MILK GOES INTO THE VAT AT 5.5 DEGREES
HANS GEESINK
Meddo Farms Ltd,
Te Puninga, Tahuna, Waikato
| Farm | 186 hectares plus 50 hectare runoff |
| Cows | |
| Dairy | 50 bail rotary |
| VariCOOL Unit | 36 |
"The new milk cooling regulations were the catalyst for reviewing the farm’s milk cooling. The water we use at the shed comes from a 1020m bore and is 27 degrees when it comes out of the ground – meaning any chilling system had a huge challenge to cool the milk."
I didn’t want to install a 30,000 litre holding tank for a chilled water system, as there wasn’t space around the shed and I didn’t want to put in any more concrete or put a tank in the ground.
VariCOOL was more expensive option but it was the best from an installation point of view, overall quality and its ability to comply with the regulations and chill the milk to sub 6 degrees within two hours of milking.
From start to finish, the installation went smoothly – I left it to Centigrade and Coolsense – and they just got on with the job, installing the unit alongside the vat. They even arranged to paint it green to match the shed.
The VariCOOL 36 has been in for four years now and I’m very happy with it; it’s lived up to my expectations. The milk goes into the vat at 5.5 degrees and we’ve had no issues and never have any grades.
Coolsense NZ Ltd is a Hamilton based Refrigeration and Thermal Energy Storage Systems manufacturing company. Formed in February 2013, Coolsense specialises in the on-farm and agri-tech markets, primarily supplying chilling equipment to the dairy farm market. It is a dedicated lean manufacturing company and has been built from the ground up using systems that fully support an Original Equipment Manufacturing operation.