The Rural Voice, 2001-08, Page 33multinational giant Pamalat. Angered
residents of the Milverton and
Millbank areas held meetings to see
if the long tradition of cheese making
in Millbank could be revived.
Frustration grew, however, when it
became evident that because of high
costs and red tape, the possibility of a
cheese factory processing cows' milk
was unlikely.
Reid attended some of those
meetings as a reporter
(including an article for the
July 1999 Rural Voice) and after
watching the growing frustration,
mentioned the relative freedom of
processing goat's milk. After that, the
focus of the group shifted and goat
producers began getting involved.
Along the road the farmer
members, many of them modern,
ruggedly -individualistic farmers, are
learning the lessons of co-operation
from earlier generations.
The co-op started out in an
arrangement with the Bright Cheese
factory, using one small vat for
processing and at first, taking only
Reid's milk. Later one other
producer's milk was added but
production capability was limited
until an arrangement was made with
Quality Jersey Products of Seaforth,
itself a recent new -generation co-
operative, to lease cheese production
capacity two evenings a week, plus
use of its storage and cutting and
wrapping facilities. "We jumped to
four times the amount of milk,"
Lindner says.
The company has hired Alex
Siegner of Milverton, and his
assistant Linda MacDonald to turn up
to 7,500 litres of milk a week from
six producers into 750 kg. of cheese.
"We typically start about 3:00 -
3:30 p.m. and depending on what
type of cheese, it can be midnight
before we're out of there," Lindner
says. The schedule is two nights a
week for production and two
afternoons of shorter shifts for
cutting the larger blocks and
wrapping the smaller chunks in
plastic or boxes.
The dreams of re-establishing a
cheese factory in Millbank or
Milverton still haven't been fulfilled
yet but there's progress. "We don't
have a building to point to yet, but
those are the first signs," says Reid.
"It's a great thing to stand there have
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