New Farm Dairies 2017

A special supplement by

Spring 2017

Sun Media Ltd 07 578 0030

Showcas ing 35 of New Z ealand’s newest d airy farm developm ents in the coun try.

Building the best Landcorp Ajax in Central Plateau pgs 22-25

Lund in the Waikato pgs 42-43

O’Malley in West Coast pgs 52-55

Stevenson Family Trust in Taranaki pgs 84-87

Schnell & Gemmell in Manawatu on pgs 88-91

NEW FARM DAIRIES

Page 2

New Farm Dairies is brought to you by...

New Farm Dairies is New Zealand’s most comprehensive guide for farmers planning a new farm dairy construction.

It showcases a range of the newest farm dairies in the country, offering farmers a vital, in-depth reference for their own dairy projects.

We distribute more than 30,500 copies of the FREE publication to all dairy farmers throughout New Zealand, reaching all corners of the country’s vast dairying industry.

No.1 The Strand PO Box 240 Tauranga 3140 phone 07 578 0030 fax 07 571 1116 email lois@thesun.co.nz

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BRIAN ROGERS

CLAIRE ROGERS

ELAINE FISHER

Director/Editor

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Editor

Coast & Country

Developing technology The decision to build a new dairy - no matter how big or small - isn’t taken lightly by any farmer. Such a project represents a very significant investment in time and capital but those who have successfully completed their projects – as portrayed in this issue of New Farm Dairies – are realising the benefits.

Planning a new dairy is a chance to take a long hard look at the total farm system and reassess what’s working, what’s not, and how a new dairy can play a role in lifting performance both in milk production and environmental impacts.

The farmers who share their stories have carefully researched every aspect of their new dairy, from the technology available to the trades people they will work with. Many have used previous issues of New Farm Dairies as a resource for that research.

A new dairy is a complex industrial building, a far cry from the “walk-through” shed of last century where a small herd of cows were milked by the farmer and his family, the cream separated off, the

whey fed to the pigs and the cowshed effluent hosed into the nearest drain.

Today’s technology has developed in recognition that dairies are the first stage in the production of a valuable protein – milk – with all its potential for development into an extensive array of food products. Nothing is wasted.

Technology has also developed to handle and in fact make the most of cowshed effluent – once treated as a bothersome by-product of milking. Now the processes are in place to enable the nutrients in effluent to be recycled back onto the pasture – and not into waterways.

The national and international companies involved in supplying milking technology have also invested heavily in research and development producing systems which not only harvest and handling milk to the highest standards, but also taking into account, in the design features, the comfort and needs of the cows and those who milk them.

Advances in dairy technology are impressive and ongoing and a credit to the dairy industry and dairy farmers continually striving to improve performance at every level.

Elaine Fisher

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NEW FARM DAIRIES

Appreciation for high quality food More than 80 per cent of New Zealanders now live in urban areas and have little personal contact with farming, but a recent survey shows Kiwis haven’t completely lost touch with their rural roots.

The Statistics NZ Wellbeing Statistics 2016 survey showed that agriculture and farming scored a mean rating of 8.2 out of for “important characteristics when defining ew Zealand”.

That’s a pretty positive result for farming from the survey in which nearly 9000 people gave their views.

Farmers, especially dairy farmers, can take a well-deserved pat on the back for that result, because obviously, despite what feels like almost constant “bashing” from the media and environmental groups, most Kiwis can see past the rhetoric and appreciate what farmers really do.

It shows they appreciate too that it’s farmers who make it possible for those who live in cities to buy safe, nutritious, locally produced food without the hard work involved in growing or farming it.

Those 65 plus were more likely to rate agriculture and farming as extremely important when defining ew ealand per cent rated it 10/10. This compares with only 27.5 per cent of young people.

Agriculture and farming featured in the top four most highly rated characteristics for European (30.6 per cent rated it 10/10) and Asian people . . ut aori and asifika people tended to rate sport more highly as a defining characteristic.

Given the diversity of our cultures, and that today’s young people will be the decision-makers of the future, our primary industries have to continue to win them over, by not only producing great food, but also farming it in environmentally sustainable ways.

Recent seasons have not been easy for those involved in agriculture, especially for dairy farmers with a drop in income, unpredictable weather and for many in both islands, extensive floods. ut farmers are by and large optimists who believe things will improve, and that indeed appears to be the case with the previously over-supplied international markets now once again hungry for New Zealand dairy products resulting in a welcome lift in prices.

It is of course not just New Zealand consumers who are demanding high quality, safe food, produced in ways which take into account the environmental impacts – international consumers want the same. It’s to New Zealand’s credit that we have in all aspects of our dairy industry, from the farm to the factory, to research and development, talented and dedicated people with the ability and determination to strive to meet and exceed those high standards.

Elaine Fisher

Page 3 FARM

DISTRICT

Lundie Lincoln University Cloverdale Crostan Holland Dairies Low Witheliedale Landcorp Ajax Singh Tokerau A5 Trust Beckett Ngarua Dairy Bowman Farm Ltd Lund Milbank Farm Lansdaal O’Malley Rowe Farms Otaitai Dairies Tui Dairies Carter Farms Taylor Point Trust Nichol Willowbrook Farm Marshall Stonehaven Farm Stevenson Family Trust Schnell & Gemmell Brumby Farms Pukio East Dairy Anstis Dairies Brooklyn Farms Noserock Aanzien Ltd

Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Central Plateau Central Plateau Central Plateau Waikato Waikato Waikato Waikato Waikato Waikato West Coast Western Bay of Plenty Southland Southland Southland Southland South Auckland Hauraki Taranaki Taranaki Taranaki Taranaki Manawatu Manawatu Wairarapa Eastern Bay of Plenty Eastern Bay of Plenty South Waikato South Waikato

PAGE 4-5 6-9 10-11 12-13 14-17 18-19 20-21 22-25 26-29 30-33 34-35 36-39 40-41 42-43 44-47 48-51 52-55 58-61 62-63 64-65 66-69 70-71 72-75 76-77 78-79 80-81 82-83 84-87 88-91 92-93 94-97 98-101 102-103 104-105 106-109

LUNDIE

Page 4

Coast & Country a groun The airy from the a of the ir ular olle tion yar .

rafting gate lose to ire t o s into left pen. ffluent system s t o e ges i i e y a eeping all.

ong lea in allo s for another sets of ups to e a e .

Function and form Function and form combine in a streamlined new herringbone dairy at Pleasant Point in South Canterbury.

Bruce and Aidan Lundie – uncle and nephew respectively – developed 105 hectares of the 176 hectare farm to dairying, from grazing, in 2016.

“The farm was originally a rehab farm which my father, David, was balloted in 1946 after the end of WWII,” Bruce says. “After buying additional land in the 1970s the farm was farmed by David, Aidan’s father (Roger) and Bruce until 1987 when, after the death of their parents, Roger and Bruce split the property. Bruce then ran sheep and beef on his half of the property, adding an additional 12ha in the 1990s.”

When it came to handing the farm on to the next generation, Bruce says that as he had no children, his nephew Aidan was the obvious choice.

“I had leased the farm to a local dairy farmer for a few years and when the lease expired I talked to Aidan about converting the farm to dairying. I wanted a job in my old age and thought

Aidan could do the thinking and I could do odd jobs.”

Aidan was born and bred in the Pleasant Point district. His parents operated a sheep farm and after leaving school Aidan worked as a shearer and did possum monitoring.

“I didn’t have any experience dairying, so when Bruce talked about converting this place I got a job and worked on a dairy farm for three years.”

First things first ruce and Aidan say the first people they talked to after making the decision to convert was Fonterra “to ensure they wanted our milk”, Environment Canterbury “to be sure we’d get the necessary consents”, the council “to find out what we needed to do” – and then began looking for a builder.

“We asked three local builders for quotes but, coincidentally, Gibson Construction came in off the road and said they’d like to quote. We were impressed with their attitude and knowledge; they had their own electricians, earth movers and had worked with Morrison Agri and Waikato Milking Systems. Their ability to lead the entire project gave us the confidence to give them

pit stan ma es it easy to apply tail paint.

the contract,” Bruce says.

Aidan was aiming to milk around 360 cows so the pair opted for a 30-aside herringbone which could be extended to 40-aside in the future.

“The new dairy had to be a good one-person shed with good drafting. We spent a lot of time looking at herringbones to see what worked and what didn’t, and then worked with Gibson Construction to finalise the design of the building and layout of the yards,” says Aidan.

The site for the new dairy is in the centre of the farm, minimising the distance cows walk to and from the dairy, and close to services.

Earthworks to raise the site to a level which would allow effluent to gravity-feed to the storage ponds started in ay .

Construction Aidan and Bruce say the project ran smoothly thanks to Gibson Construction site manager Mark Haywood and foreman Josh Coombs who project-managed the entire construction, liaising with tradies.

AH

LUNDIE

PH 07 578 0030

Page 5 Function and form combine in the Lundie’s new dairy.

Waikato 320 claws are light and easy to handle.

ATR Refrigerations refrigeration unit.

Zigzag rails accommodate cows of varying size and ensure cow comfort.

Construction of the new dairy, which faces east to maximise sunlight, comprises two-metre high concrete tilt panels oversprayed with a paint finish with colour steel panels above. The roof is long-run colour steel and was extended to provide cover for the vet and A race.

The dairy features wider-than-normal drenching races because they wanted “extra room in case we want to add feed bins in the future and it also adds to good cow flow and a nice working environment”.

Zigzag rails accommodate cows of varying size and ensure cow comfort with Ezi-flo pit gates at the end of each row. A hoof handler enables fast and efficient treatment of lameness.

Yards include an Artificial reeding vet race and large circular collection yard with two backing gates. eading ear tags is easy thanks to a step-up rail on either side of the pit. The additional width in the pit also creates space for a pit stand which is used to apply tail paint during mating.

Drafting is easily achieved by one person via controls from the pit into two pens either side of the exit race. orris Waddell Electrical of Timaru undertook wiring for the new dairy, effluent and water pump system. orrison Agri advised and installed the Waikato ilking

Spacious milk room.

Lundie

Systems’ plant, water system, wash down cooler and stock water pumps. The herringbone upa features a single mm milk-line which drains into a receiver at one end of the pit. The mm milk-line means the system will never flood, ensuring uninterrupted, fast milking.

Automated Clusters are the Waikato claw which Aidan and ruce say are light and easy to handle. mart L pulsators with pulse guards limit congestion and oedema in teat tissues during milking, and reduce cow discomfort and mastitis. ltimate electronic cup removers have an Auto tart feature and are easily adjusted for delay before and after milking and for milk-flow sensitivity. Aidan admits he had never used automated cup removers before but wouldn t be without them now saying “they ease and speed up the milking process, making it easy to milk on your own”.

