Scottish milk farm upgrades with CPS

Bogany Farm, based on the Isle of Bute off the west coast of Scotland, is replacing its 30-year-old Wincanton pasteuriser with a new system from Carlisle Process Systems (CPS)

Bogany Farm, based on the Isle of Bute off the west coast of Scotland, is replacing its 30-year-old Wincanton pasteuriser with a new system from Carlisle Process Systems (CPS).

The farm is located on a 96-acre site and has been processing milk to local outlets since the late seventies.

Being situated on an island it is much more economical for Bogany Farm to continue processing milk rather than buying it in from the mainland.

So although the existing pasteuriser has served the company extremely well, it wanted to streamline production and modernise the plant to secure independent processing for the future.

CPS, a global supplier of processing equipment for the dairy, food and beverage industries, manufactured and installed the original Wincanton pasteuriser, so when Bogany Farm needed a new unit, it was the natural choice to go back to the company.

The Bogany Farm proprietor, Ninian McAlister explains: "Over the years the old equipment produced consistent quality - it's been very reliable, incurred low maintenance costs and produced first-class milk.

But there are certain aspects of the machine design that we wanted to upgrade, and since CPS served us well in the past, we knew they could deliver on this development.

In addition, a major consideration in choosing CPS was the depth, detail and interest they showed, even before we placed the order", added Mr McAlister, who is joint partner in the business with his wife Rhona McAlister.

The new unit, which is due to be installed in July 2006, consists of an electrically heated skid mounted CPS milk pasteuriser, a REDA skid mounted self-cleaning separator, a FBF two stage homogeniser and a CPS cream cooling tank.

The development is being part funded by European grants.

Mr McAlister explained how different elements of the new system will benefit the farm: "The new pasteuriser is run on electricity rather than a steam boiler so the whole operation will be streamlined and more efficient.

Homogenisation is a modern requirement that we needed - our customers don't expect to see an open cream line - so the new homogeniser takes this out of the process.

The separator is another critical element of the system - we wanted to minimise contact with the milk, and the new machine will take this element away completely.

"Originally, the milk bottles were filled by hand but the new equipment does this mechanically.

It will cut down on labour so skilled workers can be allocated more rewarding jobs", said Mr McAlister.

Bogany Farm made the decision to upgrade the equipment over a year ago.

There has been a lot of consideration about where the new equipment is to be installed and the existing factory has been upgraded to house the new line.

The new system will process up to 220 gallons of milk per hour.

Bogany Farm milk is available in half litre, 1 litre, 2 litre and 3 litre plastic bottles.

All cream sizes are also available.

Managing director of CPS, Charles Todd, said: "In our experience, we have found that dairy farmers require equipment that is cost effective yet professionally designed and built - but simple to install.

We used this principle for the Bogany Farm unit in the 1970s, and over thirty years later this framework, together with our modern technology, has provided the company with the solution they needed.

Many milk producers/processors purchased Wincanton pasteurisers in the 70s and we are very pleased to be still supporting the industry after so many years".

Bogany Farm lies approximately one mile south of Rothesay and rises to 400 feet above sea level.

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