Creek Farm, a dairy near Hook 
comprising 120 cattle, needed to improve the energy use and efficiency of the dairy. The aim was to both reduce costs to the business as well as develop the environmental sustainability of the farm. They applied for a grant of 50% towards eligible costs to purchase a larger refrigeration system with heat recovery to improve efficiency.
Catherine Mitchell, a partner in the business, explained why this is so important, “Milk refrigeration is fundamental to the dairy business and efficiencies had to be made in order to maintain a viable dairy business, particularly as the current system was inefficient on energy saving and costly to the business”.
Not only would the new refrigeration system reduce energy costs, it would also create energy via the heat recovery unit which could then be utilized on the farm, for example heating water to wash the dairy, further reducing costs. The project would also reduce haulage costs and emissions due to the larger refrigeration unit, meaning less need for such frequent collection of milk. This would also have a positive social impact, meaning there would be fewer large haulage vehicles on the rural roads and therefore also a reduction in food miles, making the end milk product more sustainable.