Pahiatua's Alison Franklin demonstrates the DTexH2o, an electronic device invented by husband Graeme.
Pahiatua's Alison Franklin demonstrates the DTexH2o, an electronic device invented by husband Graeme.
Martin Luther King had a dream, Pahiatua's Graeme Franklin had a nightmare which is turning into a dream success and could save New Zealand's dairy farmers thousands of dollars.
Mr Franklin is the inventor of DTexH2o, an in-line electronic probe which is easily installed into the milk line of a working cowshed and is programmed to detect the difference between milk and water.
Last week Graeme and his wife Alison were in Dannevirke demonstrating the invention which won a $15,000 innovation award at the Mystery Creek Fieldays.
And it all came about after a nightmare.
"I woke up in a cold sweat having dreamed I'd milked my son Ben's cows and put the wash-up water into the vat," Graeme said. "I said to Alison there must be a way to prevent this and DTexH2o is the result."
Graeme Franklin installs his DTexH2o in a cowshed.
With Fonterra's forecasted payout to farmers dropping from $7/kg of milk solids to $6/kg, the Franklins believe the spill stopper is more vital than ever before for farmers, as it prevents water going into the vat, but also maximises milk into the vat.
"When farmers employ contract milkers, labourers or relief milkers they rely on them to follow normal procedures during the cowshed wash-up," Alison said. "When we attended this year's Mystery Creek Fieldays we realised the problem was greater than we'd first realised. We spoke to one farmer who'd forgotten to turn the tap when he started his wash down and had put all the water into the vat. He didn't twig to his mistake until after the tanker had collected the milk. The result was a $10,000 fine from Fonterra."
And with 30 per cent of New Zealand's dairy farmers on total water exclusion, gone are the days of guessing when it's time to flick the tap by holding onto the milk pipe, waiting for it to go from warm (milk) to cold (water).
"Losing milk and money down the drain isn't an option any more," Alison said.
But before they could follow through with their product the Franklins had to meet strict Fonterra testing.
"It took three months of rigorous testing, but we were 100 per cent compliant and received the first-ever Fonterra compliance certificate," Alison said.
The probe, set in a natural acetal housing is installed into the milk line and is operated by a waterproof electronic controller. A micro switch on the vat handle is hooked up to an alarm which sounds if the farmer forgets to turn the tap. If the tap is turned correctly, the micro switch deactivates the alarm.
"At the point of wash-up in the cowshed, the farmer must rely on his memory, or that of his worker, to manually turn the tap at the vat away to the waste. If he forgets to do this, then water enters the vat, contaminating the milk," Alison said.
Farmers do insure against contaminated milk but the majority of insurers have now introduced a one-claim-per-year policy which means if the farmer has to claim for contamination for water entering the vat, then they have no cover left to protect them against the risk of penicillin.
But farmers don't want to be chucking milk down the drain either, Alison said.
"If they manually flick the tap before all the milk has cleared the line and gone into the vat, they can be losing thousands of dollars a year in income.
"This year we were in the innovation centre at Mystery Creek, with 45,000 people crammed in there at times. Our plan was to win back the $1000 our site cost, so to go into the dragon's den and come away with the most viable business prize and $15,000 was fantastic. We were stoked to win and the publicity for our product has been tremendous."
A patent is now in place and Graeme said at $1500, plus GST, the DTexH2o pays for itself in less than a season.
"The beauty of this system is if you get interrupted (during wash up), then a second siren sounds and you've got time to get to your tap," he said. "I've spent hours awake at night trying to find fault with this, but I believe we've come up with an idea which isn't too complicated, nor too expensive. Sharemilkers are buying them too because they can take them with them when they leave a contract."
Dannevirke dairy farmer Bruce Charmley said he believed the DTexH2o was "a great concept", and his new sharemilker was in discussion with the Franklins throughout the evening in Dannevirke.
Front, Graeme and Alison Franklin at the Mystery Creek Fieldays, winners of the most viable business prize.
Judges at Mystery Creek said the invention was a risk management tool every farmer should have.
Graeme's DTexH2o is one of 12 finalists in the Bio Commerce Centre's (BCC) Innovate 2014 competition. BCC is a Palmerston North-based business specialising in taking high technology ideas to market and John Hayes, the National MP for the Wairarapa said the Franklins are an example of regional-driven success.
Don't cry over spilt milk ...
30 litres of milk per milking dumped to the waste x two milkings a day, =
60 litres of milk lost, the equivalent of six ksg of milk solids. Six kgs of milk solids x 270 days milking, = 1620kg milk solids. At the current Fonterra payout of $6kg MS that's $9720 in lost income - based on a farm on total water exclusion.
