Open Country Dairy Expands Butter Production with New Plant
The country's second largest milk processor, Open Country Dairy, is building a butter plant at its Awarua site in Invercargill.
The tasting panel described the butter as "complex", "Rich, salty and decadent", and "Yellowy, buttery goodness".
Alex Turnbull, chief executive of Westland Milk Products which manufactured Westgold, says the results confirm one of Westland's best-kept secrets.
Grass-Fed West Coast Advantage
Turnbull says the secret to Westgold's taste and colour is that the cream used to make the butter is sourced from grass-fed cows raised on the West Coast.
"Given our location and the knowledge and skills of our butter team, we know we have a lot going for us, but this result still fills us with pride," he says.
The simplicity of mixing only grass-fed fresh cream and salt gives Westgold butter a distinctive texture, while Westgold’s distinctive gold colour is a result of the more than 97% grass-fed diet of its West Coast dairy cows cared for by partner farmers.
Traditional Churning Methods Deliver Premium Quality
A centuries-old churning method built into the butter plant Westland commissioned in 2022 at Hokitika on the West Coast is used to process cream into butter.
This is a slower processing method that results in a higher-quality product.
Perhaps the most important ingredient, however, is the time spent perfecting the craft of making butter.
Westland's butter team have spent an average of 20,000 hours (or 10 years) producing butter.
Dean Robinson, Westland's cream senior production manager, has been with the company for over 30 years.
“Our butter-team has more accumulated knowledge than any other team at Westland and, potentially, more knowledge than any other butter producers in the country,'' Robinson says.
"After making butter for so many years, everyone working in the factory has the eye for it and just knows when it is right. Our butter churners all have their own characteristics. Our staff have been able to use the instinct that comes from extensive experience.”
New employees are trained by those who have the most experience to make sure that everyone gets the benefit of the team’s knowledge.
This all drives the taste of Westgold Butter as more people around the world – and at home – are discovering.
Sales of Westgold butter are booming and have grown around 40 per cent over the past four years in New Zealand.
