JOHMAR FAMILY TRUST
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When contractors work together… Johmar Family Trust
Reid & Harrison owner Seaton Daley and Presco Group’s FDE specialist Oliver Prestidge with the effluent system in the background. King Electrical has been the van Heuven’s farm electrician “for pretty much forever” – so co-owner Adrian Baker was naturally the sparky for the build. Adrian says John’s family looked at all options and “understood what they wanted and what they were going to get”. “With their mindset ‘get it right the first time and don’t worry about it later’ they were a joy to work with, as were the other sub-trades.”
Latest equipment Morley Engineering installed the Waikato plant and the water system. “This shed has the latest equipment Waikato Milking Systems has to offer,” says Bruce. “John chose everything – every top end option Waikato Milking Systems manufactures itself, he took it.” The 54-bail rotary has an Orbit platform, and John chose Electronic Milk Meters, SmartPULS, SmartDTECT mastitis alert system, SmartECRS (Electronic Cup Removers), SmartSPRAY, BailGates, a SmartDRIVE milk pump controller designed to make milk pumping and cooling more efficient, and an automated SmartWASH system.
Left, Leask Engineering’s design and production engineer Edwin Meeke show how his company’s new AI/ vet platform works. “All these tools make the shed a one-man unit – the system will automatically send a cow around again if there’s a problem, you can draft cows or hold them on the platform. “But most of all this full package provides ease of information – it gives the data you need to make decisions, which is the allimportant key to successful dairying today. “If you can interpret data and see what’s going on, you can get some really good benefits out of it.” Plus with John going all Waikato Milking Systems equipment, everything integrates seamlessly. John’s happy with the Waikato gear and Glenn says it’s “easy to use”. “The beauty of this shed is only one person needs to milk – even during mating,” says John. Morley Engineering did the underfloor work, including plumbing, and the water system before fitting the plant.
Leask Engineering’s Rom Stellingwerf, Morley Engineering owner Bruce Morley, contract milker Glenn van Heuven, farm owners John and Maria van Heuven, Presco Group’s FDE specialist Oliver Prestidge, Reid & Harrison owner Seaton Daley, Leask’s design and production engineer Edwin Meeke and GEA Farm Technologies’ FIL Morrinsville/Te Aroha area manager Greg Duncan.
“We installed the washdown pump with a variable speed drive, a standard plate cooler pump for primary water, and a few little pumps for the cooling system.”
No-worry washing “We supplied the air compressor for the automated plantwash and drafting gates.” Bruce says John and Maria gave him “a pretty free licence to do what I felt was right”. “They put a lot of trust in me – and the gear I’ve put in is at the quality end of the scale. They will get reliability and longevity from it – it might cost a little more but it definitely pays off.” The old shed’s wash system was manual, so Glenn loves this automatic system, which uses FIL products calibrated at the season’s start, so he doesn’t worry about plant hygiene. “You hook the hose to the platform,
PROUD TO SUPPORT JOHN VAN HEUVEN 1 million Litre Prosump installed If you would like to discuss getting Presco involved in your effluent storage project please contact Oliver on 0800 773 726 or email oliver@presco.co.nz and arrange a free on-site consultation.
turn off the vat hose and push start.” GEA Farm Technologies’ FIL Morrinsville/ Te Aroha area manager Greg Duncan’s job is to set the wash system. “Early on I get the dilution rates right and ensure the system is washing correctly.” The dairy uses FIL’s new product Quantum One. Leask Engineering fabricated and installed the livestock handling equipment including a 14m circular yard with water boom and backing gates, bridge railing, Artificial Insemination /vet platform, exit races, holding pens, loading ramp and AI and vet races with a Leask Camlock Headbail. Design and production engineer Edwin Meeke says the AI/vet platform is latched in a compact vertical storage position, and can belowered into working position to give direct access to cows on-platform, at their level.