The urricane wash system has a dedicated slug line for washing and a spring-loaded jetter line is easily lowered so cups can be attached for cleaning.

Interior of the dairy is streamlined and spacious.

Timaru refrigeration specialists, AT Refrigeration, installed the refrigeration unit and ice bank. rimary cooling takes place through the plate cooler, and secondary via the ice bank.

Effluent from the dairy gravity-feeds to two wedges divided by a weeping wall. rom there it drains to a series of three settling tanks, the final tank fitted with a pump which takes the effluent to a cu day storage tank. reen water is applied to pasture through three pivot irrigators which are also used for water from the puha cheme.

Dairy fulfils goal Aidan says the dairy was designed so one person could easily milk for the majority of the season, with ruce called on to help from August to ovember for calving and mating and again around the end of ebruary when “cows often lose their enthusiasm for coming to the shed twice a day”. lans are to add a further sets of cups next season.

Aidan says he is very happy with the new dairy and the effluent system, admitting “anyone could come in and milk”. ruce Clare Bayly agrees, saying he is the proof of that.

Page 6

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY

Coast & Country

Unique research role

Chris Barclay, Waikato Milking Systems’ South Island Sales Manager, and JSS’s Nick Smith beside the rotary coupling which is the transfer point for all the services – milk, water, vacuum, power and compressed air.

Lincoln University Farm Manager, Jeff Curtis.

Lincoln University’s Ashley Dene Research Development Farm new dairy (left) with science laboratories and covered yards (right).

The new dairy at Lincoln University’s Ashley Dene Research & Development Station at Selwyn plays a vital role in a research programmes aimed at improving the profitability, environmental and welfare performance of dairy and livestock farming systems.

Lincoln niversity established the ha ha effective dairy platform from the original ha Ashley Dene farm in . eff Curtis, who managed Lincoln niversity s esearch Dairy farm since it was first developed, was appointed farm manager of the new research facility. “ rior to , the property was used for sheep and dairy support and so we were presented with a blank canvas which allowed us to design and develop facilities which would enable our research programme,” says eff.

The conversion of the farm commenced in ebruary and

included a bail Waikato ilking ystems rotary dairy with Afi ilk technology, extensive animal handling yards, a feed pad and series of stand-off pads complemented by science laboratories, offices and conference rooms. The dairy platform was subdivided into paddocks, with two troughs per paddock.

“The primary research project for the farm is to understand the extent and effect of nitrate leaching on the stony soils which are common in the Canterbury region. The farm is a research, not a commercial, dairy farm and so the stocking rate is modest with spring calving cows, and autumn calving farmed under system .”

54 bail in 60 bail footprint eff says the Waikato ilking ystems bail rbit concrete rotary has been installed in a dairy sized for a bail platform “to provide plenty of observation room for the groups of people who will be visiting the farm”.

Dave cCrea uilders were called on to construct the m2 buildings which would house the rotary platform and research facilities in a six month job which included the design and erection of the buildings, all concrete work, yards, feed and stand-off pads, and silage storage bunkers.

Industry showpiece The dairy building specialists constructed Lincoln niversity s first research dairy, six years ago, and principal Dave cCrea said they were delighted to construct what has become a showpiece.

“The large footprint for the dairy – big enough for a bail platform – creates a very spacious environment. ince completing this dairy we ve shown two clients back and they have both decided to include the additional space because it creates an environment which is easy to keep clean and tidy, and a pleasure to work in,” says Dave cCrea.

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Page 7

Two lanes in the e lane feed pad enable the tractor to ef iently lay feed against the side of each feed lane.

The farm’s conference room.

Reporoa ngineering er flo a ing gate enables one herd to be held ahead of the gate, and one behind.

T o s uare olle tion yar s enable the herd to be held in a number of different sized mobs depending on the research requirements.

The dairy and research facilities are clad in refrigeration panels, with tilt concrete panels for the underpass into the centre of the pit with a long-run steel/clearlite panel roof. The science laboratories and conference room feature are fully insulated with suspended ceilings.

Dave says more than 2000m2 cubes of concrete were required to construct the floor of the dairy and research facilities, stock yards, feed pads and silage bunkers.

Nairn Electrical, who provide specialist farm electrical services across the greater Canterbury region, undertook all electrical wiring for the new dairy, science laboratories, effluent pumps along with lighting for the feed and stand-off pads.

Full herd management software James Silver Smith advised and oversaw the installation of the new dairy. Nic Smith says Lincoln “wanted a system that would give the level of data they needed for research purposes. The combination of Waikato ilking ystems and the Afi ilk software gives them a full herd management software system with a high level of data they can use for reporting and other research functions.

“The . m wide concrete deck of the Waikato ilking

1 No.

!

ury

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an in C

Systems’ tems’ 54 bail Orbit platform protects the milking machine and the uncluttered environment provides operators with the optimum environment for fast, efficient milking.”

“The AfiLight herd management system includes Afi electronic milk meters which gives total milk volume for each animal and can easily be upgraded to AfiLab which provides fat, protein, lactose and conductivity. Each cow in the herd is fitted with a leg pedometer which records activity – one sign of, for example, oestrus. Recordings from the pedometer are automatically collected and correlated when the cow comes to the dairy,” says Nic. The dairy features Waikato ilking ystems martEC electronic cup removers and ail ate traps which keep cows on the platform until they have finished milking. Clusters feature the Waikato claw which is backed by a five–year unconditional bowl warranty. The SmartPULS digital pulsation system opens and closes the liners consistently ensuring cow comfort and limiting congestion and oedema in teat tissues and incidences of mastitis. mart AY automatic teat spray ensures consistent and maximum coverage of the udder regardless of the cow’s position

in the bail and the customisable martWA is programmed for the life of the dairy to automatically clean the milking system and vat. The platform also features a skirt wash.

The dairy’s overhead wash gland wash system enables the platform to rotate while martWA is in operation.

A comprehensive range of dairy detergents is supplied by Ecolab.

Nutrient leaching project The dairy features two large s uare collection yards specifically designed to provide the flexibility re uired by the research programme – the nutrient leaching project, for example, often requiring the herd to be divided into four mobs. Dividing the herd into smaller mobs is facilitated by each collection yard having a eporoa Engineering erdflow backing gate which enables one herd to be held ahead of the gate, and one behind.

The dairy s entrance and exit lanes ensure continuous cow flow for milking, unaffected by research demands.

The yards include an automated drafter with weigh scales, and a long lead-in race to the platform, capable of holding two or three cows, with a large exit yard providing cows with sufficient room to turn and leave the dairy.

LINCOLN UNIVERSITY

Page 8

Coast & Country

The farm s e stan off pa s ea h ith a ifferent surfa e ena le measurement of nutrient lea hing ase on num er of animals and surface.

The wide corridor around the outside of the platform will easily accommodate visiting groups Comprehensive covered animal handling yards have been constructed to one side of the dairy and feature a double-sided herringbone race with a crush system allowing easy collection of urine and blood samples for research. Artificial Insemination is carried out via a veterinary platform in the dairy.

Feed utilisation The Ashley Dene Research Development farm features a uni ue five-lane, angled, concrete feed pad which is utilised every day to feed the herd between one third and half of their diet. The two main feeds are lucerne and maize with fodder beat for wintering and on the shoulders all grown on the farm. Two of the five feeding lanes are wide enough to allow the tractor to feed out, pushing the feed against the concrete barriers for easy access by the cows in the feeding lanes. A flood wash system, utilising green water from the dairy, easily and effectively cleans the lanes.

The farm also has five stand-off pads which are used in winter, Jeff explaining their use is restricted to a variety of surfaces where the cows can stand or lie, but are never fed. esearch

The dairy features Waikato Milking Systems’ BailGate Straps which keep cows on the platform until they ha e nishe mil ing an mart R electronic cup removers. into nutrient leaching on varied surfaces is evident in each of the stand-off pads having a different surface – one carpet, two of stone – each of a different size – and two of wood-chips.

The drainage system under the pads enables the scientists to determine nutrient leaching based on the time the cows have spent on the pad, and the surface. The time cows spend on the pads varies from 12 to 24 hours.

A direct expansion refrigeration unit, which chills the milk from its primary temperature of degrees Celsius down to five degrees, was installed by Dairycool of Ashburton. A silo insulation wrap was applied to the silo for energy saving.

Well designed facitlity Canterbury agricultural contractors, cCarthy Contracting, provide the farm s cultivation, crop sowing and harvesting, fertiliser application along with silage and baleage services.

Water reticulation across the dairy platform was designed and installed by Thinkwater of Leeston.

The farm s effluent system includes an aerobic pond which overflows into a second pond from which green water is

The interior of the dairy is light and uncluttered. extracted for irrigation to pasture via two pivot irrigators. Each pivot has a Variable Rate Application system which determines and controls the optimum application rate.

The build commenced in arch with the dairy commissioned ready for calving in August with the remainder of the project – science laboratories, feed and stand-off pads – completed by eptember .

As they come to the end of the first season in the new dairy, eff says “the new shed is functioning really well. It s designed to be a one person shed but generally we have two people simply because of other things going on. “ ntil now, the traffic flow through the farm has been relatively light because it’s been early days but this will ramp up in the future. The facility has been designed to provide visiting groups with good observation points and meeting rooms.

“The topic of our current research programme, nutrient leaching, is of interest to a wide range of people beyond the farm gate so we expect a sustained level of interest and support for what Clare Bayly we re doing here,” says eff.

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CLOVERDALE

Page 10

A family

affair It’s a family affair on the Cloverdale dairy farm at Waitaki in Northern Otago.

Parents Adri and Francee Verbakel emigrated from Holland in 1983 and today have farming interests in the North Otago region.

When it came to converting the 150 hectare Cloverdale farm from cropping to dairying, son Rob project-managed the conversion, while daughter Katie and her husband Will came home to work alongside farm manager Derek Rutherford.

Adri says, prior to the conversion, Kate and Will lived in Auckland. “Will was due to come out of the navy so we talked to them about going farming – that coincided with the property in front of our homefarm coming on the market so we bought that and converted it to a dairy farm.

“Rob did all the homework and project-managed the conversion.”

The conversion started in February 2016 with the objective of having it completed for the start of calving on July 20, thanks to Rob’s sound project management skills and everyone “committed to getting it completed”, the first milking took place one day earlier, on July 19.

