“Milk Silo” Backs Up Conventional Tanks

“Milk Silo” Backs Up Conventional Tanks DAIRY EQUIPMENT & IDEAS When a dairy farm has more than 4 000 cows storing the milk production in two barrel-shaped milk tanks that hold 6 500 gals each requires daily pickups at a minimum And when that farm is located in an area of South Dakota that may be snowed in so bulk trucks can’t move the operation needs a backup plan For Hammink Dairy that backup is a 20 000-gal milk “silo” Wim Hammink says the big vertical tank gives them 36 hrs of storage at about 2/3rds the cost of horizontal tanks He and his sons didn’t have any second thoughts about installing the silo in January 2019 because milk processing plants have used them for years The Hammink’s silo rests on a 6-ft thick concrete pad outside their South facility where they milk 3 000 Jersey and Jersey crossbred cows Three months after the installation it was filled to the brim during an April 2019 snowstorm when milk trucks couldn’t reach their farm Hammink says after roads were cleared the dairy had 7 semi loads of milk ready to be hauled They had to dump one semi load but without the new silo they would’ve had to purge 4 loads Hammink says those 3 saved loads made the silo investment worthwhile Milk from Hammink cows travels through two chillers and reaches 38 degrees before it is stored in either the horizontal tanks or the milk silo Milk temperature is monitored by a computer system and text or email alerts are sent if fluid temperature rises above 40 degrees An exterior chiller on the silo maintains milk at 38 degrees During extremely warm weather milk from the horizontal tanks can be pumped into the silo to cool down Hammink says the silo is an excellent addition to the operation and is easier to clean and sanitize than horizontal tanks A wash system sprays hot water and sanitizer around the top and it flows by gravity to the bottom Hoses are cleaned and sanitized every time they’re used even if the silo isn’t emptied Hammink says the system works great and if he were to install it again the only thing he’d change would be to put up a larger one Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Hammink Dairy 19890 470th Ave Bruce S Dak 57220 www hamminkdairy com

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