Annual List of Dairy Factories

This Annual List of Dairy Factories was produced by the NZ Department of Agriculture from 1893 to 1971 and then by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1974 to 1976.

It went under a few different titles over the years:

• 1893-1899 - List of Dairy Factories.
• 1900 - List of Dairy Factories, Packing Houses and Registered Private Dairies.
• 1901-1905 - List of Dairy Factories, Dairies and Packing Houses.
• 1906-1976 - Annual List of Creameries, Factories, Private Dairies and Packing Houses.

In the publication is recorded the name of each dairy factory operating that year, its registered number, secretary, postal address and the name of its brand. From 1896 it also includes production figures and from 1906 it includes the number of suppliers.

The entries in the publication are grouped by province and then alphabetically by company name. From 1906 the lists are grouped by product (butter, cheese etc), then province and then alphabetically by company name. From 1970 the entries are listed alphabetically by company name.

The Department of Agriculture also produced a publication titled List of Dairy Factories Showing Names of Managers and Secretaries. Selected years (1957, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986) are included here to fill some of the gaps in the collection of the Annual List of Dairy Factories. These record similar information, but don't include the brand, production statistics or the numbers of suppliers. The entries in the publication are listed alphabetically by company name.

The following years are not held:

• 1894, 1895, 1921, 1946, 1947, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983.
• 1907 is missing pages 20 and 21.

Note that the quality of the originals vary, which can impact the accuracy of the OCR. Also note that the names listed in the publication are not 100% reliable and in some cases the location is used instead of the official company name.

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