It was designed specifically to solve the issues facing dairy farmers because of new Ministry of Primary Industries’ milk cooling regulations scheduled to be introduced in the 2015-2016 season. The S400 had the added benefit of supplying ‘free’ hot water for two plant washes a day.
The S400 has already proved to be a hit and in the months following the launch, the company has relocated to larger production facilities to cope with demand. In just a few weeks there were 17 units shipped to farms around the country and two to Australia.
“More than 70% of dairy farmers will have to do something to comply with new regulations,” co-inventor of Snapchill Matt Parkinson says.
“The problem is, adding more refrigeration capacity increases power demand at peak times. That’s more expensive for the farmer, who may also be faced with a bill to upgrade the dairy’s power supply.”
The main attraction of the Snapchill solution is that power is used off-peak to create an ice bank. The ice is then used to snap chill milk to about 6C before it hits the vat. As it does, it recovers heat to make enough hot water at more than 80C for the plant wash.
The advantages are obvious — there’s no need for a power upgrade, the unit uses off-peak power and fully MPI-compliant milk enters the vat, so can be collected at any time.
The real benefit is the ‘free’ hot water created during the chilling process. At 82C, it’s hot enough for the plant wash without extra heating. That means the cylinder heaters have an easier life as they only need to maintain the temperature, rather than heating from cold. Altogether, power savings of about $6000 a year are achievable.
The original S400 was designed for herds of 300-600 cows. Feedback from the industry has indicated that there is also a demand for smaller and larger versions. Snapchill will release the S850, for herds over 600 cows next month, while a smaller cooling-only version, the S200, aimed at herds of up to 300 cows is available now.
