Butter making returns to old factory

Butter making has returned to an old Bonlac dairy factory in Camperdown, south west Victoria.

The site had been empty for 10 years before Aussie Farmers Direct, a household food delivery service, took it over.

They started bottling milk and are now moving into butter.

Twelve south west farms send milk to the factory to be bottled and turned into dairy products that are delivered to Australian doorsteps.

Dairy manager Chris Melville says the company has imported equipment from Europe to start producing butter.

"While the equipment is modern, with all of its flash screens and buttons, fundamentally the art of making butter has not changed since it was done 100 years ago, out on the farm."

The new churn will produce about 800 kilograms of butter an hour.

Mr Melville says they want to produce their own butter to ensure supply and decrease the time between milk pick up on farm and butter delivery to households.

He says at the moment they are paying about a 15 per cent premium to farmers for their milk, because they're unaffected by the value of the Australian dollar.

"Our price isn't really geared that much against the commodities, because we're not in that game.

"What really works is we can offer a fairly flat price throughout the season."

Kim from Aussie Farmers Direct stands in front of the new butter churning equipment the company imported from Europe.

Butter part way through processing at the Aussie Farmers Direct factory in Camperdown, south west Victoria.

Butter labels for butter produced at the Aussie Farmers Direct factory in Camperdown, south west Victoria.

Aussie Farmers Direct is testing butter recipes at its Camperdown factory.

Source: ABC Rural, 29 Maqy 2013