Skive Andelsmejeri (1893 – 1985) weighed in the first milk on July 5, 1893 in the dairy building at Thomsensgade 18. In 1911, a new dairy was built behind the original, designed by architect Lind and with the characteristic Lind dairy appearance with a central skimming hall. The dairy bottled its last milk on September 28, 1985. The buildings have now been converted into apartments.
The start
It was three local farmers who took the initiative to start the cooperative dairy in Skive. Anders P. Larsen, St. Engborg, Laust Goul, Ll. Engborg and Carl Hansen met at New Year’s Eve in Carl Hansen’s property, Vinde Vestergård. The agricultural problems with butter production and unsatisfactory prices were discussed. Cooperative dairies had sprung up in Hem, Durup and Oddense, and the three believed that it would be possible to gather cooperative members with a total of around 300 cows, which was the minimum needed to give a dairy a foundation. Geographically, the dairy would cover Resen, Vinde, Lund, Egeris, Bilstrup, Skive Mark, Estvad and Kisum. It was not expected that Krabbesholm, Skivehus and Estvadgård would be included.
After an announcement in Skive Folkeblad, a preliminary meeting was held and a committee was formed in early February 1893. Carl Hansen from Vinde Vestergård, who was only 22 years old, became head of negotiations and later became the dairy’s chairman for several years. After a little over a month of preparatory work, farmers representing 302 cows had signed up. It wasn’t impressive, but at a meeting on February 21, 1893, it was decided that the dairy would be built. Now it was time to make laws and find a plot of land. Half of the committee wanted to build in Kristiansgade, while the others wanted to build in Skive Landsogn.
They ended up dealing with tanner Thomsen, as they managed to push the price of the land he wanted to sell near the nursery down from DKK 1.25 to DKK 1 per square cubic meter. The dairy building at Thomsensgade 18, (Ny Skivehus land cadastral no. 7ab), came to stand at DKK 22,400.
Jens Tang (1861 – ?) was hired as manager. He was trained as a dairyman in 1881 at Dueholm and from 1885manager at Jandrup.
In the second year of operation, there were 118 cooperative members, which slowly increased. At the turn of the century, there were 167 and at the 25th anniversary 243 members representing 1126 cows. Of these, 112 had less than 4 cows each.
Skive Cooperative Dairy in Thomsensgade
The town had previously been supplied by individual farmers, but now the dairy focused on city customers by setting the price per pot of whole milk relatively low. Dairy milk was met with skepticism because it was “mixed”. Some thought that some filler had been added and the cream was thought to be thin and the butter churned out.
Farmers weren’t always thrilled to be faced with high hygiene requirements both in the barn and when delivering the milk. After a few years, the dairy started a systematic quality assessment for odor and taste.
The best milk delivered in the cleanest buckets was rewarded. The dairy circle’s milking party was held in Krabbesholm Forest and the Milkmaid’s Prize was sung. Gradually, the town’s skepticism was overcome.
New building Apr. – Nov. 1911
At the start, 1.25 million pounds of milk were weighed in, by 1911 this had increased to 6 million pounds of milk. Despite expansion, there was no longer enough space in the old dairy.
In 1911, an extraordinary general meeting decided to build a new dairy on the old site by purchasing 2000 square meters from neighboring gardener H P Pedersen. The building was erected behind and perpendicular to the original dairy. Architect Lind provided the drawings for a dairy in his typical style, with a high central section that housed the frothing room and with the characteristic ventilation hoods. Behind it were stables.
The price for the new dairy was DKK 50,000.
50th anniversary
At the 50th anniversary, which was celebrated at “Rosenhøj”, it was clear that the dairy was still going strong despite World War II. Dairy manager Tang had resigned in 1931, but the new manager V. Thomsen managed to link ice cream production to the dairy and took advantage of the situation as a city dairy. Thomsen was also quick to realize that changes were needed as the 60s dawned.
