102 | nzdairy Key staff Kurt Jackson, Dean Roache, Jacob Roache and David Roache. Looking down on the yard with the cows in the yard. RURAL SERVICES » Roaches Concrete Products • to page 104 Roaches Concrete Products based in Foxton has a history that goes back to 1954 when the current owner David Roach’s father John Patrick set up shop as JP Roach. Back then the primary focus of the business was making concrete products for farm use such as fence posts, strainers, troughs, tanks and so on. By the early 60’s they were manufacturing concrete blocks using a second-hand machine bought for the purpose. By then David was working alongside his father having gone full-time straight from school in 1961. They made the blocks which they then laid at whichever site they were working on, often one of the many cowsheds that were being converted to herringbone through the 60’s and 70’s. In 1970 at the age of 24 David purchased the company from his father. “I was a young man full of ambition,” says David with a smile. “In 1976 my wife Pauline and I formed Roaches Concrete Products and Dad sort of semi-retired although he still came and worked for us sometimes.” Cowshed technology grew and changed and Roaches Concrete Products grew and changed alongside it. They spent the 70’s and 80’s building cowsheds on farms all over the Manawatu and as far afield as Taranaki, and by the 90’s they were working on their own innovative approach to their construction. “In 1992 I got right into the whole shed idea when we developed what we call now “Foxpac Cowsheds,” says David. “It was a package deal that came from Foxton and it was a design and build cowshed. Virginia Wright We went away from building concrete blocks into pre-cast tilt panels which we made here in the yard then went out and erected them. That first one was a 24 a-side herringbone for Noel Johnson.” It wasn’t long before pre-cast cowsheds became the norm and soon a newer technology came available in the cowshed space with the arrival of rotary platforms. The “Foxpac” approach encompasses both sorts of sheds and David estimates that through the 90’s they built around 150 herringbones, and around 50 rotaries; six of those were on different sites for the same client, the Hopkins Farming Group, and on the McErlean’s farm in the Motua they’re onto the third generation. “I worked in 1961 for the grandfather John building a piggery with our concrete blocks, then we built the father Paul’s first herringbone and then another bigger one, and most recently we built a rotary for the sons Peter and John, that was our first 80 bail rotary.” In 1994 they moved from the yard across the road from David’s father’s home to their current premises on the main highway at the south end of Foxton, with an increase in space from 20 x 12 metres to more like 70 x 15 metres. “We’ve got room for two gantries to lift our pre-cast panels onto the trucks, and it’s not just for cowsheds we do other things like silage bunkers and feed-pads; whatever’s needed.” The Roaches have been forerunners in a lot of things they’ve done and kept up with the increasing pace of change in the rural building industry. Seven decades of experience counts Out of experiencing frustration and waste from dairy farmers Matt Parkinson, created a piece of technological brilliance, aimed at saving farmers from literally throwing their milk down the drain, when their vat refrigeration has, inadvertently, not been turned on. Having worked in dairy refrigeration for the last twenty years and witnessed many mistakes, Matt would hear farmers ask if there was a way of turning on the vat automatically. “Watching the tanker go out the gate and the warm milk down the drain is really disheartening for farmers,” Matt says. So, with thinking cap on, Matt, who is based in Palmerston North and surrounded by dairy farming, just nutted out the problem and designed a prototype for testing. Above all, the technology had to be easy to install, simple to use and reliable. Once he had the design right, Matt approached an electrical engineering company to miniaturise and manufacture the unit. The E Start unit retro its into the existing common dairy vat controller and automates it when milking gets underway. By recognising a common trigger point in the milking process and utilising that point to signal the vat controller, Matt was able to automatically activate the agitator and thermostat without actually having to switch on the controller manually. Quoting one farmer who says E Start is really good with relief milkers or when sta are busy. “If there is milk going into the vat, then I know the refrigeration is switched on, it’s that simple”. Every time the vat refrigeration system is mistakenly not turned on, a farmer can potentially lose thousands of dollars of income, as well as the cost of producing that batch of milk in terms of plant use, animal feed and welfare costs, not to mention having to dispose of it as well. “I igure that any farmer who is serious about recognising how valuable the milk in the tank is to the bottom-line, will jump at the chance to have this full-proof back-up system. It’s another way to reducing risk to your operation.” E Start has been available on the commercial market a year now and Matt says feedback from leaders in the dairying sector from his neck of the woods has been very positive. They say they wouldn’t be without E Start and recommend the technology to all dairy farmers. Federated Farmers President, Andrew Hoggard, is one of those who seized the opportunity to apply the technology in his milking shed when Matt showed him just what this great little invention could take care of. “We have been using the E Start now for about six months, in that time it has worked lawlessly and there have been a few occasions where towards the end of milking we have remembered that we hadn’t turned the refrigeration on. But thanks to E Start the refrigeration has been working for the whole milking. It has provided great piece of mind,” says Andrew. To date over 50plus E Start units are quietly doing what they are supposed to in dairy sheds. Matt says that those farmers realise the bene it that comes from safe-guarding from the potential for substantial losses through human error. “I already know it has saved milk as a farm owner told me he was away for the weekend and the vat was inadvertently not turned on. The tanker driver queried the situation however still picked up 16000Ltrs of cold milk. The farmer said E Start was a cheap investment.” “When you think each E Start costs $1,490 + GST and the small cost of instaallation the unit more than pays for itself just from the point of view of taking the worry out of having milk rejected when the tanker arrives.” The website www.estart.co.nz has plenty of information and Matt is happy to explain the virtues of his ‘stroke of brilliance’ 0800 24 24 455. E-Start by Agri-Chill E-START ™ STARTS WHEN U START PATENT PENDING A FOOLPROOF WAY TO TURN ON THE VAT when you start milking! Removes a level of risk to your business Retrofits into the standard vat controller Easy installation, all wiring is at the vat controller Eliminates human error for peace of mind. Tried and tested www.estart.co.nz 0800 24 24 455
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