- A dairy farm in KwaZulu-Natal was forced to dump a full day’s worth of milk due to loadslide.
- Problems with low voltage ultimately cost the farm 11,800 liters of milk, but this was just part of an ongoing battle with load reduction that has driven up costs and burned out farm equipment.
- The load reduction has had its effects throughout the agricultural value chain, including closing outlets and reducing menu availability at fast food restaurants in December.
- For more financial news, go to News24 Business Cover.
A dairy farm in KwaZulu-Natal was forced to dump a full day’s worth of milk due to a loss of load, and it says this is just the latest hit to an erratic power supply that has already driven its production below budget.
Ross Stratford, director of Stratford Farms in Mooi River, said on Monday that low voltage problems ultimately cost the farm 11,800 liters of milk, a day’s production, but this was just part of an ongoing battle with the load shedding that has increased costs and is burning farm equipment.
“We are fighting this day and night; we feel like we are in a constant fight against Eskom,” he said.
The farm reported low voltage to Eskom over the weekend, with a weak electricity supply preventing the generators from starting properly and also causing fans and contactors to burn out. Although they had switched the system to manual to use the generator, much of the equipment wouldn’t work after it was turned off and they couldn’t cool the tank fast enough to prevent the milk from spoiling.
Wear and tear on farm equipment was a constant problem, he said, and one of the farm’s processors had a similar problem over the weekend and had to dispose of milk from several farms. Stratford added that he was also currently dealing with low voltage on an irrigation pump that was about to burn out, and with the current heat wave, they were unable to replace evaporation fast enough to prevent crops from wilting.
“We can’t grow enough grass to feed our cows,” he said. “Our production this year is 15% under budget…that’s about 2.5 million liters of milk,” she said. The entire area was almost completely dependent on agriculture, she said, and prices would inevitably have to rise.
Stratford’s wife, Tamsin, said a major problem was the extreme diesel costs farmers had to bear to run generators. “As a family farm, we have significant infrastructure, and we have Ross and his father and brother on the ground to work and figure things out all day. I don’t know how smaller farmers cope with the rising costs of diesel. and having to pretty much run his farm on his generator. I think it’s a ticking time bomb from that perspective,” he said.
The load reduction has had its effects throughout the agricultural value chain, including closing outlets and reducing menu availability at fast food restaurants in December. The poultry industry has warned that due to cargo shedding, slaughter has been delayed, and this could even lead to shortages in the retail and wholesale markets.
Last week, a farmer in the northwest said he intended to claim around 1.5 million rand from Eskom, also reporting insufficient voltage that eventually shut down the ventilation in a chicken coop, killing tens of thousands of birds. .
SEE | 40,000 chickens killed, farmer to claim R1.5m from Eskom
There have also been calls to declare agriculture an essential service and warnings that disruptions to SA’s food supply and rising costs could lead to social unrest in the coming months.
