Upgrading to urethane
The number-eight-wire culture continues to flourish within the New Zealand farming industry.
As long as there remains a need to do it better, do it faster, and do it more simply, New Zealand farm technology and inventions will have a strong following. That was obvious again at this year’s National Fieldays at Mystery Creek, Hamilton.
There was the usual strong focus on the dairy industry in the innovations pavilion at Fieldays; everything from improved milking plant and systems to survival blankets for ‘‘downed cows’’. A Napier-based firm, DairyFlo, attracted considerable interest with its soft plastic milking liners and tubing in its milking cluster system, thereby eliminating rubber and silicone. DairyFlo has been on the market since 2010 and, for two years before that, the company was conducting on-farm trials and testing.
The system is capable of being fitted to approximately 90 per cent of the milking systems operating on-farm in New Zealand.
‘‘One of the few places where rubber is still in the food chain is in the dairy industry – it is still in the milking cups,’’ explained company representative, Eddie Crawshaw, who has been part of the research and development and the manufacturing team.
‘‘The difference between our system and conventional milking systems is that in our cluster, there is no rubber liner, no rubber tubing, and a very light shell as opposed to stainless steel. The weight difference could be up to 120-245 grams per unit, which would equate to nearly one kilogram per cluster.
‘‘Some people claim that you need a lot of weight (in the cluster) to milk cows, but it has been proven that you don’t need a lot of weight.
‘‘The liner is made of thermoplastic elastomer or urethane, as opposed to silicon or rubber. Urethane is recyclable and is made from a granule which could be broken down and reprocessed.
‘‘Typically, the life of a rubber is 2500 milkings, whereas with urethane, because it is not absorbing anything, the mechanical properties are not deteriorating. It retains its elasticity. When the vacuum comes on, it keeps massaging the cow’s teats which maintains the condition of the teats and the teat canals.
‘‘On-farm tests have shown that urethane liners have approximately double the life – 5000 milkings – of rubber liners.’’ years ago, Bill Kirkham very nearly sold his chooks. He might have done so too, if his mates hadn’t teased him that the rats, mice and birds were smarter than he was!
‘‘Grandpas Feeders’’ was Bill’s solution to the problem, ‘‘The rest is history – ours is an international business now,’’ says Mark Kirkham, a second-generation ‘‘Grandpa’’ and son of Bill.
Mark is based at Whakamarama, which is located between Tauranga and Katikati.
Grandpas Feeders, he explains, are constructed of galvanised iron and aluminium and come in two sizes. The standard feeder holds up to 9kg and the large up to 18kg when full. The standard feeder is recommend for up to 12 fowls and the large for more than 12. The standard model will feed 12 fowls for five days and the large will feed 12 fowls for 10 days.
‘‘We launched the product on the market about 20 years ago. This is our 19th year doing Mystery Creek,’’ says Mark. ‘‘We never entered for any awards, to be honest, but we wish that we had because we probably would have done alright.
‘‘They have sold extremely well. We launched them in Australia in 2007 and in the USA and the UK in 2008.
‘‘They went absolutely ‘gang-busters’ in Australia. It took us a while in the US and UK, but we are really gathering momentum now. The US has turned into our best market now.’’