Pinpointing optimum position The farm is under irrigation and the waterway from the Lower Waitaki Irrigation Scheme runs through

Coast & Country Francee and Adri Verbakel, daughter Katie VerbakelSinclair and husband Will, and farm manager, Derek Rutherford.

Don the Dog, ready for work. the property. The property was subdivided into 30 five hectare paddocks with the dairy positioned in the centre of the farm, making best use of irrigators and minimising the distance the cows have to walk to and from the dairy. The goal, to milk cows in the first season with the option of increasing to 600 cows, saw Adri and Francee decide to build a 50-bail rotary.

“We wanted an efficient one-person shed and didn t want a lot of technology that wouldn’t be utilised,” Adri says. “We built the shed when payout wasn’t great so we decided to include all the things which would make it efficient and easy for one person to milk and leave out the ‘nice to haves’.”

The optimum position for the new effluent ponds was adjacent to the dairy, with soil from the pond excavation used to raise the site of the new dairy.

As the site was developed so too were plantings of New Zealand natives – around the dairy and screening the effluent pond – with more than planted to date.

The new dairy – from the tanker loop.

The building is clad with refrigeration panels.

All about the flow The building is clad with refrigeration panels and has spacious office, milk room, pump and utility areas.

The large circular collection yard features two backing gates and a comprehensive set of animal handling yards.

Achieving smooth cow-flow onto and off the platform to the exit race and/or animal handling yards or loading race was achieved by ensuring the platform has an anti-clockwise rotation.

Exterior shot of the dairy showing the extensive animal handling yards.

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Page 11

GEA area sales manager Simon Knight and Brett Duncan of Waitaki Dairy Solutions.

The cows’ view – interior of the dairy.

GEA iC330 clusters have ergonomic bowls which slope towards the dropper facilitating high flo .

The dairy currently does not have automated drafting and the number and location of the drafting yards means manual drafting is easily and efficiently achieved with two people.

Brett Duncan of Waitaki Dairy Solutions advised and installed the EA milking system and all plumbing for the dairy.

The -bail EA i L W platform has a double beam carriage roller system with nylon rollers spaced at mm which minimises point-loading, reduces the need for maintenance and are good for the life of the platform. The only regular maintenance re uired for the EA i L W platform is to replace the automatic greasers on the platform and centre-gland once a year.

There are no feed bins in the dairy, or plans to install them, but the wide platform provides valuable walk space around the inner circumference of the platform.

The iCONVEYOR rotary milking system includes EA iC E automatic cluster removers complete with drop down cow restraints and in-bail teat spraying.

Designed to meet the needs of high-yielding cows, the uni ue oval shape of the EA iC clusters have ergonomic bowls which slope towards the dropper, facilitating high flow. They are easy to handle and have a rubber bumper cushion which protects the cluster from impact against the concrete deck if they are kicked off.

The EA i D in-bail teat sprayer is extremely effective and cost-efficient, ensuring coverage of the udder immediately after the cups have been removed and while the teat orifice is open.

The i TELWA automatic pre-programmed wash system features a pre-set wash programme which cleans the milking plant and vat at the touch of a button. The automated platform

Cloverdale

Drop down system ensures clusters go under the bridge, preventing damage to rubbers.

More than 500 native plants beautify the grounds of the new dairy.

wash, supplied by the washdown pump, saves labour and time.

The dairy system is future proofed so it can easily keep pace with new technology for example automated drafting can simply be plugged in. amaru s rosnan efrigeration installed an energy-efficient ari-C L system that snap-chills the milk to sub-six degrees and has a high-grade heat recovery to a maximum of degrees Celsius and L per hour.

A comprehensive range of dairy detergents is supplied by Ecolab.

Ticks all the boxes Adri and rancee s daughter atie and her husband Will admit they were Aucklanders keen to get back to orth tago where Will works as IC to herd manager Derek utherford s daughter, with atie working on the farm during the peak.

Around of the crossbred herd were heifers which needed to be trained by Derek and atie to the rotary. ow that the herd is accustomed to the rotary platform, cow flow is excellent, taking two hours for one person to milk with another member of the team on-hand if needed.

Artificial Insemination is done on the platform and Adri says the A technician says the dairy s vet stand is “one of the best he s ever used everything is under cover, there s plenty of room and there s a bench within reach for e uipment”. arm manager Derek utherford admits this is the first time he has used a EA ilfos plant, but he s won-over by its simplicity and reliability.

Looking back, Adri says the original goal was to build a really efficient one-person shed “and we ve done that. The staff are really happy, so we re happy”.

Clare Bayly

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Page 12

The right

Large footprint enables room spe i ally for pumps.

Coast & Country Yards were designed to complement the base of the centre pivot.

builder

Herd manager Brent Bundy and Jason McKenzie in the covered, well-lit vet race.

Leeston farmer Jason McKenzie believes one of the most important things to get right when considering a new dairy is the choice of builder.

“As a farmer you can jump up and down when things aren’t going well, but it’s the person who is at the centre of the project, the builder, who ensures contractors and supplies are onsite when they’re needed. His relationship with the trades is the closest guarantee you’ll get that the build will go to spec, budget and time.”

Jason should know. When sharemilking he was involved in the construction of a new dairy and recently commissioned the second of two rotaries on adjoining farms he and his wife, Jade, own at Leeston.

The couple started as sharemilkers in Taranaki and moved to Southland in 2001 to “chase big jobs”. Their ultimate goal was farm ownership and this was achieved in 2009 when they purchased a 190 hectares mixed farm in Leeston.

“We were sharemilking a large herd on another farm at the time and converted the new farm to dairying, building a 54 bail rotary, and appointed a manager to milk the then 700-cow herd,” says Jason.

Four years later, Jason and Jade purchased an adjoining 190ha crop and vegetable farm. Jason recalls the new farm “was virtually one big paddock” requiring comprehensive conversion – pasture, fencing, water reticulation, effluent system – and a new dairy.

Combined, the two farms have 46 paddocks and a further 12 on a lower terrace. Each paddock has two troughs.

Water reticulation and irrigation across both properties was undertaken by Think Water of Leeston.

Refinements needed “Our experience with the new shed on our sharemilking job and our first conversion here led to some refinements when it came to building the

Feed bins have high walls preventing the cows from dropping feed into the centre of the dairy.

Crostan

second dairy,” says Jason.

Uppermost was the size of the building – large enough for a 60 bail rotary, but housing a 54 bail.

“We wanted a spacious dairy with plenty of room around the outside of the platform creating a great working environment,” says Jason.

The larger footprint also allowed the inclusion of two spacious offices, one specifically for computers and technology, and a room separate from the pump room to store minerals and chemicals.

Dave McCrea Builders, who have earned a reputation in Canterbury for building large, spacious, efficient dairies, were contracted to build the McKenzies’ new dairy. The company also undertook all concrete work and designed and oversaw the construction of the yards.

The optimum positioning for the new dairy, in terms of

cow and tanker access, was to the south which meant it would not get morning sun – however, Jason says milking is normally over by the time the sun comes up so this isn’t an issue.

The location of the centre pivot, adjacent to the dairy, influenced the layout of the yards which include a well-lit, under cover vet race, large collection yard, automatic drafter and extensive animal handling yards. Contingency planning is evident with gateways wide enough for a tractor.

All pipework and gates were constructed and installed by Cashmere Engineering.

Natural light Cladding is refrigeration panels with tilt concrete panels for the underpass allowing access to the centre of the pit.

The long-run steel roof is supported by steel bird-proofed rafters and includes Clearlite panels bringing natural light into the dairy.

CROSTAN

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Stone trap, foreground, with two effluent pon s.

The size of the vet and surrounding area is “fantastic” according to the AI technician and vet.

Artificial Insemination is done on the platform via a vet stand which the A technician and veterinarian describe as “fantastic”. It is easily raised and lowered with ample room for the technician or veterinarian.

When it came to a milking system, ason chose ead Industrial as he “had a bit to do with their systems when farming in Taranaki” and liked their simplicity and reliability. ead Industrial sales manager hil ead is the greatgrandson of the company s founder, ack ead, and says reliability is at the heart of ead systems. “ ur mechanical pulsators are simple and bullet-proof with no issues around uneven milkings or blockages and therefore have no ongoing service or maintenance costs compared to other systems.”

Good preparation Technology includes ml capacity clusters, electronic cup removers and bail straps which hold the cows on the platform until they have finished milking.

The ead Industrial circuit wash system consists of a large bore four inch milk line with a valve at the receiver can end, hot water cylinders and a water reservoir. The valve remains closed during the wash process allowing water to flood the main milk

line. During milking the circuit wash line provides a looped vacuum ring to maintain stable milking vacuum. An overhead wash gland allows the system to wash while the platform turns.

Electrical wiring for the milking system, irrigation and pumps were undertaken by airn Electrical. erd manager rett undy and his wife helley started working for ason on the original Leeston farm seven years ago.

In preparation for the new conversion, between and cows were milked through the original dairy for two seasons, with half the herd transitioned to the dairy for the first milking on ovember , . oth farms operate ystem feeding systems with the cows fed wheat on the platform at every milking. akaia Engineering designed and installed the galvanised steel silos and augers which deliver feed to the cows at every milking.

Effluent from the new dairy gravity feeds through a stone trap to a solids pond from which solids are left behind by an uphill line which takes greenwater to storage in two effluent ponds. The farm s three pivots irrigate effluent and water across the farm. iking Containment supplied and installed Agri hield D E Liners to both ponds. The Agri hield liner system

Manuka Provenances

Kaitaia

Coromandel

Marlborough

East Cape

Wairarapa

Taranaki

Page 13

One Read Industrial pulsator controls two sets of 280ml cups.

Phil Read is the greatgrandson of the founder of Read Industrial.

was selected based on providing efficient installation with m wide panels, reliable seam welding and comprehensive testing with a full uality Control and Assurance report. The same exacting standards re uired for municipal wastewater treatment ponds have been adopted for dairy effluent containment, providing environmental protection and compliance.

Easy, simple & quick rett undy says the new dairy is different to anything he s milked in. “It s very simple, easy to operate, and uicker than the other shed – and it s very reliable we haven t had to stop once to fix anything since the first milking back in ovember.”

“This is the third shed I ve been involved in and you learn something from every build. It s made a tremendous difference to the efficiency and productivity of both farms. In the two seasons leading to the commissioning of this dairy it took six or seven people most of the day to milk around cows. ow we only need one person in the shed during milking with another bringing in the next herd, freeing the rest of the team to work around the farm.

Clare Bayly “It s a great dairy.”

