“We milk 600 ewes in just 1 hour with this shed”. Rhys Darby - WAIKATO 42 a-side dairy sheep Rapid Exit Swing-Over Parlour.
“That farm is a breeding farm populated mostly by female deer and fawns. We bring the stags in at the appropriate time and return them to another farm nearby,” says Rebecca. “We’ve got a huge genetic deer operation and have been developing our own deer milking genetics, which will be integral to other farmers wishing to start milking deer in the future. “We converted an existing deer shed on the farm, carefully considering the flighty nature of deer. Mark introduced a herringbone style layout with padded stalls to protect the deer. A rubber protection wall between the hind and the milker has a built-in circular aperture through which the milker can work. Lincoln Hills’ deer milking farm operation is run by a small team headed by the founders, Mark Faulks and Graham Carr. Head deer milker Simon Wakefield is a dedicated, hard-working member of the team whose ideas have brought added value to the enterprise. The uniqueness of deer milk farming has attracted people keen to be part of an innovative enterprise making its mark in New Zealand’s evolving dairy sector. “From an on-farm perspective, we believe we have refined the processes to the point where we have a world-class milking operation. We’ve done the hard yards and the opportunity for growing deer milking into an industry is quite exciting,” Rebecca concludes.
For more information, visit deermilkingnz.com Head deer milker Simon Wakefield has brought added value to the unique enterprise
Retrofit an existing shed, or build new
Lead the way with us. GEA.com/small-ruminant
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Goat & Sheep Milk NZ - Issue 7 | June 2022
Faster animal exiting with Rapid Exit stalling
