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Freshly churned butter was emptied from the churn into a movable 'bath' and pushed to the butter printer where it was loaded. From here it was made into the then traditional Tatamagouche butter shape, automatically wrapped and pushed out on a small conveyor belt to be hand packed into wood butter boxes From here they were taken to the chiller or refrigerator rooms to be stored until finally passed through a window at the back of the room, to the waiting delivery truck. The boxes, originally of wood, pre-cut elsewhere and assembled upstairs at the Creamery, were later changed to cardboard.

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The finished product
20th Century 1990
Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia Canada


Credits:
Creamery Square Heritage Society

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Probably because of restricted space, only limited pieces of the Creamery equipment are on display.. For a while much of the machinery was exposed to the weather, other pieces were placed in the Shed building. When threatened with disposal to the dump, the Museum of Industry in New Glasgow was contacted in the hope that they would take some of the increasingly rare pieces - once the equipment had been taken as rubbish, there was no way to replace it - there were no longer old Creameries around in Nova Scotia. They kindly collected what they wanted and could store; the Heritage Society, feeling that the building had been the Tatamagouche Creamery the butter making process should be strongly represented in the completed scheme, tried to hang on to the old can sterilizer and the butter bath, in the hope they could be displayed outside - protected but visible. Although the company in charge of the museum displays were happy with the idea it did not fit in to the overall view of the Square, and after various attempts to overcome this, the machinery went to the owner of the Grain Elevator, in the hope he could show it. It could still happen!
So the Creamery exhibit has the stainless steel pasteurizer, the butter churn and the butter printer, together with small displays of testing equipment, and good wall panels. The old boiler, which party subsided shortly after installation, still crouches in its original position, and hides 'Boiler Bob' -a hologram that emerges and tells the story of work in the Creamery. He is somewhat temperamental, according to the weather -damp is unpopular - so he does not always work, which is frustrating. He is very popular, but the cost of replacement parts is huge - fo a Centre relying on entry money to cover most expenses.

Although Tatamagouche butter is no longer made at the Creamery (unless children decide they want to have a go in which case a volunteer will help them)...) it is still available in stores, being made by Scotsburn elsewhere in the province.