HOLLAND DAIRIES

Page 14

Canterbury conversion If there is a better place to milk cows in the world than New Zealand, Canterbury farmer ohn ray doesn t know where it is. ohn, originally from Britain, has farmed both here and in the United Kingdom and says New Zealand has so many advantages.

Coast & Country

Holland Dairies

The new dairy with the Southern Alps in the background.

“When it comes to developing a new farm there is a wealth of technical knowledge and expertise available in this country, which makes the whole process run smoothly.”

John recently completed the conversion of his third dairy farm in Canterbury after emigrating from the UK with his wife and family 15 years ago.

“I worked in NZ when I was 19 and it made a mark on me. I always wanted to come back,” says John. “We were dairying in Cumbria milking 160 cows and I always had a desire to return to NZ. I thought there was more opportunity here.” ohn s first farm was a hectares dairy farm at reendale milking cows. In eptember , the shed was metres from the fault line in the . reendale earth uake and sustained significant damage to the running gear and foundations of the rotary platform. It needed to be completely rebuilt in . is next conversion was the neighbouring property, which now milks 900 cows.

Replicating success Then in ohn purchased a ha cropping farm near heffield with the objective of developing a -cow dairy platform.

“It s been said that the most efficient Canterbury dairy farm, in terms of staff time and the distance cows have to walk, is ha milking around 750 cows so that’s the model I’ve worked to.

“We built new dairies on the reendale farms – both -bail with EA milking systems – which are now years and six years old respectively. They’re good sheds to milk in and so we largely replicated the build on this farm,” says John.

The site for the new dairy is in the centre of the farm, minimising the distance cows have to walk and providing an efficient paddock layout.

Earthworks for the dairy, including raised mounds to allow the pivot irrigators to pass over the roof of the dairy and effluent ponds, were carried out by Alex ason Contracting. The company provide a range of services from tree removal to earth moving across the Canterbury area from Rangiora to Selwyn.

Construction of the new build, which is positioned facing northeast for maximum sun and shelter, commenced in with the goal of beginning milking in ebruary or arch the following year. ural uilding olutions principal igel odges says he was delighted to be asked to construct and project manage ohn s new dairy.

Farm owner John Gray with farm manager Filipe Casagrande and his partner Katyrena Stasiy.

The dairy’s underpass makes it easy to access the centre and move from one side of the dairy to the other.

HOLLAND DAIRIES

PH 07 578 0030

Charles Ellis, of Barnhill Engineering, who designed, manufactured and constructed the yards.

GEA area sales manager David Jones.

The interior of the dairy showing the raised vented roof, which minimises condensation during late-winter and early-spring.

Sustainable Water’s design and project management expert Chris Gibbs.

Page 15

High inner sides of feed bins avoid cows spilling feed into the centre of the dairy.

The colour of the cladding, Dessert Sand, adds to the dairy’s aesthetic appeal.

The ‘tanker side’ of the dairy showing the earth mounds allowing the pivot irrigators to pass over the roof of the dairy.

“We specialise in ‘high end’ farm dairies – buildings which are constructed to the highest standards – and we’ve been privileged to build a large number across the Canterbury and upper South Island regions.

High-end dairies “Our dairies are functional, aesthetically pleasing and innovative. One example of this innovation is the dairy’s raised and vented roof, which minimises the condensation caused during late-winter and early-spring, when the heat from the cows hits the cold steel roof. Our roof vents let the hot air escape, significantly reducing condensation in the dairy.”

In consultation with John, Rural Building Solutions designed the new dairy, laid out and oversaw the site development with construction manager Alan Deane onsite for 10 of the

14-week build to oversee and co-ordinate every stage of the project.

The building is clad in colour-coded refrigeration panels. “A light brown colour that softens the whole project so it’s not a white building in the middle of the paddock,” says Nigel.

The roof is long-run iron with clear-light panels supported by bird-proofed Rectangular Hollow Section – or RHS – beams.

Stocker Dairy Services of Ashburton installed the all GEA system, which features a GEA Milfos 54-bail iFLOW rotary platform with hydraulic drive and a double beam roller system providing stability and strength, minimising the chance of the platform jumping off the rollers during an earthquake.

Stocker Dairy Services director Shane Stocker says the platform’s roller system reduces point loading with tensioners maintaining nylon roller

alignment, auto lubrication and the absence of a wear strip reducing the need for maintenance.

The nylon rollers are hard-wearing, quiet and should last for the lifetime of the platform.

“The iCONVEYOR rotary milking system includes GEA iCORE automatic cup removers complete with dropdown cow restraints and in-bail teat spraying.

“Designed to meet the needs of high-yielding cows, the unique oval shape of the GEA iC330 clusters makes them easy to handle. They also have a protective bumper, which minimises damage if they are kicked off,” says Shane.

The GEA iPUD in-bail teat sprayer effectively applies teat spray to the udder at the optimum time, immediately after the cups have been removed while the teat orifice is still open.

And the iNTELWASH automatic preprogrammed wash system features a pre-set wash programme, which cleans the milking plant and

vat at the touch of a button. The automated platform wash, supplied by the wash down pump, saves labour and time.

When it came to the design, manufacture and construction of the yards John called on Barnhill Engineering, a business he’d worked with on his other farms.

Tailored yards Barnhill Engineering has a range of standard yard designs that can be tailored to suit the uni ue configuration of each dairy. The company manufacture all gates at their heffield workshop with railings added onsite. The new dairy features a large collection yard complemented by a comprehensive set of side yards, which feature a half-round yard, head bail/crush and Wrangler hoof handler to make it quick and easy to treat incidences of lameness.

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Page 16

Coast & Country

The airy s spa ious mil room.

The farm s multi stage effluent system a slope s reen effluent separator m settling pon an m storage pon .

Brazilian Filipe Casagrande, and his partner Katyrena Stasiy, had worked for John as a herd manager on one of the Greendale farms and were promoted to manage the new conversion, with the first milking taking place in ebruary 2017.

“We brought cows from one of the other farms and milked at the start just to get going, but will be at full strength for the start of the 2017/2018 season,” says Filipe.

“The cows transitioned to the new dairy really well because the platform rotates in the same direction as the other farms so, essentially, it was the same environment. Cow flow is excellent, facilitated by a long lead-in to the platform.

“We’re aiming at having two people on for each milking – one in the dairy and the other bringing the second herd in and helping with cleaning up etc. Currently, it s taking minutes to milk cows so we anticipate we

The long lea in to the platform makes it easier to train o s to the rotary.

The ari snap hiller ui ly an ef iently hills the mil .

will milk cows in two hours, morning and night,” says Filipe.

Cows are fed soy hull at each milking, the dairy s automation system enabling them to control whether a cow gets fed based on her production or ody Condition core.

The farm has been subdivided into paddocks, with two troughs per paddock. The entire farm is irrigated by centre pivot. rom ctober , the water will be sourced from the heffield Irrigation cheme, which is part of Central Plains Water.

When it came to milk cooling, John opted for a ari-C L snap chiller from outhfreeze Refrigeration. ari-C L features a touchscreen, giving live reporting on chiller and product data. This also allows remote connection to the chilling system by farmer and engineer, providing easy oversight of such things as the milk holding and inlet temperatures, chilling parameters,

The GEA Focus Our business is focused on you as a New Zealand dairy farmer.

settings and alarms. The system can also to set to send a text message when alarm is activated.

Generating savings “It was more expensive than conventional refrigeration systems but I liked the concept, the technology, and the savings it generates with water heating,” says John.

“It has a five-year payback and its ability to uickly and efficiently chill the milk to five degrees Celsius before it goes into the vat gives a lot of reassurance around the uality of the product you re generating.”

Water and effluent storage specialists ustainable Water advised and planned the effluent system concept and lined the effluent ponds with 1.5mm high density polyethylene – known as HDPE. Stocker Dairy Services supplied and installed the farm s EA effluent system, and ural uilding olutions completed the concrete work for the effluent

sump and solids drying pad.

Effluent gravity feeds from the dairy into a sump that houses a EA pump stirrer, which then feeds a EA slope screen effluent separator for the first stage of separating solids from li uid. rom there, the li uid goes into a m settling pond with green-water passing through a balance pipe to a m storage pond. This multi-stage approach results in relatively clean water going into the large lined effluent pond providing one month s storage.

At this stage effluent is irrigated onto pasture via a travelling irrigator but in time, the farm will utilise the farm s centre pivots for effluent discharge.

With three dairy conversions under his belt ohn says “You learn a bit as you do each conversion and apply those lessons to the next project”.

And when asked if this is the last conversion, he says “You never say never”.

Clare Bayly

Our aim is to help you achieve your goals with products and services that future-proof your investment. Offering a total product solution, that’s backed by local support and service; we’re focusing on your farm.

Focus on maximising production with GEA, contact us on 0800 GEA FARM.

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Page 17

The Bio-Circle

TM

The single-most important concept for farmers to understand

What every farmer wants

What gets transferred?

Every farmer is in business to make a decent return.

To have that healthy bank balance, you need to be producing enough milk, which is the by-product of your cows being healthy and productive.

• Nutrients get transferred: balanced or imbalanced • Organisms get transferred: both beneficial and disease-causing • pH levels get transferred: helpful or detrimental

For your animals to be healthy, your grass needs to be plentiful and nutrition-rich

3 things to grasp about this transfer of biology: 1. The transfer is unavoidable 2. The transfer can either work for you or against you 3. Every farmer chooses the state of his farm’s Bio-CircleTM

Your Soil is a grass-growing factory Just like a typical factory, your soil is filled with workers. Within 1m2 of soil live trillions of beneficial organisms: bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, anthropods, and earthworms.

These organisms are labouring to make tonnes of healthy grass for your herd. Without this underground workforce, nothing grows. Here are some of the crucial things they do: Mineralise nutrients into plant-available forms Release nitrogen and nutrients for plants to use Increase nutrient retention Suppress disease-causing pathogens Detoxify the soil by degrading toxic materials Improve the accumulation of organic matter Produce plant-growth hormones Ensure root architecture is correct and extensive Enhance soil structure to improve water flow

The single-most important concept to understand...

TM

Forward Farming helps farmers work with the Bio-Circle Effluent Management Remedial Advice Slurry Bugs Product

Slurry Bugs are aerobic microbes that eat pond crust and sludge. Slurry Bugs also convert pond nutrients into plant-friendly form, turning your effluent into an effective fertiliser.

Soil Pond

Bio Circle the

TM

Cow DX50 Dairy Sanitiser DX50 Water Treatment

Soil Testing Fertility Advice Fertiliser Recommendation Feed Quality Assessment

Grass

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to fertilisers.

