Farmers and power supply

[Mo NZ]

If I had multi millions invested in a dairy farm that relies on power supply - I would have a back up generator and water pumps.

Years ago ( 1968 ) or so when I was a lad I lived in rural New Plymouth.
All my schoolmates were farmers sons etc.
When I went and stayed over I was recruited to help with the milking, which was fun.

The power was not working 1 day so the farmer backed up his trusty Massey Fergusson to the shed and powered it of the PTO on the tractor.
Nothing new in that.

Any modern farmer who dose not have a back up for what is an essential for his farm should hang his shed in shame.
And not go on national tv and bleat about it. What a crock.

[mashman]

It's a redundant, expensive piece of equipment.

[ellipsis]

It's a redundant, expensive piece of equipment.

...somewhat like Hekia Parata's (sp?) brain, you mean...?

[Mo NZ]

Generating your own power has became easier.

[mashman]

...somewhat like Hekia Parata's (sp?) brain, you mean...?

some folk don't miss what they don't have to begin with... so not quite

[neels]

Comes down to risk vs reward I suppose, how many day's lost production does it take to pay for a generator?

[Banditbandit]

...somewhat like Hekia Parata's (sp?) brain, you mean...?

Fuck .. did someone find her one ??

[p.dath]

...
The power was not working 1 day so the farmer backed up his trusty Massey Fergusson to the shed and powered it of the PTO on the tractor.
Nothing new in that.
...

Many years ago when my family live on a farm my Father had exactly the same contingency plan. And I recall him having to use it several times. It was not unusual for us to loose power several times a year due to storms. The tractor was used to run the pumps directly via a flywheel and a belt, rather than make electricity.

Generators are rather expensive and need regular maintenance. The tractor is a great option. Farmer's need one anyway. They have a lot of power. So it should be more cost effective to use it to run pumps or even generators.

[T.W.R]

The power was not working 1 day so the farmer backed up his trusty Massey Fergusson to the shed and powered it of the PTO on the tractor.
Nothing new in that.

Any modern farmer who dose not have a back up for what is an essential for his farm should hang his shed in shame.
And not go on national tv and bleat about it. What a crock.

A modern dairy farm is a fair bit more advanced than the antiquated hic outfits of the 60s matey.
A computer controlled rotary shed can't have a power supply that surges all the time especially if they're on a direct link system to their testing/quality control provider.....loose data of one milking regime and they can easily damage their business

Generators are rather expensive and need regular maintenance. The tractor is a great option. Farmer's need one anyway. They have a lot of power. So it should be more cost effective to use it to run pumps or even generators.

The majority of dairy farms haven't got tractors anywhere near big enough to drive a generator big enough at a constant/safe operating speed

As of yesterday early afternoon we came off being without power for 5days & it wasn't easy, so for a farm to be down for a day or two is a major problem

[mashman]

No power. Trees down. Consistent power required... you need one of these things in yer shed

[pete376403]

A modern dairy farm is a fair bit more advanced than the antiquated hic outfits of the 60s matey.
A computer controlled rotary shed can't have a power supply that surges all the time especially if they're on a direct link system to their testing/quality control provider.....loose data of one milking regime and they can easily damage their business

The majority of dairy farms haven't got tractors anywhere near big enough to drive a generator big enough at a constant/safe operating speed

As of yesterday early afternoon we came off being without power for 5days & it wasn't easy, so for a farm to be down for a day or two is a major problem

I would have thought that, modern dairying being the multi million dollar (in some cases) business that it is, a business continuity plan / disaster recovery plan would be mandatory. IE, backup generator, proper double conversion UPS to protect the computers, standby water supply (tanks and pumps) and so on.

[T.W.R]

I would have thought that, modern dairying being the multi million dollar (in some cases) business that it is, a business continuity plan / disaster recovery plan would be mandatory. IE, backup generator, proper double conversion UPS to protect the computers, standby water supply (tanks and pumps) and so on.

