Cantage – Canterbury Heritage

From the collection of Kowai Archives

Part of the Cantage Records and Archives Week 2010 exhibition

The Sefton Dairy Company – 1888

Refrigeration, Sefton Farmers Club and crops ruined by flooding were all factors that contributed to the opening of Canterbury’s first Dairy Factory.  Many local creameries were established, such as Leithfield and Woodend and butter was produced in Sefton for over 30 years.   A new brick factory was opened in September 1904.

This recollection describes  processes at the Butter Factory in the 1930′s:
“When the factory changed from taking whole milk to just cream in the 1930′s Bob McGowan and Jack Wilson were tasters.  They  tasted each can as it came in (and spat it out). The cream was stirred before the can was emptied into the vat.  The can was put over a steam jet to wash out the residue which also went into the vat.  Any rotten cream was put aside.  It probably went into the whey vats.  Bill Hayes used to get the whey in a dray with a 400 gallon square tank each day. “
Lots of cream came by passenger train.  Cream may also have been collected by a cream lorry or delivered by the farmer.

The text courtesy Sefton School students.