Milking System Case Studies

The following case studies show the milking system savings that can be achieved by installing a Variable Speed Drive to control your Vacuum Pump.

The table uses the actual input data from four different sized dairy farms, which Genesis Energy audited.

Farm Description	Medium	Medium	Medium	Large
Location	Matamata	Huntly	Taranaki	Manawatu
Number of cows	270	340	400	1,000
Shed type	Herring Bone	Herring Bone	Rotary	Rotary
Milking days per year	290	290	290	290
Time for morning milk (minutes)	110	130	120	270
Time for evening milk (minutes)	90	110	100	210
Vacuum Pump Inputs
Number of vacuum pumps	1	1	1	1
Vacuum pump motor size (KW)	5.6	7.3	11	15
Vacuum Pump Requirements
Electricity used by vacuum pump (kWh)	5,413	8,468	11,697	34,800
Electricity cost of vacuum pump ($)	$920	$1,245	$1,860	$2,958
Energy savings by installing a VSD (kWh)	2,490	4,403	5,380	15,660
	Smart Air™- Waikato Milking Systems Ltd	Varivac™- Corkill Systems	Varivac™- Corkill Systems	Smart Air™- Waikato Milking Systems Ltd
Installed cost	$5,350	$6,600	$7,300	$7,288
Reduction in cost per year	$409	$443	$558	$1,265
Simple payback (years)	13.1	14.9	13.1	5.8
Electricity Usage Savings (%)	46%	52%	46%	45%

It is important to note that the above case studies are based on energy savings for a vacuum pump motor alone. Case study savings are based on monitoring and investigations that Genesis Energy has performed on various farms. These are the minimum savings when fitting this type of equipment. The results could vary with the different combinations of pump and motor types.

These savings results will vary between different farms, so to help estimate the energy savings from installing a VSD on your farm, just complete the milking systems section on our Dairy Efficiency Calculator. Please contact the product suppliers to validate the savings calculations and obtain a firm quote for your farm.