They were involved in the conversion of the 900-cow Mayfield dairy farm that’s now in its second season. (Dairy Exporter, September, page 67)
Caleb says the solar power kit means no cables and no maintenance on pulleys. It also cuts the risk of stray electricity in pipework.
The gate is run by two 200 amp-hour, 70kg batteries that can store enough energy from the sun to run the gate for four to five days. They sit on top of the gate along with the solar panels.
The gate operates at two speeds and uses wireless technology so it can be controlled from inside the dairy. In the Fords’ case it’s at cups-on, as well as from a switch on the gate itself.
Caleb worked with the makers of the gate, Cullimore Engineering from Ashburton, to add the wash system that uses second-use water out of the plate cooler.
It’s a low-volume, high-pressure system with jets stationed about 10cm apart across the 14m width of the gate.
Caleb says it uses less water than a flood wash system or someone using a standard yard hose and importantly it means one staff member isn’t tied up hosing down the yard at the end of milking.
Because it uses less water it helps keep the effluent pond levels down, reducing costs of spreading it out through the pivot.
Caleb says he hasn’t had one jet block and the whole system has stood up to the weather, particularly the wind, well.
There’s also been less than a millimetre of wear on the rubber scraper.
The gate has an auto-forward function that lets the user pre-set the distance it will travel when the control button is pressed.
Milka-Ware managing director Luke Maginness says some farms have installed the solar-powered gate so it’s connected to the auto-feeder. That allows it to count the cows that have been through the dairy and move the gate automatically.
The gate on the Mayfield farm is fitted to a rectangular yard but the whole system is tailor-made so works just as well on a round yard.
The idea of the backing gate is to take up space not to push cows, Caleb says.
Automating the functions on it frees up time for people to get on with milking and other more important tasks.
