SPECIAL REPORT | FLEXIBLE MILKING
EN ROUTE to farm ownership
Varied milking frequencies has been a successful recipe for a Maruia dairy farming couple. Anne Hardie reports.
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n the middle of a lease-to-buy agreement to buy their first farm and juggling work with family, Brian and Hannah Dineen have tried a range of milking frequencies to survive financially, physically and emotionally. It’s their third season on the Maruia farm in the Top of the South and they’ve milked twice a day (TAD), once a day (OAD), 3in2 and even 10in7 for a short stint. After much experimentation and learning about their new farm, they have settled on milking TAD for the first two months of the season and then 3in2 for the remainder which so far seems to be resulting in more milk from less cows.