Centralizations
As early as 1912, the many small dairies were organized in the Danish Dairy Associations’ Joint Organization. The small dairies found it increasingly difficult to keep up with technological developments, such as increased hygiene controls and the increasing use of disposable packaging. From 1958-1964, the Danish Dairy Association conducted a comprehensive analysis of the entire Danish dairy sector. Based on this analysis, the dairy sector was modernized in the 1960s. The number of dairies was to be reduced and over time, production and sales were brought together in a nationwide cooperative organization, Mejeriselskabet Danmark (MD), which was formed in 1970.| Skive’s mayor at the time had actually started his political career at Skive Andelsmejeri. Peter Kjærgaard trained as a dairyman at Danelykke and worked at Skive Andelsmejeri from 1926-1929. Here he became politically involved in the labor movement and was chairman of the dairy workers in Skive 1933-36. In 1929, he took over one of the dairy’s sales routes in Skive. |
Skiveegnens Mejeriselskab SMS
The result was the formation of Skiveegnens Mejeriselskab by merging with Danelykke in Hem. Rønbjerg dairy switched to exclusively producing ice cream, so the milk suppliers delivered to Skive Andelsmejeri instead. In 1967, a bottling plant was established at Skive Andelsmejeri for 12 rural dairies, and drinking milk was delivered to most of Salling, Fur and Højslev. At the same time, they switched to disposable packaging.
In 1970, Højslev dairy became part of Skiveegnens Mejeriselskab, and it was agreed that drinking milk would be made in Skive, butter in Hem and cheese in Højslev. Saugstrup soon joined and on May 1, 1970, dairy manager / director Jens L. Bach replaced the former manager Vagn Thomsen.
In August 1970, a merger of 12 dairies in the area succeeded: Jebjerg, Krejbjerg, Kjeldbjerg, Trevad, Breum, Gamstrup v. Roslev, Nordsalling in Lindum, Durup, Balling, Daugbjerg and Sdr. Resen and finally Skiveegnens Mejeriselskab under this name and with Skive as its headquarters. The former chairman of Skiveegnens Mejeriselskab, farmer Henry Andersen, Vinde, was elected chairman after the merger. The dairy became one of the country’s largest dairy companies, weighing in 104 million kg of milk annually. In the following months and years, more dairies were added and soon only Dybbækdal in Thise, Rødding and Brodal were outside the dairy company in Salling. The latter two dairies joined forces in 1971 and finally merged with SMS in 1972.
Merger with Mejeriselskabet Danmark
The new dairy company, which now had 2300 members, closed half of the dairies within a few years. Some continued as cheese dairies and cheese warehouses. Balling continued as a churning center and Skive as a fluid milk dairy.
When Salling’s dairies were merged in 1970, there was already talk that the mergers would not stop there. The large association Mejeriselskabet Danmark (later MD Foods) had been formed the same year.
From Clover Milk to Mejeriselskabet Danmark
In 1978, SMS joined the new distribution company Jydsk Kløvermælk, which was a merger of Jydsk Mælk and Dansk Mejerikonsum. There were now 2 major players in the market, Mejeriselskabet Danmark and Kløvermælk, each with approx. 40% of the consumer milk market, and quite quickly they got into a protracted price war. SMS found that membership of Clover Milk was too expensive, they got too little for their milk and sought to merge with their competitor.
In the fall of 1985, the merger between Skiveegnens Mejeriselskab and Mejeriselskabet Danmark became a reality. This led to the closure of butter production in Balling on September 27 and drinking milk in Skive on September 28. The 16 employees were offered work at MD in Holstebro. Durup, Jebjerg and Højslev continued cheese production. Højslev dairy closed in 1989, Jebjerg dairy closed in 1993 and finally Durup closed in 1999.
Chairmen :
- Carl Hansen, Vinde Vestergård 1893-1903
- R. Christensen, Hesselbjerg 1903-07
- Chr. Lidegaard, Ø. Lidegård 1907-08
- Peder Næsted, Vinde 1908-1915
- A. Larsen-Sund, Lund 1915 –
- Jørgen Jensen, Lund ? – 1923
- C. Faarkrog, Resen 1923 –
- Jonas Dahl, Hvidbjerg
- Erik Haugaard, Skovshoved 1926 – 1933
- Salkvist Nielsen, Vinde
- …
- Husband Henry Andersen, Vinde
The buildings became “Smørhullet”
In September 1986, master carpenter Steen Ginnerup was rebuilding the old Lind dairy into condominiums designed by architect Verner Lang, Skive. The dairy’s main building was converted into 9 apartments of varying sizes, where the large bottling hall was converted into a common room for the residents. Three new one-and-a-half-storey houses were also built on the site. The condominium association was aptly named “Smørhullet”.
“Smørhullet” 2025
Sources :
- Handbook for the dairy industry in Denmark 1917
- Skive Folkeblad July 5, 1918
- Skive Folkeblad April 5, 1911
- Skive Folkeblad September 26, 1985
- Skive Folkeblad September 9, 1986
- Photos from Skive City Archive