John Allwood: Sustainable dairy

By setting up a rainwater harvesting system, installing a bore hole and investing in an energy efficient heat exchanger for his dairy, John Allwood is looking after his bank balance as well as the planet.

Located in Cheshire, John has 340 dairy cows producing circa 3 million litres per year. There is obviously a great demand for power and water.

Back in 2001 he underwent some extensive building work to accommodate more cows and better housing to become ever more animal welfare friendly. As he constructed 3500m2 more roof space he decided to capture the rainwater. With projected water use to cost him around £15000 a year, John describes the investment at "a no brainer".

In 2008 he set about investigating energy efficiencies on milk cooling and heat recovery for some new larger fridge plants. This has paid off as his energy use has gone up. The borehole water is used for cooling, then used a second time in the volume washer for cleaning the parlour. That wash water is also collected on used on a small flood wash system to wash the collecting yard down. So the borehole water now has three jobs to do before in ends up in the slurry lagoon.

John is also investigating solar and wind energy generation.