The Rural Voice, 1977-11, Page 14could get it all. we'd be happy," Don says.
While the Pine River plant may not look at the future with
great enthusiasm, it has shown a strong survival instinct over the
years. It's still going strong while hundreds of similar plants
have dropped'by the wayside. At one time, Don says, there were
1200-1400 cheese plants in Ontario alone, located in small
centres to serve farmers who in horse and buggy days, couldn't
take their milk far for processing. Today there are only 600 dairy
plants of all kinds in all of Canada. And the number is still
thinning. The Gay Lea cheese factory in Tara has become the
most expensive receiving plant in Canada, Don says. because
milk is just received there now and shipped on to Guelph for
processing because there wasn't enough milk available to keep
the Tara plant operating.
Butter making at Pine River was phased out in 1973 when new
equipment was installed for the cheesemaking operation and
their wasn't enough room left for the old churn. The factory only
made 1000 pounds of butter a month so it wasn't worth the added
expense and worry of keeping the butter plant going. Now all the
whey cream is sold to Gay Lea.
One of the strong points for Pine River is its retail sales
section. It is one of the top three retail cheese factories, he says.
and "if we didn't have that, we'd be in trouble."
It isn't so much the money brought in by the retail counter that
matters, it's that the company is reimbursed by the O.M.M.B.
for the equivalent of milk used in cheese sold across the counter.
In the case of Pine River, that means another month's
cheesemaking every year.
The company last year closed down from Sept. 1 to Nov. 23 for
its expansion project. During the construction the plant was
effectively turned completely around. The old cheesemaking
room was turned into cold -storage space. The cold storage space
was turned into offices and washrooms and other facilities and a
new. larger. cheese making room was added to the west end of
the plant covering a 90 by 110 foot space. It's a gleaming
showcase, complete with ceramic tiled walls, and stainless steel
machinery process. foresaking new automatic equipment which.
Don says, takes almost as many men to operate anyway as it
takes to do the cheddaring.
The company is now into the specialty cheeses that the
O.M.M.B. is pushing to compete with the 50 million pounds of
imported cheese every year. It produces Colby and Farmers
cheese, as well as its famous cheddar. Still, even with this
business. the company only makes cheese on a one shift basis,
four days a week. There are about a dozen people involved,
including the Martins. Production varies according to the day,
sometimes as many as six batches, sometimes just three. The
milk is put in vats where it is heated, and curdling is speeded up
by use of a culture. The curd separates from the whey and the
whey is drained off. In another set of stainless steel bins, the
cheddaring is done by piling the curds up along the side of the
bin, letting them mat together and repeating the operation until
all the cheese is matted together. Then it is cut in strips and put
through a mill to create curds which are tasty in themselves and
are sold at the factory. But most of the curds are packed into the
processing boxes to be formed into 40 -pound blocks. Cheddar is
stored in cool storerooms about two months for mild, four to six
for medium. 12 months for year old and two years or more for
extra old.
Consumption of cheddar has been dropping. mostly. Don
feels. because of buyer resistence to higher prices. Cheese now
markets at $1.20 per pound in 40 -pound blocks and retails at
$1.70 per pound meaning even a five pound block is a fair sized
Retail sales are a very important part of the Pine River operation. It ranks as one of the top three
factory outlets with the cheese selling mostly in five and 10 pound blocks.
PG.14. THE RURAL VOICE/NOVEMBER 1977.
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