Farming smarter with technology
The National Fieldays is an annual fixture in the farming calendar: it draws in thousands of farmers, contractors, and industry professionals from across the country.
Quite often the need to regularly agitate dairy effluent ponds or tanks is overlooked in the initial design stages.
This will likely lead to problems later down the track with crusting, sludge and sand build-up, ultimately reducing storage capacity and likely causing pump or irrigator blockages.
In all cases of effluent storage and distribution, the theory is to keep the solids in suspension, meaning pumping so the sludge and sand is being constantly removed from the system to the paddock.
Yardmaster offers an extensive range of effluent stirrers that are designed to meet specific application requirements and customer feature preference. In recent years, safety and ease of service has seen a move towards shore-mounted solutions.
The Yardmaster shore-mounted stirrer comes in two lengths and with two power ratings. Features include a winch for prop height adjustment and adjustable slew angle, allowing a wide range of prop placement within the pond. This means all areas can be agitated and solids incorporated into the effluent.
The Yardmaster shore-mounted stirrer is ideal for ponds, offering the capability of stirring up to 9 million litres using 11kW.
An in-ground pond might not be a viable option in certain applications – such as a high-water table or difficult topography. In which case, it is likely that an above ground tank may be required. Yardmaster can deal with the agitation of such storage solutions.
A Yardmaster over-the-wall stirrer frame and submersible stirrer can be used, with the stirrer frame able to accommodate up to a 4.3 metre wall height tank. The submersible stirrer can be removed using the frame without needing to drain the tank or use a Hiab.
These stirrers are available in 1.5 to 7.5kW options and offer the ability to agitate up to 2 million litres.
Yardmaster stirrers are also available for inground tanks, floating pontoons and fixed wall installations.
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says the 2025 Fieldays has been one of more positive he has attended.
A fundraiser dinner held in conjunction with Fieldays raised over $300,000 for the Rural Support Trust.
Recent results from its 2024 financial year has seen global farm machinery player John Deere record a significant slump in the profits of its agricultural division over the last year, with a 64% drop in the last quarter of the year, compared to that of 2023.
An agribusiness, helping to turn a long-standing animal welfare and waste issue into a high-value protein stream for the dairy and red meat sector, has picked up a top innovation award at Fieldays.
The Fieldays Innovation Award winners have been announced with Auckland’s Ruminant Biotech taking out the Prototype Award.
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