100 | nzdairy RURAL SERVICES » Paeroa Farm Services Ltd Efficiency and power savings via smart technology Karen Phelps Paeroa Farm Services is encouraging farmers across the Hauraki Plains, Coromandel Peninsula and Northern Tauranga to take a closer look at what is happening inside their cow sheds and how they could improve their systems resulting in benefits to productivity and bottom line. Owner Warick Buchanan says two areas stand out as offering the greatest gains for dairy farmers right now: labour efficiency and power savings through using smart technology. As a Waikato Milking System dealer Warick advises that the two products that stand out with labour savings in the cow shed are the ECR-S and ECR Plus models of automatic cup removers. “These are leading-edge products and can be integrated into any milking machine system. They have been very popular as farmers appreciate the benefits and we are supplying and installing these on four different sites presently,” he says. With an auto-start feature, Warick says the ECR-S, has been designed to make the milking process quicker and easier for the operator. Accurate flow sensing provides peace of mind that the herd is being milked out correctly every time. Suitable for all milking machines, the milking parameters can be easily adjusted to suit your farm’s requirements via the ECR Controller. The ECR Plus builds on all of this with more advanced ACR and detacher functions, adding claw drop, pre-spray and fixed point take off, alongside real-time data collection covering yield, flow rates, milking time and milk conductivity for udder health monitoring. Warick says it is in power consumption that further significant savings can be found. “Vacuum pumps are among the largest power consumers in any cow shed and it is an area I believe many farmers have overlooked. Putting variable speed drives in place can make a big difference,” he says. Paeroa Farm Services predominantly uses the Sema brand of variable speed drives, a New Zealandmade product manufactured in Huntly. Warick says the Sema controller means vacuum pumps run only at the speed required at any given moment, reducing unnecessary load on the motor and cutting wear, tear, maintenance and power consumption in the process. Accurate flow sensing provides peace of mind that the herd is being milked out correctly every time. “Many dairy sheds we see are running an 11-kilowatt motors to power their plant yet with a variable speed drive fitted consumption can drop to just three or four kilowatts during milking,” he says. “The variable speed drives work very well with the blower-style vacuum pumps and Paeroa Farm Services can supply those pumps as well if required.” He says the off-season is a good opportunity for farmers to book in their milking machine checks so maintenance can be completed before spring. “We can assist with this and staying on top of servicing now can prevent costly breakdowns when the pressure of the next part of the season arrives.” Paeroa Farm Services has been a fixture in the region for four decades, originally established by Warick’s parents before he took over the family business. As well as milking machine installation, servicing and upgrades, it supplies water equipment including pumps, troughs, tanks, filtration systems www.yardmaster.co.nz REID & HARRISON PROVENEFFLUENTPRODUCTS PLUSLOCALKNOWHOW Paeroa FarmServices is a proud member of the... Paeroa FarmServices 118 Normanby Road Paeroa. Phone: (07) 862 8263 ...that works! Proud to support Paeroa Farm Services in delivering exceptional service to the Dairy farming community. Growing the value of precision dairy farming 0508 645 546 | waikatomilking.com Great Quality and Great Value Specialists in the design and manufacture of variable speed Milk, Vacuum, Water, and Effluent Pump Controllers 3 YEAR WARRANTY on all our products C1912kdsema info@sema.co.nz www.sema.co.nz and pipelines, and carries out light engineering and stainless steel welding. It is also the authorised Karcher Service Agent for the area and operates trenching equipment including a 125-horsepower tractor and trencher, diggers and spinning jenny for laying underground water and effluent pipelines.
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