THE JFC Manufacturing Fast Fill valve has been the solution to providing a sufficient water supply to the Lewis Family’s dairy herd at Trefonen Hall, Oswestry.

Utilising waste water from the plate cooler via a header tank results in a low pressure water supply.

The Fast Fill valve resolves this issue by improving the capacity of water supplied per minute to the trough.

Based on the Shropshire/Welsh border the Lewis Family farm 250 acres and milk 110 cows with 35 followers. The cows are milked through two robots, the robotic technology was introduced at Trefonen Hall 4 years ago and the family haven’t looked back since. The robots are set up with free range access, at present they are grazing day and night and the robots do an average of 2.6 milkings per cow when out at grass and 3.7 when housed.

After trying many different available valve options they came across the JFC Fast Fill valve.

"The Fast Fill Valve does exactly what it says, it keeps the cows water trough constantly full. By utilising the plate cooler water which is fed to a header tank and fed via gravity to the water trough we have a low water pressure, the fast fill valve helps to improve the flow," said Richard Lewis.

The Fast Fill valve has a larger inlet than a standard valve with a flow rate of up to 95L/min @ 3 bar pressure as opposed to a standard valve at 35L/min @ 3 bar pressure.

Installed within the housing facility at Trefonen Hall is a JFC DT600 Oval water trough, this specific trough has the service box with easy access situated at one end, sited like the Lewis family have done provides maximum space possible for the cows to drink.

According to a study by AHDB Dairy, Milk is composed of nearly 87% water and lactating dairy cows require at least 60 litres of water per day, with high yielding cows requiring up to 100 litres. With water so closely linked with yields the water supply within the housing can’t be compromised.

If you are looking for a solution to help improve the availability of your water to your cows, visit www.jfcagri.com for more information on our full range of water troughs.