly inaugurated. This is tlie tliird daily factory in Southland to follow this course, the other two being Woodlands and Alataura. The Ddendale Dairy Factory Company, liowever, were the first to seriously discuss' the proposal. Owing to the structural nature of Hie main factory, a new building had to be constructed for the whey hut ter plant, and on this account the arrangements are not as compact ns is the case at the Mataura factory, where the whole concern is under one roof. The whey is run from the cheese factory into Hie circular-tanks in the floor of the butter factory, each of these having a holding capacity of 2000 gallons. From these it is pumped into another’room, where the cream is separated, and is then transferred to a huge diurn. and after tlic; final process it evolves into “prime factory butter.” There can Vie no mistaking the quality of the article produced. and tlie term “prime” is aptly applied. Tlie percentage of butter-fat in whey is .25, and from tlie whey, for every 100 gallons of mills received ®.t tlie factory °iA lbs of butter are reclaimed. At the Ddendale factory tlie intake is at present about GOOO gallons of milk, and at. Brydone and Menzie's Ferry, tlie two oilier factories belonging to Hie Company, the intakes are respectively 11000 and 2000 gallons. Tlie butterfat at the two latter factories is separated, and forwarded to Ddendale to undergo the churning process. Thus it will be seen that tlie total production of butter from whey is roughly about 275 lbs. When it is mentioned that for years, all this valuable product was allowed to tain into Hie Mataura River, the wisdom of Hie step taken becomes obvious. In regard to the commercial value of whey as a by-product, the last word lias not yet been said. In addition to butter-fat it also contains sugar, which gives it value as a fattening agency. A company is notv in treaty with the Ddendale Dairy Factory Company with Hie object of further treating the whey in order to extract the sugar from it. "When this has been accomplished , the only substance possessing any commercial value left in the whey will lie the casein

A large number of fanners, farmers' ■wives, and farmers' daughters yesterday inspected the new plant, and watched with intense interest the whole process, which is certainly a most interesting one. The verdict on all sides was that (lie construction of the whole concern, and the installing of ail the parts reflected credit on all concerned. Even such a fastidious gentleman as the popular manager of the factory (Hr Joint Sa worst expressed himself as being perfectly well satisfied. The four separators are of the Alfa-Laval variety, as also are two whi-di have been installed at Brydono and one at Menzie’s T-'erry. The capacity of the four at Edendale is fiflO gallons per hour, and if necessary this can bo increased to 7.10 gallons. The howls of eaclt separator when in action make no fewer than .1000 revolutions per minute. They were installed by Messrs Mason, Struthers and Co.’s expert (Mr .Primmer), assisted by Mr R. Chilman. of Messrs Hanson and Sons, of Invercargill, who are the local agents tor Aifa-Laval separators. Messrs Mason, Slrulhers and Co. being the Dominion agents. Messrs .1. Johnston and Sons. Ltd., attended to the installing of tlie engine, and Mr Peterson, of Messrs Wilkins, Ltd., superintended the remainder of tlie work. The building was constructed by Mr Rhodes, under the supervision of Mr E. R. Wilson, architect. It rnav bo •Mentioned that the separators are intermediately driven, and it is claimed that this allows smoother running. and causes a minimum of friction and jars. On the other hand, many contend that the extra machinery required for intermediate action absorbs 100 much floor space. Ai a suitable interval tlie Chairman of Directors. Mr George Stewart. of Brydone, addressed those present, and spoke as follows: —It gives much pleasure on behalf of the Edendale Dairy Factory Company to welcome such a large gathering of visitors and shareholders of the Company to witness the formal inauguration of our new branch in the dairying business. Friendly gatherings, sucli as we are having to-day are always a pleasure to us all, and I hope that this will be the forerunner of a regular annual picnic. The business end of the function for which we have me' is to declare this up-to-date butter factory open. Before I do so, I may he permitted to say a few words as to what lias led up to to-day’s proceedings. Butter-making, pure and simple, is no new tiling at Edendale. In the old days of the Land Company, butter-making turmoil a regular part of the year's work, and in the first year of this Company’s operation's we made butter in Cue winter months. Since that time, nearly nine years ago. nothing of the kind lias been gone on with. About three years ago, whey butter, or to speak more correctly, butter made from separated whey, began to be spoken of in this country. The matter was brought before your Directors. but it was thought by them that on account of the small quantity of tat which was left in the whey it was scarcely worth while to put such a large quantity of whey through the separators, for tin- apparently snia.il proportion of hutter-fat. Later on. rumours came from the North Island (hat one or two of the largest factories there were having successful experiments made, ami wen- intending to go in for it systematically. We made enquiries from them as to their results; but they declined at that stage in commit themselves as to what margin of profit was in it. as so far as they were concerned the matter was still in the experimental stage. We then invited Mr Singleton to nniio down and talk over the question with us. ami as lm is an undoubted expert in It is business, what lie had to say carried great weight with us. He placed figures before- us that proved most conclusively that an immense am ii’.nf of money wa.s being annually lost. The large cost of the necessary buildings and plant was (bought to be bevond our reach, (be idea of so much money being carried down the river every day kept rankling in our minds mid we finally came to the conelusion that it was time to slop it. To bring the mailer more promuuuitly before the shareholders we got Ibe Dairy Commissioner (Mr Ouddie) to come down from Wellington to one of our annual meetings mil address us on the subject. That address seitled tbs matter so far as the directors were concerned. The heavy outlay was. however, too great for the Board to incur without an expression of opinion from the shareholders. A general meeting of the Company was held, and the scheme wa.s most enthusiastically endorsed. Then finally we made experiments on our own account. We approached the agents of the Alfa-Laval separators and their local agent (Messrs Malison and Sons), kindly placed at our disposal a machine to experiment with. The results proved most conclusively that there could not lie two opinions as to the propriety of going on with the scheme. The buildings and plant which you have inspected to-day are the results of our deliberations. We have tin- assurance of Mr Cuddle, the Dairy Commissioner, who inspected the place a few days ago, that there is nothing better or more, complete in the Dominion to-dav. He also said that the quality of mp’ butler was unequalled by any other factory making whey butter. This is something to be