A balanced combination of 16 nutrients are needed to feed the soil biology and animals.

Farm Management Plan Feed Balancing Pasture Management Feed Budgeting

Your farm is a Bio-Circle

TM

That simply means that every key area flows into and out of other key areas. What’s in the soil goes into the grass. What’s in the grass goes into the cow. What’s in the cow goes into the effluent pond.

What’s in the effluent pond goes back into the soil.

To read more: fowardfarming.co.nz To contact David Law: 027 490 9896

DX50 and Ultimate are sanitising products that are effective and eco-friendly – better at killing pathogens than Chlorine but without harming the good microbes that work for farmers within the Bio-CircleTM.

Page 18

LOW

Coast & Country

Gutted for a new start

Day one and Stocker Dairy Services arrive with angle grinders to demolish the pipework.

The scene inside the dairy with part of the pipework removed.

The cowshed is the heart of any dairy business and transplanting a tired 30-year-old platform and milking system with new technology has revitalised a Hinds dairy operation.

William Low grew up on his parents’ 380-hectare property before going on to Lincoln University and completing a B Com Ag. He worked for Ecolab and then as operations manager for a large farm in Oamaru before returning to the family farm with wife Elizabeth 10 years ago.

“I went back to ‘being the boy’ for a season and progressed from managing the farm to lower order sharemilker and then 50/50. Elizabeth and I are buying half the original farm – 190 hectares. My brother farms the other half of the farm next door.”

The 60 bail rotary dairy shed on William and Elizabeth’s farm was built around 37 years ago and was, at the time, one of the largest rotary platforms in the country. However, more than

The dairy showing the entrance/exit race around the collection yard.

The digger had very little clearance demolishing the platform and concrete within the old shed.

23,000 milkings had taken its toll, the yards were rusting out, and they were experiencing numerous breakdowns with the platform and the pulsators.

“Everything was having to be maintained and repaired a lot,” William says. “The concrete was cracking and although it hadn’t caused issues with inspectors, we knew that time was coming.

There wasn t room to retrofit new technology like cup removers or auto drafting; it was at the end of its life and if we wanted new technology then a new shed was the way to go.”

William recalls the last milking was done on Anzac Day April giving around days to gut the interior and retrofit a new platform and plant for a first milking on August – just under 14 weeks later.

Stocker Dairy Services arrived on the morning of April 27 with boxes of angle grinders and began to demolish the plant and pipe work. By the end of the week all the steel was out of the cowshed with the pipework going to scrap metal and bits and pieces used around the farm.

Options

Gutting the dairy

Options included building a new dairy on a new site, demolishing the old shed and starting again on the same site, or retaining the building and transplanting everything inside.

“And that’s what we did,” William says. “We left the cinder block walls and roof and gutted the building.”

That sounds simple, but the task required a high degree of planning and precision.

Stuart Tarbotton Contractors then came in with their digger and, for the next two to three weeks, worked “with an incredible amount of precision inside the confines of the building”, demolishing everything. Once the interior was gutted, the site was raised three feet, using concrete from the old yards and shingle from the farm so effluent would gravity-feed to the storage ponds.

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With our specilised plumbing team, we can also handle all of your water requirements from domestic leaks through to fire installations and full dairy farm water reticulation systems.

Stocker’s can also make sure you adhere to the latest ECAN requirements by handling your effluent solutions.

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Old meets new – original cinder block exterior now sits alongside refrigeration panel walls.

The new dairy now has a spa ious of e.

William says project management relied on “everyone talking to each other. Shane Stocker, as the installer of the plant, pushed things along because his was the last job and he’d be the one to get flack if the cows were calving and the shed wasn t finished”.

Building company Grieve Construction of Ashburton, was called in to re-line the old building with refrigeration panels and install new offices and a milk room.

Electricity supply to the dairy was unaffected by the rebuild but Laser Electrical of Ashburton was called on to update and future-proof the wiring.

GEA dairy system Shane Stocker of Stocker Dairy Services advised and oversaw the installation of the platform and technology. He says the GEA Milfos 60 bail iFLOW rotary parlour with hydraulic drive and double beam roller system is one of the strongest on the market. “The deck has great weight distribution and point loading thanks to nylon rollers which are 600mm apart. I’ve been installing GEA parlours for around 17 years and have never been called back to swap out any nylon rollers.”

In theory, the new 60 bail platform simply replaced one of the same size but Shane says the reality is that, during 37 years, bails have increased in width to accommodate larger cows, necessitating a great deal of care to install the platform without encroaching on the walk room around the outside.

“The GEA iCONVEYOR rotary milking system includes

Page 19

GEA area sales manager David Jones, Shane Stocker and William Low.

The ‘tanker’ side of the dairy showing the vats, refrigeration unit, water tanks and feed silo.

Low

GEA iC330 clusters and iCORE automatic cup removers and drop-down cow restraints,” says Shane.

GEA iPUD in-bail teat sprayer applies teat spray to the udder immediately the cups are removed and while the teat orifice is still open.

The iNTELWASH automatic pre-programmed wash system has a pre-set wash programme which cleans the milking plant and vat at the touch of a button and the automated platform wash saves time and labour.

The herd is fed barley and molasses in spring and autumn, and during any pinch over summer based on cow condition score.

The new platform features feed bins which have high backs to prevent cows raising their heads while eating and spilling surplus feed into the centre. The effectiveness of this is evident in improved feed utilisation and reduced wastage.

Early starts William says the new platform rotates the same way as his brother’s dairy “so there is no problem if we have to milk in each other’s sheds. We take it in turns to start early each year because there’s no point both of us milking small numbers in each shed.

It’s my turn this year so I’ll be milking slips and early calvings and he will start early next year.”

A comprehensive range of dairy detergents is supplied by Ecolab.

Ashburton refrigeration, electrical and air-conditioning special-

ists Stewart and Holland installed a PattonPack standard refrigeration system that chills the milk in the silo to five degrees Celsius.

Finally, trouble-free milking The first milking in the refurbished dairy took place one week later than originally planned on August 8, 2016 and William says cow flow was excellent “right from the start. We designed the yards to facilitate this with a single entrance race to the platform and three-bail-wide exit yard giving the cows plenty of room to back off the platform and turn around”.

The herd size will increase from 650 to 700 cows in the 2017/2018 season and William and Elizabeth admit they are looking forward to another season with no breakdowns.

“Gutting the old shed and installing a new platform and plant was the right decision. We’ve achieved what we wanted. We’re not getting the breakdowns and stoppages we were getting with the old plant, milking is easier, reliable and consistent. It used to take three of us to milk during mating, but now I can do it on my own,” says William.

“It’s probably taking a little longer to milk in the refurbed shed but that’s largely because it’s a one-man job; I’m doing everything. We’ve kept the same number of staff though and are getting much better utilisation of labour – they are doing other stuff on-farm which wouldn’t have got done before because the shed was so labour hungry.”

Clare Bayly

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WITHELIEDALE

Page 20

A shed for all

SEASONS

Dave Cornwall with his father, Arthur, who played a major part in the conversion.

The new herringbone young Ashburton couple Dave and Alisha Cornwall have built is truly a ‘shed for all seasons’ and one that will grow in line with their budget.

Together with their two children, Paige and Jack, the Cornwalls have just finished their first season milking on a 186 hectare property which previously was the runoff to Dave s parents dairy farm. “ y parents sold the dairy farm but retained the runoff, grazing young stock,” Dave says. “At the time Alisha and I were milking on her parents farm but returned here when mum and dad offered us an e uity partnership which will, in time, evolve into us owning the farm.”

Dave laughs recalling that when his father, Arthur, sold the dairy farm “he swore he d never milk cows again, but here he

Coast & Country

Witheliedale

The AB and vet race has additional cover to protect it from cold winds. is, helping us develop the property and, occasionally, getting in the shed”.

When Dave and Alisha came back to the Ashburton property it was literally a blank canvas re uiring a comprehensive conversion – fencing the property into 23 paddocks, races, pasture rejuvenation, water, irrigation, effluent system, house and a new dairy.

with cows in a herringbone. “You have more time to observe them and see signs of things like mastitis and lameness.”

The site for the new dairy was positioned in the centre of the farm, enabling best utilisation of the two pivots – one to each side of the shed. Brent Jones Contracting developed the site using fill from the new effluent ponds to raise the building site to the re uired level.

Dairy to fit the budget

Construction

“We had a very tight budget which meant we did most of the work ourselves and, when it came to the new dairy, we decided to build a basic -aside herringbone with sets of cups – this would enable us to get the business rolling and allow us to add another sets and technology over time.” ntil this point Dave had only milked in rotary but admitted he looked forward to the increased contact you have

The dairy is positioned to the north, protecting it from southerlies. Rakaia Engineering constructed the cowshed portals which were then erected onsite.

The streamlined herringbone is clad with Long anel refrigeration panels manufactured by Insulation anel and Door. All electrical work was carried out by Young Electrical of Ashburton.

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From full Dairy Shed Installations, to Upgrades, and even the consumables, we’ve got everything to help Keep You Milking no matter what brand of milking equipment you have installed.

With our specilised plumbing team, we can also handle all of your water requirements from domestic leaks through to fire installations and full dairy farm water reticulation systems.

Stocker’s can also make sure you adhere to the latest ECAN requirements by handling your effluent solutions.

490 West Street, Ashburton | www.stockerdairy.co.nz | 03 307 6388

1 No.

!

ury

terb

an in C

PH 07 578 0030

WITHELIEDALE

Page 21 Shane Stocker of Stocker Dairy Services, Dave Cornwall, Glenn Palmer, GEA South Island sales manager and GEA area sales manager David Jones.

Long lead-in allows plenty of room to add another 10 sets of cups.

Concrete for the interior and yards was poured onsite. The large, round collection yard is grooved to minimise cows slipping and features two backing gates – one motorised and the other a stationery wet gate. Yards include an Artificial Insemination race which holds 12 cows.

Variation in cow size prompted Dave and Alisha to opt for a zigzag rail in the dairy because it avoids “larger cows pushing smaller herd-mates”.

The drafting system is innovative, simple and very effective – two drafting gates off the exit yard from the dairy are operated by a rope at the end of the pit, enabling Dave to milk and draft on his own. A series of gates and races enable drafted cows to then be moved to other areas of the yards.

GEA milking system Shane Stocker of Stocker Dairy Services advised and oversaw the installation of the iXPRESS swing arm milking system which provides superior cluster alignment and removes clutter from the pit. GEA iC330 clusters are large in capacity but light, easy to handle and, according to Shane, virtually indestructible.

