1/6/15

pihama cooperative dairy co

When I first arrived in New Zealand, Hubby pointed out an old Taranaki dairy building as he showed me the countryside.

 I asked if there were more. 

He said, 'Sure.'

 And thus began the hunt. 

Most sit in disrepair, some have been used at some point for other enterprises. We (I with Hubby as navigator) have photos of about 43 of the original 118 or so dairies--or what's left of them. Recently, I found an extensive list of locations so we have some exploring to do.

The milk, cheese and butter dairies were eventually consolidated locally and then Taranaki-wide into a company that is called Fonterra (the name  has no specific meaning at all).

Until last year, this dairy was used as a residence.  Here's a story from the paper .

15 comments:

Tom said...

This place looks as neat as a pin. Tom The Backroads Traveller

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
That's a lot of defunct dairies! Nice shot... YAM xx

Jackie McGuinness said...

Can't wait to see more.

Liz Needle said...

We have a lot of old dairies in Australia too. Many now being used as wineries, community centres, business enterprises etc. Interesting structures.

CountryMum said...

It is always nice to have a reason to go exploring. I look forward to seeing more of these dairy buildings.

Margaret Birding For Pleasure said...

It must have been so hard for the couple to move from the Dairy to a 2 bedded place and also to leave the pet Eel

Roan said...

Looks beautifully restored! Thanks for the link. Interesting article.

Latane Barton said...

So nice to see pictures from New Zealand.

EG CameraGirl said...

I would love to have seen how they furnished it! Too bad they had to sell for health reasons!

The Artful Diva said...

I love the hunt too. We took tons of photos of lighthouses when we last visited Nova Scotia.

don said...

I hope everyone like the idea of the return of the building to its purpose in life. A nice image of the building.

A Colorful World said...

I love it! So interesting!

Ida said...

Interesting place.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

It's still a well kept building.. An interesting story, but just like over on this side of the world, it sounds like the small farmer is a dying breed! Which I think is sad, but I guess efficiency is what feeds us all at a more reasonable price. Maybe.

Amy said...

That is really awesome! We have fonterra plants up here too, the nearest one in Maungaturoto and another in Whangarei plus lots of old dairy companies, there's an old unused one in Whakapirau.