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The Irish Farmers Journal recently visited the Bath & West Dairy Show in Somerset. There was a lot to see at the medium-sized show with 300 indoor and outdoor trade stands and 300 dairy cattle in competition. After exploring the stands, we picked out some products that caught the eye. Some are new on the market while others are popular in the UK but may well become popular in Ireland in the future.
An interesting product on display at the show was the Charriau tubular pre-cooler supplied by Milking4U®, a French company. The product carries out the same function as a plate cooler. It pre-cools the milk coming from the milk line before it enters the bulk tank, helping to reduce the amount of electricity required by the tank to refrigerate fresh milk.
Just like a plate cooler, the Charriau tubular pre-cooler uses cold spring water to exchange heat with the warm milk.
Unlike the traditional plate cooler which uses steel plates sandwiched together to carry out the temperature exchange, the Charriau uses continuous stainless steel piping set inside a plastic pipe.
The steel pipe, connected to the milk line is fixed inside wider plastic piping. Cold water is pumped through the plastic outer piping while the milk is flowing in the inner steel piping during milking.
Milking4U® claims that the system is capable of reducing the temperature of milk from 35°C to 16°C before it enters the bulk tank. Milking4U® says a control board on the pre-cooler shows in real time the milk and water temperature and is necessary to control the water flow rate.
The French-based company says it is a useful product because debris is unlikely to build up inside as can be the case in a traditional plate cooler.
It says the washing system in the milking machine can clean out the internal pipes of the pre-cooler after every milking and the system should not need to be dismantled for cleaning.
The product pictured can cool 800l of milk per hour and uses 1,200l of water per hour. Larger versions are available. It costs approximately £4,300 (€4,823) excluding VAT in the UK. The company say delivery to Ireland is also possible.
Irish dairy farmers might find Holm & Laue’s (H&L) mobile igloo housing a good alternative for housing young dairy calves. Gorteade Cow Care is a supplier for H&L in the north of Ireland and the Republic. The housing option consists of an igloo combined with a roofed exercise area also known as an “igloo veranda”. The igloo can also be incorporated into existing monopitched buildings.
Gorteade Cow Care says the main benefit of the igloo veranda is that calves are given the option of the type of environment they need at a particular time. For example, if the weather is cold or draughty they can choose to lie in the igloo.
On the other hand, the calf may want to be out in the air to exercise and feed in the veranda. The company says the igloos offer draught-free lying space and also protect calves from the rain. The igloos are ventilated to allow stale air escape.
Gorteade Cow Care says the other main benefit is that it can be transported using a front loader. This, the company says, allows the setup to be easily relocated for cleaning. The veranda section comprises of 14 headlocks and individual teated buckets for individual feeding with stainless steel troughs and a roof. The standard igloo and veranda has a total floor space of 39m2 and can accommodate 14 calves.
According to Gorteade Cow Care, it costs approximately €2,100 for an igloo. The veranda including teat buckets and stainless steel headlocks cost €5,300. All prices exclude VAT and delivery.
Slurry separators were a very common product at the show. They are used to separate the liquids and the solids in slurry. They are probably most advantageous in intensive farmyards where large quantities of slurry are produced.
The salesmen say that by separating the liquids and the solids, storage is made easier. The solids can be stored in a pit and spread on land using a FYM spreader, while the liquid section can be applied to land using a dribble bar or umbilical system. They also say there are reduced mixing costs as the liquid section does not need to be mixed again. The separator pictured is a Sperrin Optiflow and comes from Co Tyrone. This product is usually mounted on a gantry during use.
Thick slurry is pumped into the machine. Hydraulic operated rollers then work to press the liquid through a screen inside all the while retaining the solids. The liquid can be pumped back to a slurry store while the solids can be stockpiled. A system like this could cost in the region of £30,000 to £40,000 (€33,600 to €44,900). There are many different types of slurry separators on the market to suit different types of bedding and herd sizes.
Transporting milk for calves on farms can be a strenuous and time-consuming job, if adequate equipment is not available to carry out the task. Trailed milk transporters can make the task much more straightforward. They are by no means a new product but are still not that common on Irish dairy farms with the old reliable bucket holding its own. Carrying buckets is a low-cost option but can be hard on the back. At the show, Wydale Plastics Ltd had a number of different options available for transporting milk for calves. The feeding systems have different mixing and dispensing options available powered by electrical or petrol motors.
The company also has options available that can be carried on a front loader and milk is transferred to feeders via gravity. The tank pictured is powered by a 24V battery pump. It has a 400l capacity and costs £2,238 (€2,495) excluding VAT. The petrol-powered version costs £2,111 (€2,353) excluding VAT. There is also an option to add a digital flow metre to the nozzle to measure the amount of liquid dispensed.
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