$52,500 fine for effluent mismanagement
A Taupiri farming company has been convicted and fined $52,500 in the Hamilton District Court for the unlawful discharge of dairy effluent into the environment.
Yard washing, pumping and effluent screening gear will be on the GEA site at the Effluent Expo at Mystery Creek. The expo will be held on November 27 and 28.
At the milking shed, the Flush Valve offers quick and easy wash-down using high volumes of fresh water or recycled effluent (‘green water’). This has a 5.5m clearing width and the liquid is delivered in a horizontal plane with little or no splashing vertically.
The heart of the system is a valve actuated via a robust airbag system for opening or closing; it requires only 40psi to achieve a head of 8m.
It’s reckoned easy to install and maintain via large access panels.
The Agri-Pump, a dual-purpose unit that agitates and pumps, can handle effluents with high fibre or solids content to supply a constant flow of well agitated material.
Using a rugged propeller knife and impellor blade system, the belt-driven unit has a pump whose revs are easily adjustable, and a rotating nozzle (optional) deals with crusts or stagnant liquid.
The unit mounts on the side of the reception pit and is supported at the base; this siting allows easy maintenance. Its 3-way gearbox drives a propeller and an impellor, to agitate and pump from a common drive shaft. The cast iron impellor carries four curved blades to pump through a 100mm outlet pipe.
In many installations the pump flow might be directed to a GEA Slope Screen that separates the liquid and solid portions of effluent, reducing wear and blockages in pumps, effluent lines and irrigator nozzles.
The liquid portion can be held in a storage tank and re-directed for wash-down, saving clean water, while the solid content can be used as a fertiliser or soil conditioner.
In operation, the Slope Screen is mounted on a platform above a solids bunker, with a flow of untreated effluent directed to the top of the screen via a regulator valve. As the effluent moves down the screen the liquid passes through to a holding tank while the solids are collected in a loading bunker.
Academic Dr Mike Joy and his employer, Victoria University of Wellington have apologised for his comments suggesting that dairy industry CEOs should be hanged for contributing towards nitrate poisoning of waterways.
Environment Southland's catchment improvement funding is once again available for innovative landowners in need of a boost to get their project going.
The team meeting at the Culverden Hotel was relaxed and open, despite being in the middle of calving when stress levels are at peak levels, especially in bitterly cold and wet conditions like today.
A comment by outspoken academic Dr Mike Joy suggesting that dairy industry leaders should be hanged for nitrate contamination of drinking/groundwater has enraged farmers.
OPINION: The phasing out of copper network from communications is understandable.
Driven by a lifelong passion for animals, Amy Toughey's journey from juggling three jobs with full-time study to working on cutting-edge dairy research trials shows what happens when hard work meets opportunity - and she's only just getting started.
OPINION: Westland Milk may have won the contract to supply butter to Costco NZ but Open Country Dairy is having…
OPINION: The Gene Technology Bill has divided the farming community with strong arguments on both the pros and cons of…