“Initially it was a plain milking system and didn’t include cup

Auxiliary rooms are spacious and functional.

removers. I caught up with Dave a few months later, however, and the shed had run to budget, giving him the ability to add Milfos iCR cup removers.”

The new dairy has a manual wash system made simple by a ‘Stocker innovation’ – a jetter line which is manually lowered to the ideal height so the operator can easily push the cups on – “avoiding water running down your arms or having to reach above your head”.

A comprehensive range of dairy detergents is provided by Ecolab.

The manual teat spray system is always within reach, with 10 droppers evenly spaced down the pit.

The variable speed vacuum and milk pumps ramp up as demand comes on, saving power and reducing wear and tear.

Water for stock and the new dairy comes from the Rangitata Diversion Race scheme.

‘Milking’s a breeze’ Effluent gravity-feeds from the dairy to a solids pond from where green water overflows into a second pond, leaving the solids behind. Green water is applied to pasture via the centre pivots.

Lake Kainui Farm, Horsham Downs – installed by Total Irrigation

Reymer Farms, Temple View – installed by Total Irrigation

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The iXPRESS swing arm milking system ensures superior cluster alignment and removes clutter from the pit.

The manual teat spray system is always within reach, with 10 droppers evenly spaced down the pit.

Dairycool’s Lee Gilbert beside the direct expansion refrigeration unit.

Dairycool of Ashburton took into account the size of the shed, cow numbers, litres per cow and primary water temperature before advising and overseeing the installation of a direct expansion refrigeration unit. The system chills the milk from its primary temperature of 15 degrees Celsius down to five degrees Celsius before it goes into the vat.

Construction of the new dairy commenced on May 25, 2016, with the first milking taking place nine weeks later.

“We didn t really have a defined project manager,” Dave says.

“Everyone simply knew what they had to do, and got on and did it. The build went really smoothly. “ ilking was a breeze – cows in the first season and one person in the shed. Cow numbers will increase to 500 for the 2017/2018 season. Ultimately, when we have 42 sets of cups, we will have two people in the dairy.”

Consequently 2016 was a demanding year. On the homefront, as the new dairy was being built and the farm converted, a comfortable brick home was being built to accommodate Dave, Alisha, two-year-old daughter Paige and newly-born Clare Bayly son, Jack.

Page 22

LANDCORP AJAX

Coast & Country

Winter milking at Taupo Like all of the Landcorp dairy entrances, the Ajax one is eye-catching. The first thing you see as you enter a Landcorp farm at Taupo is the entrance with beautiful brickwork both sides and the striking signage to let you know you are there.

Tanker entrance encompassing another stunning vista.

Landcorp chose a 54-bail GEA standard design plant for the new shed, which was installed by Mainland Engineering from Taupo.

The platform has the cluster ports coming out through the deck instead of dropping the cluster at the bridge and picking them up again at cups on.

water reticulation, system design and implementation, which ensured that key components were taken into consideration with a large-scale supply system such as this. ey design principles ensured each of the farms gets a sufficient water supply. This includes suitable storage both at the source and at each farm, with backup pumps to enable redundancy in the system for events such as a breakdown or power outage.

The water is supplied to the Ajax farm into cow shed and stock water storage. The stock water is then pumped from this storage through a booster pump station into the infield reticulation system. Storage tanks are also utilised within the infield reticulation system at high elevation points, to enable the reticulation system to be gravity fed.

Key water components

Davieth erheij from Agfirst Engineering Waikato Ltd says this is the tenth farm in the last three years they’ve designed and installed the effluent system for on the Wairakei Estate for Landcorp.

Agfirst designed the entire effluent system including the 3000m3 pond. On the pond is an 11kw mono pc pump that pumps 27,000 litres per hour to a low-rate travelling rain gun.

The Ajax dairy farm water supply is part of a large scale macro system that supplies seven other operational dairy and dairy support farms, sourced from the Waikato River.

AgFirst Engineering Ltd from Te Puke are leaders in stock

Top effluent management

ENGINEERING & DAIRY SYSTEMS

Office / After hours 07 377 2941 E office@mainlandeng.co.nz A 16 Miro S Office / After hours 07 377 2941 E office@mainlandeng.co.nz A 16 Miro Street Taupo • Dairy shed milking plant and water systems • General engineering for the agricultural sector

ENGINEERING & DAIRY SYSTEMS • Feeding systems for herringbone and rotary sheds

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Y EFFLUEN AIR

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AR

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Standard install

“There is no automation – just the standard design,” says GEA Farm Technologies aftermarket and service solutions manager Grant Coburn.

“The system has a G2 bail, which is standard in sheds right now. The platform is a well proven heavy duty double beam with nylon rollers and a concrete deck.

“The system has 4-inch milk lines with stainless steel pulsator lines and iNTELSTART plant controller.

“The plant has all the necessary functionality, such as variable speed vacuum pump drive, milk purge, VSD milk pumps to enhance efficient cooling – and, of course, all of the platforms manufactured by GEA are futureproofed should more automation be required in the future.”

Mainland Engineering undertook the entire install, including the construction and erection of portals for the dairy shed.

D

There is a tree-lined drive leading to the tanker track and the views as you enter this farm are astounding!

The Ajax farm is a 345 hectares effective dairy unit, running 850 cows and about to winter milk for their second season.

The reason for going winter milking, says Landcorp business manager Louis Weitenberg, is that it offered different opportunities and better returns.

Mason Smith is the farm manager and has been with Landcorp for three years. Ajax employs three permanent staff plus Mason as well as casuals at specific times of the year.

Wairakei Estate owns 25,000ha of land that Landcorp has a long-term lease on, with 5000ha that will be going straight back into trees due to unsuitable contour.

Gibson Construction’s Scott Hare, Landcorp’s Louis Weitenberg, AgFirst Engineering Ltd’s Davieth Verheij, GEA Farm Technologies’ Grant Coburn and Landcorp Ajax’s Mason Smith.

N T O F FI TN

E

LANDCORP AJAX

PH 07 578 0030

Page 23

The effluent pon an operation system.

The animal handling area, with the ever-present Race Wrangler.

Currently, this system can apply 1.5mm to 18mm depths over 70 ha, with plans for another pump system doing similar volumes over an additional 70 ha, when Ajax goes winter milk.

A . kW submersible pond stirrer ensures all fibrous solids and suspended solids are kept in suspension and pumped out in a homogenous state to ensure even nutrient application for nutrient management purposes.

The benefits of the mono pump and travelling rain gun is the pump delivers the same flow rate no matter where the irrigator is. Because of its positive displacement the same volume is going out at all times to all paddocks. The irrigator achieves wetted widths of up to 60m over a 400m run.

AgFirst has also recently installed a top-of-theline effluent monitoring system. This includes a weather station and proof of placement. “We are monitoring and alarming soil moisture, effluent flow rate, irrigator pressure, irrigator travel speed, irrigator GPS location and pond storage level,” says Davieth. “With this we are mapping exactly what volume was applied over every inch of the effluent area and at what rate, while ensuring it was done in optimum weather and soil conditions.”

Qubik’s Jason Hare and Mark Craig.

All the polythene pipe that was fitted underground for the water reticulation was fusion welded. “We find this so much more reliable than other products out there,” says Qubik director and Putaruru branch manager Mark Craig.

With the changing rules governing the cooling and storage of farm milk it is imperative that all farms must be fully compliant

by June 1, 2018.

Selecting the right pre-cooling system is therefore a crucial consideration.

Qubik TMC supplied and installed a 50kW chilled water system, which is used to chill the water in a manicon tank to six degrees Celsius before sending through the plate heat exchanger, which in turn gives a milk entry temperature of around eight-nine degrees Celsius.

Two 10hp vat chillers then take over and chill the milk down in the vat to collection temperature.

The heat recovery incorporated into the chilled water unit can get hot water into the cylinders at 60 degrees Celsius, which helps to keep power and running costs lower for the hot water.

“All of the pre-cooling e uipment is made specifically for Qubik and designed by Qubik,” says Qubik director and general manager Jason Hare.

Landcorp Ajax

Specifically designed Qubik TMC supplied and installed all of the water pumps, washdown pumps, dairy water and cooler pumps required for the shed, as well as installing the refrigeration and pre-cooling systems.

Quality dairy yard fabrication Herringbone and Rotary Steel work General Engineering and repairs General alloy and stainless Repairs Certified Welding Truck deck liners Plastic Fabrication MOBILE: 027 4971020

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The calf and implement sheds built by Gibson Construction.

Looking into the drafting pens undercut by shrubbery.

“We’ve been supplying and installing pre-cooling solutions for about 10 years now.”

Well thought-out design Gibson Construction from Taupo was contracted to do the dairy shed build and project manage the building aspect of the project.

Gibson Construction regional manager and project manager Scott Hare says his company project-managed the build, built the implement shed, dairy shed, constructed the stone trap and pipework leading to the stone trap, constructed three vat plinths, and the chiller pad.

LANDCORP AJAX

Page 24

Coast & Country

A stunningly beautiful farm.

The centre gland installed

by Arc Engineering.

The spacious shed has good natural lighting. It has a separate chemical room with outside access and a lockable roller door.

It has adequate ventilation and drainage in case of spills. The electrical room is also a stand-alone room.

There is a good size staff room and office, as well as the usual toilet, plant area, storage room and pump room. The pump room has been fully insulated with silencer batts to reduce noise from impacting in the dairy, it is also well ventilated and has concrete floors and walls.

The vet area is in the corner by cups-off and is well set up with a lockable drugs cabinet and vet platform.

Outside and backing onto the vet corner is an animal handling area, which is fitted out with a popular ace Wrangler. The ace Wrangler is a proven method of handling animals, making hoof trimming a breeze, and is unbeatable for calving cows. The vets love the Wrangler because it makes their job so much easier.

Total yard solutions Arc Engineering Taupo constructed the vet platform and the large . m round yard, both backing gates and vet platform.

The backing gate has a yardwash scraper attached to the bottom of the gate with five high-powered hose nozzles strategically placed to effectively remove all effluent from the yard. This means no hosing down is required at end of milking. The effluent is sent down into a drain with yet another high-powered hose nozzle inside the drain pushing the effluent down into the stone trap.

The electric centre post on the backing gate has a cover to protect the electrical glands which are also supplied by Arc Engineering. These have 12 x 10 amp supply and 6 x 2 amp signal inputs/outputs that more than cover most agricultural applications.

Standing in the tanker track looking towards the new shed.

The PPP Industries feed silos.

