Out in the remote Galatea area in the Bay of Plenty is where you’ll find Gavin Iles unique 800 cow dairy farm. Spread over relatively flat paddocks of volcanic soil, the land is ideal for farming and Gavin has it nicely set up with a cow shed, feedpad and pond to capture all those effluent nutrients…there was just one issue…
Gavin’s son-in-law, Wayne, has a contracting business with a Nevada 14,700L slurry tanker, so he would borrow the slurry tanker when he could for spreading further than the pumping system allowed. The slurry tanker worked so well, Gavin decided he wanted his own to be able to use when and where he wanted. As a bonus, it also worked well to suck up the thicker feedpad effluent that didn’t always make it into the pond.
Originally Gavin had been planning on an 8,000 or 10,000L slurry tanker, but after using Wayne’s 14,700L and seeing how easy it was to manoeuvre, he decided a 14,700L would be more efficient for his operations.
Gavin still uses his stirrer and pump for the nearby paddocks, but the slurry tanker has proven its value in not just making use of the nutrients over the entire farm, but easily handling those thicker slurries from the feedpad.