The Brörup Co-operative Dairy, 1911
At six o'clock every morning the co-operative carts arrive laden with about 27,000 lbs. Danish of milk collected from 264 co-operating members...
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“The Brörup Co-operative Dairy,” from Rural Denmark and its Lessons by Henry Rider Haggard, 1911.
At Bramminge I visited a co-operative dairy which deals with 6000 lbs. Danish of milk a day. Here I should explain that the Danish pound or half kilo weighs roughly a tenth more than our English pound. This dairy I will not stop to describe, as later in the day I saw one that was larger at Brörup.
The Brörup Andelswejeri, or Co-operative Dairy, is a long, whitewashed building with a tall factory chimney and raised stoep or verandah bordering on the roadway, on to which the milk-cans are delivered from the carts. At the moment of my arrival one of the carts was in course of being loaded up with empty cans for return to the subscribers. These cans, although smaller, are similar in shape to those we use in England. The factory owns eighteen such carts, but the horses that draw them are hired.
At six o'clock every morning the co-operative carts arrive laden with about 27,000 lbs. Danish of milk collected from 264 co-operating members.
Perhaps the best thing I can do is to describe what happens to this milk from the moment it is unloaded on to the stone stoep. First it is weighed on an ingenious machine that registers the weight automatically. The empty tins are then set upside down on a kind of travelling rack to drain, the drippings from them, which average 80 or 90 lbs. weight per day, being carried off in metal troughs. These drippings, that are richer than the rest of the milk, the dairy receives gratis as a perquisite.
After filtering, the milk is warmed by steam-pipes in a double-jacketed cylinder to 60° Celsius (that is, 140° Fahrenheit). From the cylinder it runs into steam-driven separators revolving at 6000 revolutions per minute, which remove the cream that goes one way into zinc tanks, while the skim milk goes another into a second cylinder. Here this skim is reheated to 85° Celsius (or 185° Fahrenheit), and runs into a tank. Thence it is weighed out, three-fourths of the amount being returned to the co-operators in the exact proportion of the quantity of whole milk supplied by them, and one-fourth retained by the factory to be converted into cheese. This fourth is paid for at the rate of 1 öre, or half a farthing, per lb. Danish.
I should state that, except upon one day a week to serve the local market, no butter is made in this particular factory, whence the cream is exported to Germany. In Germany there is no duty upon cream, although there is a duty upon butter, and therefore it pays to export the cream to be churned across the border.
The sour milk that has become so fashionable is also made here in great quantities with the aid of the proper bacteria, and disposed of in glass jars.
Attached to this dairy is a cheese factory that turns out from 900 to 1000 lbs. of cheese per diem, which are manufactured from about 12,000 lbs, of milk. The curd, a granulated substance, is worked by men with their hands in two huge wooden vats, and afterwards conveyed to the cheese presses, that are furnished with powerful screws. Near by are the stores, filled with an enormous quantity of flat, round and square cheeses set on racks. These dark stores are lit by electricity. Many sorts of cheeses are made, one of which, known as Gouda, contains fifty per cent, of sweet milk. The factory price for this cheese is about 7d. per lb.
I was informed that a factory of this sort and size, including machinery, costs from £3500 to £4000. When it is thought advisable to establish such a factory in any district, the necessary capital is borrowed and guaranteed by the local farmers in proportion to the amount of milk to be supplied by each of them. Should the venture fail, these farmers must pay up in proportion to their respective guarantees. This, however, is not a liability that need disturb their sleep at night, as if any co-operative factory in Denmark has failed of late years I have not heard of that event. Thus this place at Brörup, which may be taken as a fair sample, is, as the manager informed me, in a prosperous condition and able to pay a good price to the co-operators for their milk — namely, a shade over 19 ore per two kilos, that is a fraction under 2 ½ d. per 4 lbs. 6 oz. English, plus the skim returned or paid for, as stated above.
All milk supplied is sampled by experts once a week. If any particular lot does not come up to the required standard the farmer is warned, and if the deficiency in fat or other imperfection continues, his milk is refused. This rarely happens, however, as the general result of such a warning is that the quality of the aspersed milk improves. Indeed the milk in the neighbourhood of this factory, and I believe of most others, grows better and not worse.