No bridging on silos There are two tonne Industries silos fitted with automated vibrators to stop Palm Kernel Extract bridging in silos. Each silo has a site glass to view feed level and has safety cages on the ladders.

The auger line into the shed, connected to both silos is powered by a three-phase . kW drive unit. The feed system is controlled by a PPP Industries’ PLC controller. There are ‘auto miss’ sensors for empty bails and cows doing a double lap of the platform.

Feed is dispensed into continuous stainless steel trays. The feed trays are laser cut with absolute precision so they follow the breast rail around the platform. The trays have a lift-out section so access into the centre of the shed for maintenance is easily done.

Proven paintwork All the block-work has been coated with an acraflex coating by Dairy Wall Coatings from amilton. The acraflex is acid and alkali resistant making it easy to clean – even without highpressure hoses.

Acraflex meets the stringent standards demanded in the modern dairy farming environment and comes with a 10-year

The GEA milking platform. guarantee. Dairy Wall Coatings owner reg ulton says the acraflex coating is compliant, convenient, attractive and practical and has proven itself in hardworking environments throughout Australasia for more than 30 years.

The Ajax farm is still in development with ha of pine still be harvested. Lowering nitrogen leaching is also on the plan for the Lois Natta future of this farm.

PH 07 578 0030

LANDCORP AJAX

Authorised Grundfos dealer

Page 25

GRUNDFOS ®

SINGH

Page 26

Coast & Country

Two-generation enterprise

Singh

The Singh’s new dairy platform was imported from Yarroweyah, Australia.

For Gunna and Kuldeep Singh a new dairy shed became a necessity when they purchased a neighbour’s farm across the road on State Highway 30, Upper Atiamuri, from their 76 hectare dairy farm.

They’ve been dairy farming on their original farm since 1989 and had an older-style 20-aside herringbone shed.

Gunna and Kuldeep are keen to keep up the family tradition like Gunna’s parents, who gave

them their opportunity.

So now their daughter Mellina and her husband Manpreet are taking charge in the new shed, utilising their enterprising technology and their love of the herd.

The addition of the 74 hectares across the state highway means they can grow and develop the dairy farm into a two-generation enterprise.

But the build, like most new dairy sheds, was not without its challenges. The need to build an underpass to ensure the new land was fully incorporated and the build of a 50-bail rotary, while still milking 370 cows through the old

shed, proved to be challenging.

“Our old shed was built in the early-1970s, its best days were gone. The shed on the new block was in the wrong place and with only a 12-aside herringbone. So this was a good opportunity to build new,” says Gunna.

He has a simple but effective dairy farming theory. “Feed them well. It’s not rocket science.

“You wouldn’t perform well if you only got breadcrumbs; cows need to be looked after and fed morning, noon and night to ensure good production.”

But building the shed Gunna says time was against them. “It was April 2016 when the first peg was hammered into the ground. We

encountered no major problems except the shed not being operational until October 24 and the underpass was complete October 21.

“Fonterra was wonderful to deal with to get tanker access to the old dairy while new dairy was being built; a temporary track had to be put in. They came out and had a look and we rearranged things to ensure the tanker could get in and out easily.”

Australian influence Because Gunna wanted a shed with the ability to collect data and selectively feed his herd he decided a rotary shed was the answer. Total Effluent Dairy – known as TED – was given the job. They built the shed and supplied and installed the platform, which was imported from Yarroweyah in Australia.

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JIM MARSHALL EARTHMOVING Ph: 0274 315 450 / (07) 3332657 E: jmearthmoving@xtra.co.nz www.jmearthmoving.co.nz Sites - Roading - Driveways - Landscaping Drainage - Effluent Ponds - Tree Felling

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SINGH

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Page 27

il ing olutions o ner lan an en eu el y the platform at the ne ingh airy.

unna ingh in his ne airy she at pper tiamuri.

“This is Yarroweyah’s 3034th platform. They are the biggest dairy platform builder in the world, we are the New Zealand agents,” says TED director and project/quality control manager Trevor Horn.

They number each platform as part of their marketing and to keep a track of where the sheds are built. TED did all the precast concrete work, the structural steel, supplied and installed the platform and the stainless steel milk lines and receiving cans, the full yard, floodwash and all e uipment.

“I took Gunna to look at a couple of other builds and we worked out what he wanted and what he didn’t want,” says Trevor.

“It is a standard shed but it is more open with one complete wall open and half of one side, which creates great airflow while still giving plenty of protection from the prevailing weather.

“The cows love it; they are cool and relaxed

Total ffluent airy no n as T uilt the she an supplie an installe the platform.

on the hottest of days,” says Trevor.

“We also did the in-shed feed system and had had experience with Gunna’s previous shed for his feed requirements so he knew us well from that.

“We work hard to get it right – we are only there for the time of the build – the farmer is there for the lifetime, so it has to work well.”

The new shed with the feed system means they can feed all cows the same or can feed individual cows – this is one of the benefits of the rotary feed system that appealed to Gunna.

TED linked up the four silos and mineral dispenser from PPP Industries, which gave options and extra capacity for in-shed feed and calf feed.

PPP silos are the most hygienic option for feed storage and utilisation and the PPP Mineral Systems are a simple add-on to existing feed systems allowing farmer to feed mineral volumes to suit every cow.

Latest technology ABC Milking Solutions, which is the DeLaval agent in Rotorua, supplied and installed the milking plant.

Owner and manager Alan Van Den Heuvel, who has been friends with Gunna Singh and his family for more than 20 years, was pleased to get the job.

Alan says it was a good installation and it all worked well with the builder, TED. “We had a four-week window and were in and out.”

The plant has an automatic wash system, which cleans all of the plant and frees up the staff for other tasks.

The auto-cup removers have the Alpro system and blood and conductivity, which gives individual cow production and performance. The retention bars link in if the cow presents with any issue and come down to hold the cow on the platform so it can be presented again if it hasn’t milked out; or if there is high Somatic Cell Count the cow can be drafted out.

“This Alpro system sets goal posts – movable goal posts which can be manipulated – to allow the shed operator to be made aware of issues and make appropriate decisions or the cow can be automatically drafted,” says Alan.

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SINGH

Page 28

fee

ilos at ul eep ingh s ne pper tiamuri.

ABC Milking also installed the CWC 30 snap-chilling unit to bring the temperature of milk down from 17 degrees Celsius to four degrees Celsius before it goes into the vat. The plant has a DeLaval blower vacuum pump with variable speed drive. And an automatic teat-sprayer completes the platform equipment.

Important necessity In Autumn 2013 Archway Group took on the task of effluent containment for the feed pad, the new cowshed and yards. The installation of a weeping wall feeds into two dry-store bunkers which can contain six months of material.

Archway Group owner Amanda Hodgson says the beauty of it is the low maintenance and ease of operation.

“The Singh operation has good gravity feed, which makes it the perfect system with no mechanics involved. The bunkers only need to be cleaned out once a year.”

Amanda says they can install the sludge beds, the weeping wall and bunkers in less than a week because they are precast in our Te

airy at

il o lein in ith his self reate rangler rush a ital pie e of safety e uipment at any airy she .

Puke system.

Taupo-based Action Electrical owner-operator Ross Deere was happy to be part of the installation of Gunna’s new dairy. “It is a top end shed and has the latest equipment.”

Ross says his company works regularly with TED and so the electrical installation went like clockwork, very smoothly.

South Waikato Water Solutions put in all of the water trenching on the new property including the underpass pumping.

Director Wayne Johnstone says the work on both the trenching and the clean water supply for the new shed plus hooking up the greenwash “all went well”.

A vital necessity The Singh’s new build also has a Wrangler animal crush for hoof trimming and vet work.

Wrangler managing director Wilco KleinOvink says he developed the animal crush from necessity.

Coast & Country

Total ffluent airy ire tor Tre or orn ne t to the platform that as importe from arro eyah ustralia.

“I was a farmer for 20 years and I needed some way to safely and efficiently deal to the animal hooves. I built the first one from scrap.

I knew what I wanted and our vet encouraged us to market it.

“We took our prototype to Fieldays and won awards and the next year took the next model to the new inventions section and won that as well. It’s been a work in progress and this product is the result.

“Safety is a big factor and the Wrangler crush makes it easy for people to use.”

There was a fair amount of earthworks involved in this new build with the need to link up the additional land across State Highway 30. JME Contractors took on this project, including the underpass. Director Jim Marshall says it was quite a mission to get all of the services sorted.

“We project-manage and take ownership of a job and make sure it is completed properly.”

The work included the underpass and races.

JME did all of the preparation and completion of earthworks and ground design for the new shed, a new pullover bay and new tanker entrance.

Keeping it local Atiamuri contractors AT & R Cook played a big part in the new development at Gunna Singh’s property. With the purchase of the land across the state highway it meant an underpass had to be built, paddocks reconfigured, races built.

During the build Gunna had to get the feed from the other farm to keep feeding the cows by cut and carrying every day and he says AT & R Cook contractors were terrific. “ othing was difficult. Whatever we wanted they were only a phone call away and the job was done. They had equipment and the manpower to help make it all happen in a seamless way.”

“We live in a small community together; it’s a no-brainer to use our locals. I know they will do a good job for me and I will look after them.

“I am a big believer in looking after locals first,” says unna.

Fritha Tagg

SINGH

PH 07 578 0030

If you’re thinking of upgrading your milking platform we’ve developed a system planning guide to help you get the most out of the process, regardless of which company’s milking system you choose to work with.

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Standard text costs apply.

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Page 29

Page 30

Basic but quality

TOKERAU A5 TRUST

Coast & Country

Wow what a view! This was not what I expected when I was driving up the lengthy tanker track to Tokerau A5’s new dairy shed. I didn’t feel I had climbed so high and then arrived at the top and looked out over the beautiful kingdom below me. The vista looked right back to the Maketu ocean and beyond to Tauranga, around to Mount Putauaki and Mount Ngongotaha, encompassing the beautiful countryside as far as they eye can see.

Tokerau A5 Incorporation Farm Committee’s Tony Whata, HERDFLOW director and Reporoa Engineering CEO John Perrin, Willie Emery from Tokerau A5 Incorporation’s Farm Committee, behind is Craig and Brandon Crowley from Crowley Excavators t en right from uilt right onstru tion an g rst Central farm advisor Joel Hensman.

I met with two members of the Tokerau A5 Incorporation management team – Tony Whata and Willie Emery.

The incorporation has a committee of management made up of the chairman, two other members of management plus the shareholders.

“Our ancestors originally landed at Maketu and they worked their way from the coast to what we have today,” says Tony.

