GEERTS
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Leask Engineering’s Rom Stellingwerf with the backing gate. The new dairy from the exit yard.
Geerts
The old dairy on Michelle Geerts’ Waikato farm.
Forward-thinking at its best “We made and installed all the steel and pipework in the dairy and out in the yards and races, including one of our patented Camlock head bails, two backing gates and a Dungbuster. “We’ve also put in the uprights for a roof over the feed pad so Michelle can put a roof over later on.” The new Technipharm Dungbuster that Rom put on the backing gate is a huge labour-saving device that cleans the yard as the gate goes round, washing down so close behind the cows the dung barely has time to hit the ground. All the electrics, from bringing in the mains through to wiring up the effluent screen and the green water recycling and flood-wash, were installed by Morrinsville company Silvester Electrical. They needed to put in a booster for the backing gate and interlocked controls, but Damien Silvester says the Giddys were so easy
to work with they had no problems – a mutual sentiment if Peter’s comment “they’re just bloody good, reliable sparkies” is anything to go by.
Heat recovery
Nor did the refrigeration pose any problems for Tru-Test DTS Milk Cooling & Tank Solutions’ area sales manager Dave Gray. Tru-Test supplied and installed all the refrigeration, including a DTS Patton Pak and a heat recovery unit, and put in a specific water cooling system to futureproof the dairy against any new regulations. “We put in an insulated plastic tank that maintains chilled water at eight degrees Celsius, giving milk entry into the vat at 10 degrees Celsius,” says Dave. “With the vat refrigeration you’ve got five degrees Celsius at the end of milking.” The insulated plastic tank he used was supplied by Promax Engineered Plastics,
specialists in all farm and industrial liquid storage and handling. The upcoming requirement to maintain lower milk temperatures is set to make their insulated tanks one of their most popular products with dairy farmers. The dairy’s other output, effluent, was taken care of by Pump & Pipeline. Pump & Pipeline had looked after the effluent system for the old dairy, so they were the logical choice for the new one. Michelle has almost all high risk soils – both peat and clay – so Pump & Pipeline’s experience was invaluable for the calculations involved. Effluent is collected in a large concrete sump where an Irriland Blueline submersible mixer agitates it before an Irriland Blueline pump pushes it up to a slope screen separator. Solids are stored in a concrete bunker and green water is held in a pond to be reused to flood-wash the yards before a Rovatti PTO-
For a more efficient farm dairy Specialising in farm dairy design and construction
Authorised licensee 021 780 477 e shanan@donchapmanwaikato.co.nz
www.chapmandairy.com
GEA Farm Technologies’ area sales manager Paul Convery. driven pump sends it across the farm to the existing sprinkler network. To finish off, Bruce Cameron from Specialised Coatings applied his distinctively flecked Acraflex protective coating to the dairy.
Easy to upgrade Acraflex is specifically designed to meet the high standards demanded by the dairy industry and its long-lasting, hard-wearing and attractive finish provides a very easily cleaned surface. This dairy is undeniably basic but very functional. However, every aspect of it – the longer pit, the uprights on the feed pad, the refrigeration, LIC drafting gate and GEA milking plant – has been designed to be easily upgraded. Even the 13 metre diameter yard has been oversized, to allow for an increased herd size. Now that’s forward-thinking at its best. By Graeme Dobson