Monday, 04 March 2019 08:23

Options that could work on your farm

Written by 

You can efficiently cool milk before it enters the vat using reliable, cost-effective systems to chill milk quickly.

Plate coolers, water chillers, ice and glycol systems and cooling tanks are among the options and these can be configured to meet any farm’s needs.

Why pre-cool your milk? Through the season, herd size, flow rates and water source temperatures change; you need certainty that your milk will be down to temperature before the tanker comes to collect it. 

Pre-cooling the milk before it reaches the vat is often the best way to confidently achieve low milk temperatures.

In your choice of the best cooling method, several factors come into play: site constraints, power reliability, size of herd, water availability and variable costs. 

Selecting the right pre-cooling system can help you to reduce energy costs by reducing peak power loads and shed operating costs. 

The colder your pre-cooling water, the more you save; because the milk flows into the tank pre-cooled, the cooling unit can be smaller, saving capital and electricity costs. Pre-cooling can be retrofitted into an existing milk cooling system at any time.

Milk is refrigerated to maintain its quality and to reduce the growth of bacteria. 

A farm can reduce costs by pre-cooling milk using well water through a heat exchanger before the milk enters the tank for cooling by refrigeration. Both these cooling stages must work efficiently to maintain maximum milk quality. 

High-volume milking demands high-capacity cooling; compact chillers have been designed to meet these demands. 

They provide powerful cooling and precise temperature control to lock in milk quality before it goes into the storage tank.

Compact chillers, because they enable the fastest method of cooling milk, are ideal for any dairy where the highest milk quality is required and traditional in-tank cooling is not sufficient.

The compact, robust, one-piece design of the chillers gives you the flexibility to locate them wherever it suits you best – away from high-traffic areas or even outside.

VAT insulation worth doing

Durable, high quality vat insulation will save power by reducing the effects of ambient temperatures and will help milk to chill faster. 

If you are only marginally compliant, vat insulation may save you from having to spend more on costly cooling systems.

Trials have showed that vat insulation gave a 25% reduction in the cost of running the chiller.

More like this

Maintaining milk flows to pay the bills

As spring calving farmers around the country enter in the final stage of lactation, the incentive to keep the milk flowing is certainly there. A strong milk price and kind first half of the season has left cows in good nick and milking well.

Milk chilling partnership

Fonterra farmers can now lease next generation milk chilling technology and enjoy the many benefits that come with it.

Necessity is the mother of invention

John and Donna McCarty no longer use intermammary antibiotics for mastitis or dry cow treatment, which has saved them money and improved herd health.

Featured

$2b boost in NZ exports to EU

New Zealand’s trade with the European Union has jumped $2 billion since a free trade deal entered into force in May last year.

US tariffs hit European ag machinery markets

The climate of uncertainty and market fragmentation that currently characterises the global economy suggests that many of the European agricultural machinery manufacturers will be looking for new markets.

Tributes paid to Jim Bolger

Dignitaries from  all walks of life – the governor general,  politicians past and present, Maoridom- including the Maori Queen, church leaders, the primary sector and family and  friends packed Our Lady of Kapiti’s Catholic church in Paraparaumu on Thursday October 23 to pay tribute to former prime Minister, Jim Bolger who died last week.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Fonterra vote

OPINION: Voting is underway for Fonterra’s divestment proposal, with shareholders deciding whether or not sell its consumer brands business.

Follow the police beat

OPINION: Politicians and Wellington bureaucrats should take a leaf out of the book of Canterbury District Police Commander Superintendent Tony Hill.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter