>>
PROFILE Calibre Farming | Dofygate ber is responsible for organising
transport to either Aylsham Grain or Yare Grain, leaving Jim to fo- cus on Calibre. “We all made the decision some time ago to invest in one or oth- er of the stores. It may be cheap- er in capital terms to build your own store, but once your grain is in central storage you don’t have to manage it until it’s sold. “There are no loading of lorries, no risk of something going wrong – especially true of malting bar- ley where management in-store is critical – and you have gained the ability to join other grades of malting barley to mutual bene- fit, which you can’t do as an in- dividual. “Aylsham Grain is a futures registered store, so our market place is now the futures market. The logic of that is that when you sell your grain to someone else, their price is often based on the futures market, so why not sell di- rect to that market – which Aylsh- am Grain offers in a very efficient manner.”
Electronic gates
Calibre employs one full-time op- erator, help from a family mem- ber at busy times, and also works closely with neighbouring farm- er James Spink of PJ Spink, who helps with decision-making to en- able Jim to devote more time to de- veloping his electronic farm gate enterprise.
The early design of what is now the Dofygate, a fast-moving car- bon fibre gate, was a flexible elec- trified grid. Jim wanted a way to get in and out of the cattle yards he was then running without hav- ing to get in and out of his trac- tor, without extra help, and with- out cattle escaping. It worked, he
(l to r) Engineer Mick Groome and designer Oliver Chastney with Jim Alston in the Dofygate workshop and (left) Jim Alston and his Dofygate
“
The fact that the gate folds in half means it’s very fast and very safe.”
says, but it was prone to failure if it wasn’t looked after. The next step was to bring on board a friend, Oliver Chastney, just retired from a career in com- puter aided design of packaging machinery. Oliver found a way of making Jim’s next idea, of a self-contained, portable folding electric gate, work.
“The fact that the gate folds in half means it’s very fast and very safe, and operates within the nor- mal field of vision of an animal –
Tyretech 24 Ltd
Your local independent
tyre specialists, dedicated to putting your needs first.
Agricultural and Commercial specialists, offering major repair work.
Based in Aylsham, we serve: Norwich, Stalham,
North Walsham, Cromer, Sheringham, Holt, Fakenham. 01263 731699 |
www.tyretech24.co.uk | NR11 6SS
52 ANGLIA FARMER • MARCH 2018
it’s not coming down from above and it’s not swinging round,” says Jim.
“These are all points for animal control – but actually most of the gates are not sold for that, but for controlling access for biosecurity and for managing vehicle move- ments around construction sites and loading areas.” Customers include Costain, British Sugar and FCC Environ- ment, as well as many rural busi- nesses where keeping a gate shut is an important part of security often missed by having a big gate left open during the day because it’s slow to operate.
Low power solution
The Dofygate is powered by a small solar panel fixed to the bars of the gate. A very low stand- by power consumption to control the motor and shock unit means the gate will operate all year from its own resources. The shock unit only produces
a shock if an animal touches the gate. It takes just 4.5 milliamps an hour to run the gate, a rate with- in the range used by a single LED light. On a sunny day the solar panel can recharge the battery at a rate of 220mA/hr and the battery holds 7000mA of back-up power. There are now 120 gates op- erating across the country, man- ufactured off site by laser cutters
and engineers, and assembled at Jim’s farm at Calthorpe for de- livery and installation. Since its launch in 2014, the two bar de- sign has been further developed, with four bars suitable for cows and calves, and seven bars, orig- inally designed for dogs, but also popular for sheep and lambs, and, Jim believes, for badger exclusion. “We were approached by re-
searchers at the University of Nottingham for help with a tri- al looking at methods of badger exclusion in non-cull areas, using their research herd of dairy cows and badger-proof fencing. We have our own video of a badger being turned away at the gate but that’s not enough. I don’t want to get into a debate about badger culling, but maybe the Dofygate could be part of the solution.”
BUSINESS FACTS
• Three family farms • Crops grown and harvested by Calibre Farming
• Investment in central grain storage
• Design and production of Dofygate
CONTACT
T: 01263 493102 W:
dofygate.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