! Proud of. and I am quife sure that Ml* i John Sewers will span’ -,o effort, to main* JHii i Hun hj mil ; l.',miai f of excellence. I < hir Hi,-irks :.rr- duo in the Dairy De- ; Par: meni. a,q i,, A.J i■ James .Sawers for ••"Dire an,| .isvjsu; freely given; to slr D. D. w D-, ,71, ~ur architect, for an admirably designed building, and to Mr Uliodos for faithfully carrying out Mr ’Wilson's instruct ions. Messrs Wilkins, > Did . had Ih<- imporiant part of supply- ; ing the nice,da ideal portion of the plant, 'and 1 1 j<■ jj- wo, k speaks for itself. Messrs Manson and Sons, local I agents for the ■ Alf-t-Da val Company, have earned our , thanks lor the- prompt manner in which llieq pan of the im-tailalion came to hand. I may mention that thc-s® ma-l,ines w.nv decided upon after cx- | hiuislive tests had been made, and we are quite sa:,stied that we have the best sepal a t ors procurable. To our oid • friends, Messrs .1. B. MacDwan and Co., jwo are indebted for bargains in the ■ engine and freezing machine' supplied by ilieni, also the churn and butterworker. itc. You have seen for yourselves how smoothly the plant is work- | ing. and the high grade butter that -Mr 1 Sawers is turning out. All that we now require to make our succors complete is? | an unlimited demand for our produce, j Personally, I am quite satisfied that i when the excellence of our butter is ; more widely and thoroughly known, our | reputation will stand as high for butter |as it does to-day for che.ese; I have much pleasure in declaring the butter j factory open, and may success and I prosperity ever be its portion. I Mr C. .1. A.nderson, M.P., who was called upon to speak, said that lie was proud of the fact that Ddendale was in the Mataura electorate. The Ddendalo dairy factory was 11m first of its kind in Xew Zealand. Now they were going to turn the whey into a marketable commodity. and he understood that it was tlie intention to also remove tlie sugar from it. so that when that was don® there would be precious little left for Denis, tlie pig. f Faugh ter) When they looked at Ddendale to-day, they saw th« advantage to lie gained by closer settlement. and Hie present Government would endeavour to further carry out that policy, so that Southland eventually would be a second Taranaki. He paid a tribute to the late Air Thomas Brydone, the founder of the Ddendale factory, who, ho said, was the first man in the Dominion to become alive to the possibilities of the industry, which had since spread all over Xew Zealand. He did not know if in the value of exports dairy produce would surpass wool andmutton; but he thought it would become a good second. He expressed approval of the butter being classed as prime factory butter, and lie trusted that the Ddendale Dairy Factory Company would have even greater prosperity in thefuture than in tlie past. Air D. R.. Hunter said that it had often! been stated that a man who could maker, two blades of grass grow where former--ly there was only one. was a benefactor* to the country. The Ddendale peoplehad erected three factories where formerly there was ovly one, and they must' also he classed as benefactors. He referred appreciatively to the proposed sugar extracting plant, and said that the dairying industry would soon dominate the whole of tlie Alataura electorate. They ought to be proud tc be in their present position. Air J. R. Scott, secretary of the South. Island Dairy Association, said thatDdendale had been the pioneer factory of Xew Zealand. It bad received the Government bonus of £SOO for the firsts 50 tons of cheese manufactured by n« factory in New Zealand. He himselC, had bought their first lot of cheese, andj lie bad made money out of it. (Laugh-« ter). He was pleased with the complimentary references that had been mad® to the late Air Brydone, as no man inj Xew Zealand bad bad a more patriotic regard for this country. Mr Brydone had always been ahead with bis -ideas, and to build such a factory at the time he did was a big venture. He would always be remembered as the pioneer of llie industry. At one lime be (All* Scott) bad been dubious regarding butter from whey; but now lie was convinced of ihe goodness of it. The outlook of the butter market was most hopeful, and it would continue good. Air John Gray, Gliairman of tlie South. Island Dairy Association, and Chairman ; of Directors of Hie Alataura Dairy Factory Co., said they looked upon the Ddendale factory as the hub of the dairying industry, if buyers secured the Ddendale output, they generally considered that they would bring the other factories to terms. There was no mistake about butter from whey being a payable proposition. At Alataura they were making over 100 lbs. of butter per day. and the quality was good. He did not know if it would keep for any length of time, but lie thought it would. He referred to the cheese market, and said that tlie Dairy Association had had an> anxious time during Hie last three months, and he was very pleased that it was evident that Hie "be-irs” bad become tired of the struggle. He felt sure that they would obtain good prices for their, cheese. At one time they thought Is-per-lb. for oullcr-fal was a good price, but now they thought it was onlymedium.

The visitors were thereafter hospitably treated by the Directors of • the Company. Mr Joint Morris presiding ovej this important part of the proceedings.