Waikato dairy effluent breaches lead to $108,000 in fines
Two farmers and two farming companies were recently convicted and fined a total of $108,000 for environmental offending.
Ag and Civil Direct, a division of Waikato Tractors, Hamilton, is to distribute the Shelbourne Reynolds range of farm equipment manufactured in the UK.
The Powerspread Dairy and Pro Series spreaders handle liquid manures or slurries, and more solid farmyard manures.
Side discharge to the offside of the machines is said to spread material evenly up to 18 m.
Ag and Civil says this layout helps reduce environmental damage near watercourses or field boundaries and enables material to be spread up and down inaccessible slopes.
Both ranges have broadly similar layout: a tapered, watertight body carrying a full length auger revolves at 13 rpm, bringing material from the front and rear to a central discharge area.
Here a guillotine style gate controls the delivery rate to the spreading rotor.
The gate, made from Hardox steel, also acts as a shear bar to break up material into small pieces for a more even spread.
The spreading rotor rotates in an overshot manner at speeds up to 700 rpm to achieve the required spreading width. The tapered body has an 8 mm thick floor, and heavy duty chain and sprocket drives are individually protected by a shear bolt overload system.
The Powerspread Dairy versions, in 7.0 and 7.5 cu.m capacities, are equipped with brakes and road legal lighting kits as standard.
The Powerspread Pro models include several extra features -- shear bolts on the auger paddles, a wide angle PTO shaft, hydraulic drop down rotor floor, front and rear slurry canopies and a rear ladder.
They come in four sizes. The 1800 and 2300 models (8000 and 10,500 L capacity, respectively) are short wheelbase -- 6.1 m long overall and very manoeuvrable.
The larger 2400 and 3200 models (11,000 and 14,500 L respectively) are 7.5 m long and can have optional tandem axles.
Additional reductions to costs for forest owners in the Emissions Trading Scheme Registry (ETS) have been announced by the Government.
Animal welfare is of paramount importance to New Zealand's dairy industry, with consumers increasingly interested in how food is produced, not just the quality of the final product.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay is encouraging farmers and growers to stay up to date with weather warnings and seek support should they need it.
The closure of SH2 Waioweka Gorge could result in significant delays and additional costs for freight customers around the Upper North Island, says Transporting New Zealand.
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