Dianna, Chris and son David, early adopters of once-a-day milking and helped by manager Mathew Goble, now milk 500 cows year-round, 200 of them calving in autumn.
Effluent is captured in a clay-lined pond that sits just below the farm buildings, but a lack of any fixed infrastructure meant that contractors were called in five or six times a year to spread the accumulated effluent.
Additionally, a borrowed slurry tanker was brought in occasionally to help get on top of the task. But the contractors’ wheels tended to inflict compaction damage on the paddocks, and repeated trips took their toll on the farm races.
Looking to solve this, and anticipating rules to cover effluent management, the Rogers sought the engineering help of three partners: Numedic, Rotorua, for plant and equipment; Alpha Electrical, Hamilton, for control systems; and McGregors Farm Services, Morrinsville, for installation.
Opus Consultants surveyed the effluent pond and found it watertight, so the heart of the system was a 15kW Numedic effluent pump working with a 7.5kW Maxi Stirrer -- both mounted on a floating pontoon -- to pump effluent 800m to a Numedic ADCAM 750 travelling irrigator.
The family realised a degree of automation was required for control, so Alpha Electrical contributed its expertise. The firm was well versed in remote control, having pioneered GSM-enabled phones from 2000, and soon suggested using its Ohmega Cloud Link Control system that can be accessed by smartphone, tablet or farm office computer.
This system can switch the system on or off remotely, and can be configured to use the rural power supply to best advantage, i.e. it does not operate at the same time as milking is underway.
Likewise, switch-on can be set with a pre-determined delay, or switch off, after a set time of pumping. Additionally it informs users by text or e-mail of any system faults, such as a pressure spike suggesting a blockage, or a pressure drop indicating a leak.
The system can be upgraded for, say, pond level or wind speed indication, needing only the purchase of appropriate sensors.
The present system allows the Rogers to use at least 40ha of the farm area -- nearly double that previously covered, and upgrades are likely to expand on that.
Dairy News asked the Rogers, “is it worth the money?”
David replied that “the savings on contractors’ charges and the use of effluent to reduce fertiliser costs are easy to see”.
“Added to this, the ability to switch the system off to clear a blockage then restart without making two trips back to the yard saves a great deal of time and lets us get on with other things.”
Dianna also noted, “our being able to record application hours, so giving a clear indication of application rates, means that any upcoming legislation and oversight by regulatory authorities will be served by a clear paper trail”.
“Ultimately it’s a sound investment to ensure the future of our business.”
