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DARBY SHEEP
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A smooth flow of sheep is key to the milking operation, says Grant Coburn from GEA Farm Technologies. Rivertown Electrical staff members Blake Harbottle, right, and Dale Constantine testing their handiwork.
FIL area manager Mark Mohring looking over chemical containers used in wash-down.
Rhys Darby in the revamped pit.
Grant says the sheep are also tempted into the bails by a feed dispensing system supplied and installed by GEA Farm Technologies.
Controlled feed He says a controlled amount of feed goes into individual bins for the sheep during milking. GEA also supplied and installed other equipment in the sheep shed, including a new milk plant, clusters, milk lines, cup-wash systems and control panel. Chemicals for the washdown systems – plant and vat – were provided by FIL. Area manager Mark Mohring says this included acid, alkali and chlorine.
“We matched products in relation to the water compatibility, type of plant and the animals,” says Mark. He says a programme was developed for the shed in association with GEA, which supplied the washdown equipment and controls. Similar systems are used in goat milking sheds, says Mark. Trials were conducted, monitoring aspects including washing, water flow and temperatures. Mark says results were gathered every 10 days for the first month of operation then every three months. The plant is washed down after each milking
and the vat after each pick-up, twice a week. Mark says both systems are fully automated, with the vat-wash controlled by the tanker driver at the flick of a switch. Cups are removed and teats washed manually, while there is an automated wash system for the clusters.
Wired up The revamped milking shed was wired up by Huntly-based Rivertown Electrical. Staff members Blake Harbottle and Dale Constantine say this was the first sheep milking shed the company had tackled, but there were similarities to a dairy cow operation. “The challenge was that it was an existing building and we had to re-use the old stuff.” However, they say there was a good existing
power supply and the existing switchboard could be upgraded rather than replaced. Rivertown Electrical wired the existing hot water cylinders and chiller unit, plus a new vacuum pump, and teat-wash, plant-wash and vat-wash. Out in the milking shed, Blake and Dale wired up existing pulsators and upgraded existing lighting. They also installed heat lamps and upgraded lighting in the lambing shed. Rhys says the sheep milking operation produces very little effluent, with the bails hosed after each milking and the yard weekly. Waste material is piped to an existing lined pond before being sprayed onto pasture via a travelling irrigator.
