What Matt Wanted
Matt was keen to add to his dairy effluent storage for his 410 cow farm near Awakeri/Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. Matt had storage in the form of half a weeping wall but wanted more to avoid irrigating when conditions were not suitable, and to meet the requirements of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
Matt was also keen to install the right pump to be able to irrigate over his current and future irrigation blocks, and to utilise the latest irrigation equipment.
What Matt Thinks About His New Dairy Effluent System
“We have put in a system that works for us. We needed a full proof system that minimises potential issues. Now we have green water going from the bladder to wash the feedpad, and to the irrigator so it is not going to block. Its real easy to keep an eye on the whole system now”.
What Matt Thinks About the Guys at Precise DE
“Certainly knowledgeable. I liked the fact they didn’t cover anything up, and didn’t push their own agenda. They worked with us to achieve what we wanted”.
Solution/Key Changes
Matt had installed a 2 bay weeping wall to deal with the solids from his feedpad and to provide some storage for the dairy effluent from the farm dairy. Previous to this Matt pumped everything to pasture from a large concrete tank.
We completed a Dairy Effluent Storage Calculator that indicated Matt needed a further 600m3 of storage at the 90% probability point (DESC), but Matt opted for a 1000m3 Precise DE Vortex Dairy Effluent Bladder which provided him with enough storage based on the past 30 years.
A new irrigation pump (25m3 per hour Precise DE Bellin PC pump) to get consistent volumes and pressures over the entire irrigation area, and to get the best performance from the irrigation equipment. It would also be used to pump to the flood wash tank for the feedpad.
A travelling raingun to deliver lower application rates with a longer jet length to better meet the soils infiltration rates, and to half the number of times the irrigator needs to be shifted
