No drums, no drama
From a Canterbury operation milking more than 8,000 cows to the farm of the 2025 New Zealand Share Farmers of the Year, Ecolab’s world-first Next Gen Solids cleaning technology is taking the heavy lifting – and the guesswork – out of shed hygiene. Words Sarah Perriam-Lampp.
Shed hygiene is a serious logistical exercise when you are milking more than 8,000 cows. For Russ Young, operations manager of a large-scale Canterbury dairy business, every plant and vat wash once began the same way – manoeuvring a 200L drum of liquid chemical into position.
That has changed with Ecolab’s Next Gen Solids, the world-first solid cleaning technology rolled out to New Zealand dairy farmers ahead of anywhere else in the world.
“Previously, with the drums, we’d have to move a 200L drum into a washroom after it was delivered – a big manhandling job,” Russ says.”Now we’ve got little capsules and the guys tip them up, insert them into the top of the machine and the water comes in and does it.
“That treatment lasts for three or four days depending on how many milkings and backwashes you have, so it’s an easy every-couple-of-days routine.”
The capsules replace drums of caustic alkali and acid chemical with concentrated solid chemistry in a compact, lightweight pack. Loaded into the automated dispenser, the chemical is mixed precisely
to specification at the touch of a button – nobody on the team handles, measures or mixes a thing.
Across a business running multiple sheds and rosters of staff, that automation has taken the guesswork out of a job that happens after every milking.
“Peace of mind on-farm is really good for how everyone’s working with the chemical and knowing what their dosage rates are is really critical as well,” Russ says.
“We know that we’re not underdosing or overdosing daily, so we’ve got a real consistent approach to how we’re cleaning the shed.”
The health and safety gains have been just as significant for the team.
“For the people on-farm, it’s a great benefit now to not be using the drums. They’re not having to lug the drum in, try to position it, and then they’re not having to watch chemical go into a dispenser every day. The system’s foolproof and really well set up.”
Empty capsules do not linger in the back of the shed either.
“We’ve got a system set up with Farm Source where, when they deliver, they’re taking away the used ones, so they’re going back into the Agrecovery programme through Farm Source.
“And then we don’t have 200L drums left in the back of a shed somewhere that we’re triple rinsing and taking away somewhere else.
“From where we are today, we wouldn’t go back to the old drum system,” Russ says.
“Strength is no longer about breaking your back – it’s now about precision.” – Fiona Langford, 2025 New Zealand Share Farmer of the Year
That confidence in solid chemistry is shared at the very top of the industry. Tom and Fiona Langford, the 2025 New Zealand Share Farmers of the Year, are equity partners and contract milkers for Fiona’s parents, Marian and Jos van Loon, on their 262ha, 1090-cow, split-calving farm near Putāruru in South Waikato. The couple have since taken on a second contract milking position, milking 870 cows on the neighbouring Van Loon farm – and among the six merit awards they collected on the way to the national title was the Ecolab Environmental Sustainability Award. For Fiona, the title was anything but a fluke.
“People ask for our secret for winning, but there’s no silver bullet. Our strength lies in our focus on small, disciplined gains.
“Strength is no longer about breaking your back – it’s now about precision.”
That philosophy runs from the couple’s people through to the technology they choose to run their sheds.
“Our strength is in taking care of our people, because you need a winning team to get winning results. Our strength is also in our use of innovation – it’s a reliable way to win, and Ecolab helps to keep us at the top of our game.
“The strength of the New Zealand dairy industry is one smart solid choice at a time.”
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