Theoretically it should be but reality means it isn't Consumer supply & demand mean that the majority are always upto their eyeballs in debt to the banks....continually chasing their tails with keeping their herd numbers up & maintaining what they've got. There are few dairy units that are actually making huge profit & gains and most that do make profit usually feed it straight back into the farm to keep it competitive.
Just for a basic dairy unit (say 450 animals) to monitor the quality of milk the herd is producing will cost roughly $1500 per milking so for one test it's $4500 multiply that 4 - 6 times $18 -$27k just to monitor quality for a season (Synlait & Fonterra demand maintained quality testing); so with the larger units down here having double or triple that number of animals & a couple of farms with 3500+ animals it's an expensive business. Irrigation for a farm can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per year (a 8 run centrepivot used to cost $180k per year to run 20yrs ago, so it'd be more nowadays).
I'm not a fan of dairy farms or dairy farming by any means but the glossy image isn't that glossy in the raw, just like people upto their eyes in mortgages most dairy farms are the same...just existing to support the banks

[T.W.R]

No power. Trees down. Consistent power required... you need one of these things in yer shed

Ha wouldn't mind one those in the shed, just as a toy though

A 3hp/1300v generator only just managed to supply enough juice to keep the fridge/freezer going & occasionally run a couple of other things
Cooking on camp cookers got a bit tedious after awhile and typical...power goes so went the phones and cell was almost flat too
Got plenty of wood for next winter though


This was just when things were starting to build up, the cloud is a dust storm barrelling down the Rakaia river 8km away so it's at least 1km high

[Mo NZ]

Theoretically it should be but reality means it isn't Consumer supply & demand mean that the majority are always upto their eyeballs in debt to the banks....continually chasing their tails with keeping their herd numbers up & maintaining what they've got. There are few dairy units that are actually making huge profit & gains and most that do make profit usually feed it straight back into the farm to keep it competitive.
Just for a basic dairy unit (say 450 animals) to monitor the quality of milk the herd is producing will cost roughly $1500 per milking so for one test it's $4500 multiply that 4 - 6 times $18 -$27k just to monitor quality for a season (Synlait & Fonterra demand maintained quality testing); so with the larger units down here having double or triple that number of animals & a couple of farms with 3500+ animals it's an expensive business. Irrigation for a farm can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per year (a 8 run centrepivot used to cost $180k per year to run 20yrs ago, so it'd be more nowadays).
I'm not a fan of dairy farms or dairy farming by any means but the glossy image isn't that glossy in the raw, just like people upto their eyes in mortgages most dairy farms are the same...just existing to support the banks

So how much profit per milk, its substantial.

What's the cost of a Generator-... maybe $80,000 don't really know - . Assures continuous supply.
Its essential plant, like a tractor or irrigator and is charged against the farm.

Maybee get together with the next door farm and share the costs.

[T.W.R]

So how much profit per milk, its substantial.

What's the cost of a Generator-... maybe $80,000 don't really know - . Assures continuous supply.
Its essential plant, like a tractor or irrigator and is charged against the farm.

Maybee get together with the next door farm and share the costs.

Profit per milking isn't substantial by any means remember the milk going out the gate is the farms income so out of the income all the running costs of the farm are subtracted from that. A small family run farm still has to pay it's employees, run the farm vehicles, pay for the all the costs associated with each animal (food & health etc), maintain the farm and all other associated running costs plus keep themselves alive with all the daily living expenses; and like I said most are upto their eyeballs in debt so repaying the banks also has to be done.
Large dairy units are mostly always owned by syndicates & thus have managers, 2ICs, and workers to pay wages to, so when all the fish in the pond have had their nibble of what little profit there is the dregs aren't of much consequence.

A piece of equipment costing $80k or more sitting idle on the chance of a maybe happening isn't a viable option for the majority....remember items like tractors, farm bikes, utes, irrigators etc are all being used constantly on the farm not just sitting there looking pretty. And with most major agricultural work undertaken on a farm is done by contractors because it isn't viable for the farm to warrant having the equipment needed sitting idle a large proportion of the time.

How could neighbouring farms share the likes of a appropriately sized generator??? think if there's a incident like this recent big blow both farms will be without power so both will require power supply and a lot of dairy units down here have multiple milking sheds on each farm and multiple farms....they can't afford to have a lot of ample sized generators just sitting around on the chance of a maybe happening let alone start sharing with the neighbours....they aren't generators that can be thrown on the deck of the ute and run around easily ; it's logistically impossible.