Make savings with better use of water (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Make savings with better use of water

12:04pm Tuesday 31st July 2012 in Farming

MANY dairy farmers could make major cost savings by making best use of mains water and natural water supplies, SAC’s Ruth Kendal, pictured, told the meeting.

North-West England was not classified as a low water stress area, but there were still some parts that faced problems where water treatment facilities were not sufficient to meet the demand for treated water.

A good starting point was to record regular meter readings, which might show that mains water usage was greater than expected. For example, on a 300-cow dairy farm it was found that water usage was 42 cubic meters per day against expected usage of 35 cubic meters.

This led to identification of a leak losing 0.2 cubic meters per hour. It was estimated that this was costing the farm £2,575 per year.

Other savings could be made by simple actions such as using trigger nozzles on hoses that would cut off water usage when left and recycling grey water.

At Lords Plain, water going through the plate cooler for milk was reused for washing down.

The cost of using n a t u r a l water such as groundwater, surface water and rainwater worked out at about 15p-40p per cubic meter, excluding the cost of any equipment used.

Borehole water, as at Lords Plain, could be one option costing about 30p-40p per cubic meter in running costs and might not require a licence for extraction up to 20 cubic meters per day.

However, this involved capital costs of about £10,000-£20,000