A co-operative dairy of this kind, although kept most scrupulously clean, is not altogether a pleasant place to visit. To begin with, the din caused by the rattling milk-cans and machinery is great, so great that the collection of information in the midst of it is a matter of some difficulty, especially when obtained through an interpreter. Also the floor swims with water, of which a vast amount is used in the needful washing of everything, with the result that any ordinary boots are soon wet through. In order to keep their feet above the level of these continual cascades and pools lying in worn spots, the employees wear high wooden clogs. Further, they are provided with white linen overalls.
On leaving the factory I drove to a nice-looking farm that stood near, of which, I was informed, the owner is one of the Brörup co-operators. Our visit was entirely unpremeditated, and unfortunately this gentleman, Mr. Ludvig Andersen, was away from home. A very intelligent young man in his employ kindly showed us over the place in his absence. The holding, which comprises about a hundred acres, was well cultivated, the mangolds and white turnips being very good indeed and quite clean. The house and buildings form a square, of which one side is devoted to the dwelling and the remaining three to the buildings that are thatched and felt-roofed, the courtyard within being paved with cobbles.
First I inspected the stable, which held four horses, and like all the other buildings was lit by electricity. Next to it was the cowhouse containing twenty-four red Danish cows that were in from the field for the midday milking, as, like many Danish farmers, Mr. Andersen milks three times a day. This custom is said to insure a heavier yield, which more than compensates for the extra labour involved.
I noticed at once that here, as in many other places, this byre was much warmer than we think it advisable to keep cowhouses in England. Also the ventilation did not seem to be so good as is usual with us. Often this heat is no doubt caused by the low ceilings with lofts above that are common in Denmark. I incline to think, however, that the cows as a rule are purposely kept in a high temperature in order to increase their supply of milk, which warmth is said to do. Whether the risk of tuberculosis is not also increased thereby is a technical matter that I will not discuss, though my own opinion is that this must be so.
These cows were good average specimens of the red Danish breed. Our guide informed me that the cost of the ordinary run of such cows, inclusive of a new-dropped second calf, would be about 250 kroner, or say £14, but that cows of a higher class fetch from 300 to 350 kroner, say up to £20. This still remains less than must be paid at present for a good short-horn of like age in England.
The cows here lay two in a stall, and over each of them was hung a tablet stating when the animal was expected to calve, the weight of milk it was yielding, which is averaged every other week, the amount of cake it received, and other particulars. Once a fortnight a highly educated, expert woman, who is hired co-operatively, visits these cows and tests the milk of each of them to determine the amount of butter-fat it contains. When this is ascertained she directs the exact weight of cake each beast is to have, the general rule being that the more milk a cow gives the more cake is fed to it. At the time of my visit (September), in addition to chaff and the food they gathered on the field, these particular cows were receiving an average of from 1 to 2 lbs. Danish of various sorts of cake. In winter they get much more — up to 8 lbs. a day.
All the milking on this farm is done by a machine, the cows being afterwards "stripped" (that is, milked dry) by hand. Our guide told me that they were well satisfied with the working of this machine, which had been in use there for two years.
Next to the cowhouse is a piggery containing a number of pigs and countless flies. I noticed these flies in almost all the Danish piggeries. Doubtless their unwelcome presence is due to the local habit of keeping swine, not in open styes or yards as we do, but in a low-roofed building, sometimes not too well ventilated. Certainly the pig is a very adaptable animal. Here most of us consider that the more air it gets the better it thrives, but in Denmark it flourishes exceedingly under quite different conditions.
In another part of the square stands a great barn, then filled with the harvest of unthrashed grain. It is not common to see stacks in Denmark, most of the corn being stored in such barns. Also we saw a three horse-power oil-engine which, amongst other work, manufactures the electric light.
In answer to my questions, our conductor informed me that farming was profitable in that neighbourhood. He added with a smile that his employer, who like most agriculturists in Denmark owns his farm, kept a motor-car. Certainly the appearance of that gentleman's very comfortable house, a long, one-storied building, seemed to suggest that more is made out of a hundred acres in this part of Denmark than either the landlord or the tenant, or both of them together, expect to receive from a like area in England. Perhaps the fact that the co-operative milk factory lies within a quarter of a mile may have a bearing on the case. Or there may be other reasons with which I am not acquainted.
Haggard, Henry Rider. Rural Denmark and its Lessons. Longmans, 1911.
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