Managers at two Southland farms on line have enthusiastically embraced a model for what could be ground-breaking research for New Zealand’s dairy farmers. These farmers now have an opportunity to learn the facts about their energy usage and how they compare with other farms. How to improve the dairy shed In a recently commenced $800,000 project named COWSHED, Venture Southland and CAE will study and report on energy usage on Southland dairy farms. The project is funded by DairyInSight and the Sustainable Farming Fund and will present final results in July 2007. Venture Southland is a joint initiative of the Invercargill City Council and Southland and Gore District Councils aimed at encouraging regional enterprise, tourism, events and community development. Milking cows is an unrelenting task. Today’s farmers face rising electricity prices, and for many also, higher water costs. Together with tighter effluent disposal requirements, these factors can affect the profitability of the farm. Reducing power consumption is in the farmer’s interest. In 2003, Venture Southland completed an assessment of Southland’s energy situation which recommended further research into dairy shed energy efficiencies. Cowshed CAE Project Manager, Warren Gregory, says, “Electricity is a small part of a farm’s operating budget – sometimes it doesn’t assume the significance we think it should. But when the country’s 15,000 dairy farms all link up, usage becomes a large quantity.” Research on dairy sheds is nothing new, but unlike previous studies, that carried out by CAE will be completely independent and provide an integrated approach to the use of energy, power and water in the dairy shed, while also aiming at best milk quality. Venture Southland Project Manager, Robin McNeill, says this impartial stance is a vital ingredient. “Meridian have a website which farmers can access. The problem there is, it’s Meridian – no matter how honest they are, there’s a credibility gap.” He also points out that often university research in the form of a PhD simply remains on the library shelves. A second strong focus Venture Southland will provide is web-based results for all to access free of charge. “Farmers are like anybody else. If they expect it, they will believe it: if it is too different, they will say they don’t understand. This way farmers can have a look and benchmark themselves,” says McNeill.
Fourteen farms, all managed by FarmRight, have been made available for the study (see table). Two farms, Coldstream and Graejo, with very keen managers, are being monitored over the 2006 milking season to provide statistics for a ‘before’ situation against which research methodology can be measured. Up to eight farms will be chosen from the remainder for monitoring over the 2006-2007 milking season, each fitted with a range of modern technologies. Managed farms were chosen because of accessible data on electricity accounts and in the interests of a unified approach, but the research will apply to both managed and privately run farms. “ That these are managed farms doesn’t concern us too much,” says McNeill. “For example, solar panels might prove to be a good idea but a heat pump for the milk to heat the hot water might be even better. It’s sorting out what is good from what is best - and what is suitable for New Zealand conditions.”
And as he points out, owners of the farms living in the North Island or elsewhere will have no trouble tracking results on the internet. Where is it at Even early stages of the project have provided stuff to get the teeth into, says McNeill. “We first thought, for data transfer back to CAE, that domestic quality internet and hand working devices would be adequate - $100 Dick Smith as opposed to $1000 high end gear. It turns out not everyone designs internet equipment according to these standards.” All of which, he says, will be of high value for future projects. Data transmitted over the internet still covers some fairly new issues and has involved several parties. Equipment suppliers were invited to provide a 12-month loan of various forms of equipment to record study results. Selections will be made from these to install in the standard design herringbone and rotary dairy sheds. It’s what McNeill calls the ‘bedding-in’ stage, after earlier “technical fun and games and the project is currently running as he expected. The equipment will be installed in the off-season, ready to start up when milking begins again in spring 2006. Some equipment purchases may be necessary where there are gaps in offers of equipment, such as solar water heating. While energy efficiency is the prime target for Cowshed, other efficiencies may result from power spreading, says McNeill. “We need to find out if it makes a difference whether you use solar power or electricity. We’re also looking at milk quality and whether we can we improve this by a more efficient vacuum pump or having an ice bank to get temperatures down lower.” The project is designed to run for about two years. For more, vist the COWSHED web site (www.cowshed.org.nz)
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