Dairy farming is a complex, intensive and demanding operation.

Dairy processors manufacture their dairy products for delivery to retailers, for exports and for further processing. There are many risks taken in this industry that influence the herd, the equipment and ultimately the pricing of the product. It is absolutely essential that strict procedures and processes need to be followed that can be aided by good planning and management.

When it comes to having to interrupt the complicated processes that run daily to replace and install new cooling tanks or silos, it is understandable how much stress can be caused. Additionally so, when there are power outages that could affect the end result of your product and potentially stop production altogether.

It is absolutely essential that the dairy continues to run on schedule. This is why we create a project plan to make sure that the project runs smoothly and that the dairy will continue to be effective and have as little downtime as possible.

With the accumulative experience of over 200 years, our team makes sure that bulk milk cooling tanks and raw milk barrel silos, and any additional equipment needing to keep the production running, are loaded and transported safely and securely to site, and that the right carnage, rigging and equipment is used to move your cargo into place. This ensures that your dairy is expertly fitted and once again working like clockwork. By doing this, we will ensure that your project will run on schedule, improving your farm’s productivity and capacity as a result.

One such project that Reef Rigging has carried out is Spring Meadow Farm Dairy located in Mount West, KwaZulu-Natal.

What was the project brief?

Installation of an emergency 5,5t 24/7 generator for continuous power supply to the dairy processing plant after suffering regular power outages of late.

What major equipment was used for the installation?

A Crane truck MB3348 with rear-mounted 41txm Fassi knuckleboom crane which had a 14m boom reach, the qualified riggers and certified lifting gear.

What obstacles were there?

The area is inaccessible to any mechanical lifting device.

There is a horizontal radius in excess of 10m centre to centre and it was essential to clear a palisade fence that was pushing the rated capacity of the Fassi crane.

By prior arrangement, an overhead Eskom electrical powerline was isolated so that there was a zero functional state for the duration of the lift.

How were these overcome?

There was careful positioning and levelling of the crane truck with adequate compressive footpads inserted under the outriggers relative to the gated premises’ requirements.

The supporting metal frame proved too weak to initially hold the generator weight. This meant that it required strengthening during the operations with the generator suspended under hook.

What time period did the project take?

4 hours