How Wearable Tech Helped One NZ Farmer Cut CIDR Use and Improve Mating Success
Tru-Test collars are "the best investment I've ever made in farming," says South Otago sharemilker Kevin Louw. "I absolutely love them."
That’s a biggie when you hear rural insurer FMG saying that 90% of claims for milk loss are due to human error – farmers forgetting to flick that switch.
Developed and made in New Zealand, Vat Manager draws on Tru-Test’s long technical expertise; in operation it sends text alerts for vat too hot, milk too cold, wash temperature too low, hardware fault, too long to cool and mains lost.
The unit is highly accurate and its temperature display is easily viewable at a distance – even in poor light.
An online memory log allows downloading of a CSV file from the online portal to comply with the mandatory monitoring component of the new milk cooling rules.
Vat Manager works on all tanks including side wall refrigeration, and suits any style of farm dairy (herringbone or rotary), single or multiple vats, indoors or out, regardless of how many cows are being milked.
Two options are available: Vat Manager Plus as already outlined, and Vat Manager Auto which also turns on refrigeration when milk is detected, and alerts to slow cool, milk in too warm, vat nearly full and vat full.
Tru-Test will also show its ProCool ice bank range, combining quality and attractive price.
The unit comes complete with an insulated tank, integrated refrigeration unit, pumping and control system, ready for connection to a plate cooler.
All stainless, the ProCool is easy to set up as the tank and chiller are plumbed ready to go and it comes pre-charged with 407f refrigerant. The tank is insulated against heat loss and the plates are efficient in heat transfer and ice build. Servicing is simple; parts supply is good.
Utilising plate technology as used in the base of Tru-Test’s milk cooling vats, the company’s pillow plate heat exchangers offer high internal heat transfer compared to tube systems, run more efficiently, and have a greater surface area for ice building – meaning the ice forms at a higher temperature.
By contrast, during the melting process, the area of the ice exposed to the water in the tank remains roughly the same throughout the melt. This means the temperature of the water stays roughly the same during the melting process, unlike tube systems; as the ice melts the area exposed to the water decreases, slowing the heat transfer into the incoming water stream.