The land was broken in during the 1930s and 1940s and has been farmed here as part of Ngati Pikiao.

Just to explain a little, Ngati Pikiao is the primary hapu of the iwi Ngati Pikiao and Tokerau connects ancestrally to the Arawa waka and the maunga Matawhaura.

“The land has been drystock from the beginning, but as drystock hasn’t been the best we decided to convert 78 hectares

It starts here.

into dairying,” says Tony. “ or many years it has been uite difficult for aori entities to borrow money, mainly due to the multiple ownership issues and the fact that the land is not for sale.

“We are fortunate to have a banking partner who has reviewed their policies around Maori land, which has enabled us to progress into dairying.”

Tony says land tenure is important to his people. “Our investment in our land is a long-term investment. For our people this is our land and that has a huge significance,” says Tony.

Willie and Tony represent other trusts in the incorporation including those involved in forestry, kiwifruit, dairying and drystock, so they have broad experience in primary production

Tokerau A5

Farm manager Mathew Kahura, his wife Chrissy Kahura, with daughters Ashley and Krystal, who is 2IC, with her daughter Amarni-Rose. and gain advantages from diversity across varying commodities.

There is also a long-term possibility to increase the dairying platform at Tokerau and the incorporation is always on the lookout for other Maori land to lease.

Father-and-son team Crowley Excavators from Whakatane was contracted to do the site preparation, races, effluent pond dig, and culvert installation. They also excavated the house foundations for the GJ Gardner home that was put in place for the manager.

Craig & Brandon Crowley from Crowley Excavators Ltd are a father-and-son team, and started work on the Tokerau project in November 2015. At the time of my visit, in October 2016, they were still on-farm doing tidy up jobs.

PAN E L LEADING MANUFACTURERS OF INSULATED PANELS

Phone: 07 362 8433

TOKERAU A5 TRUST

PH 07 578 0030

Father-andson team, from Crowley Excavators Ltd, Brandon and Craig Crowley.

Page 31

A view from the bail area encompassing the roof, the GEA machinery and looking towards the incredible view in the background.

Looking into the new dairy shed.

Mainland Engineering owner Daniel Gorton.

The smallest tractor on the farm.

The site for the new dairy shed happened to be on a big hill so the first port of call was removing the hill and extending the contour to achieve the area re uired for the build.

A eotech report discovered a soft soil type so to accommodate this extra preparation was re uired to get the foundations correct.

Twenty-eight m holes had to be augured and filled with concrete to make the piles so the builder could build on top of that. A further set had to be done on the site for the implement/ calf shed. The Crowleys constructed a . km tanker track, plus about km of races. ousing is as much an important part of a conversion process as the dairy shed. It s good to see more and more farm owners providing decent accommodation for the people who run their farms. The ardner home has three good sized bedrooms, with the master having an ensuite. It has a study as well as a main bathroom and an internal laundry. lus a double garage with a carport between the garage and main house, which is part of the main house. The house is brick clad

with a metal tile roof and coloursteel facia and guttering. At the time of my visit the landscaping was underway.

Overseeing the operation oel ensman from Agfirst Central has been involved with Tokerau A for about four-five years now.

The incorporation s decision to convert to dairying utilised oel s experience and knowledge to assist with the process. lanning started with consents being done early. And right from the start oel had a very good idea how the farm would work.

The incorporation wanted a cost-effective shed and a cost-effective conversion. oel says they came in on time and under budget. oel ensman engaged cott ckenzie from Agfirst Engineering to design and install the effluent management system. cott says the key challenge was the varying elevations on the farm. “ ut working alongside Crowley

Excavators, ropipe and att, the farm manager, a successful outcome was assured.”

The farm has been set up for cows, but is now accommodating cows.

The farm water is designed to operate under permitted activity to m per day with the ay of lenty egional Council. The water comes from the bore and is then metered at the cowshed. btaining the right builder for the job entails a rigorous selection by Agfirst Central. oel says the selection process is such that they have to take into account not only the uote for the job, but also the uality of work the builder does, the efficiency in which the job is done and also taking into account any past working relationships – and whether or not they have worked well in the past. en Wright from uilt Wright Construction was chosen for the contract on this basis, with oel knowing his work was excellent and he was easy to work with and gets the job done in an excellent and professional manner.

en has built numerous sheds that I ve written articles for and they are all well designed and a pleasure to write about. iven that I m an ex-dairy farmer myself, I can appreciate a well-designed and uality dairy shed.

This shed, while being of basic design, still had some uality features to make it stand out just that little bit more.

The . m overhang on the roof structure was designed and implemented to provide necessary cover for Artificial Insemination and animal handling races. This shed has the usual amenities rooms, such as a store room, toilet, plant room, which are all accessed via a walkthrough office-type area, which has a dropdown bench that can be used for holding the herd test flasks, plus it also houses a lockable drugs cabinet. All the shed walls have been designed for ease of cleaning and are constructed with Long anel s Expanded olystyrene heet – known as E – with a tongue and groove jointing system and roll formed along the edge.

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TOKERAU A5 TRUST

Page 32

Coast & Country

GEA area sales manager Paul Convery

The GEA iCONVERTER.

HERDFLOW director and Reporoa Engineering CEO John Perrin.

The insulated panel comprises of an outer skin of pre-painted coloursteel with a core of CFC-free expanded polystyrene foam. The panels are so easy to keep clean, because the muck just hoses off with ease. “The shed has been built for ease of maintenance,” says Ben. The shed has step-up rails for effortless herd ID and drenching.

There is also a walkthrough on both outer sides of the bails, which in the event of a feed system being installed at a later date will eliminate any issues.

New design ainland Engineering fitted the yard with a new design Reporoa high lift gate from HERDFLOW with ‘I’ beam top rail that the gate runs on. The benefits of I beam

The effluent pon . technology is the gate drives on top of ‘I’ beam and is clamped on with front and back side-mounted locating wheels. They absolutely cannot be de-railed using this technology.

All the gate weight is over one drive wheel giving better traction, better maintenance and no broken axles.

“The good thing about this new technology is that it can be added to the older gates for less than half the price of a new gate,” says HERDFLOW director and Reporoa Engineering CEO John Perrin.

As the High Lift Gate is lowered it pauses at approximately cows’ back height to allow cows time to move away before it lowers fully to the ground.

The gate is also fitted with an audible alarm that sounds when the gate is moving, this

way both cows and milkers are aware the gate is moving. Other features include fast forward and reverse, pulse forward auto stop and the option of a breech sensor to prevent the gate ‘bulldozing’ the cows.

All blockwork is coated in an acraflex coating, which is applied by Modern Coatings from Waiuku. Roger Farley used a six-coat acraflex process with decorative fleck and solvent glaze. This application process makes clean-up time easy for the farmer.

With every new dairy shed build comes a new milking plant. The Tokerau A5 shed has been equipped with a basic 44-aside GEA herringbone system installed by Mainland Engineering from Taupo.

The bails consist of futureproofed twin carry rails, which can have automation bolted on at a later date should it be required.

We are your total product solution As one, GEA has everything you need to produce quality milk.

The system has one pulsator per set of cups and this too has been futureproofed for automation. The standard GEA claws assist with lowering Somatic Cell Counts immediately after you start using them, says GEA’s area sales manager Paul Convery.

This is due to the ergonomics of the cluster shape, which fits the udder perfectly meaning there is no drag on cups whatsoever, says Paul.

An updated vacuum system was installed with Teflon coated veins to minimise noise, meaning the vacuum runs quietly.

“An automatic wash system has been put in place, so basically it’s one push of a button then off home for breakfast,” says Paul.

With milk quality diminishing pretty much the minute it exits the cow, a good quality snap chiller was essential.

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TOKERAU A5 TRUST

Page 33

The lusters hanging up ith ash y le going through.

The

oule effluent system y

The GEA aquaCHILL iCONVERTER is a direct-on-line snap chilling system. The power available for cooling at the Plate Heat Exchanger is only what is produced by the chiller. Glycol circulates through the evaporator to the milk PHE and back to the buffer tank.

The buffer tank provides a ‘thermal shock absorber’ and prevents the compressor short cycling with milk pump switching. The aquaCHILL only runs during milking, thus saving on power.

Fresh water efficiency Also installed by Mainland Engineering is a EA flush system used to clean the yard area.

The unique system is set up using a Houle flush pump, which feeds the two automated flush valves that are set in the concrete at the top of the yard.

At the push of a button the pump sends green water to the valves at about 7000L per minute

arm Te hnologies. to generate an effective flush. This is a high volume low pressure system that adheres to safety standards when using green water.

The system is set up as a ‘closed loop’ – the effluent passes through a sediment trap at the bottom of the yard and li uid overflows into the flush sump where the pump is. It will keep recycling in this closed loop fashion until the yard is clean.

Typically, it only needs to run for one-two minutes per valve. Wash water from the shed and plant cleaning is directed straight into the sump, which helps maintain the flush li uid quality. The system maximises fresh water efficiency and saves on labour.

Rotorua Farm & Industrial Pumping installed all the stock water supply and bore pump for the conversion.

Dan Gorton, who owns Mainland Engineering in Taupo, says his company installed the GEA plant, the shed water system,

The Devan Plastics 30,000 litre water tanks. two 30,000 litre Devan Plastics water tanks at the shed as well as a washdown pump and service pump, the vat water pump and calf milk pumps.

All of the water lines were done in MediumDensity Polyethylene – or MDPE – pipe with fusion welded joints, which ensure long-term efficiency for the water system. All the pipes above concrete are hot-dip galvanised pipe fittings.

The Devan Plastics water tanks are made from MDPE, which meets all the raw material standards for food contact requirements, potable drinking water and polyethylene storage tanks for water.

Hygiene in the farm dairy is of utmost importance. FIL area manager Tony Hooper says Tokerau A uses the finest selection of FIL dairy hygiene products in their new shed.

Tony does regular and semi-regular visits to the shed, dependant on time of year, to keep a

check on product used, and if any further dairy hygiene products are required. He assists with after-service support for the staff, staff training including shed start-up issues, the supply of product – and he also performs system hygiene checks on rostered visits and provides the farm advisor with progress updates.

A family affair Krystal Kahura is the 2IC on the farm with her father Mat being farm manager. Both Mat and Krystal are full-time, with mum Chrissy and sister Ashley working part-time and doing calf-rearing.

Krystal loves the new shed, saying it’s “cool”.

“Milking is a breeze in the new shed, only taking a couple of hours to milk. “And clean-up is easy and the shed is easy to keep clean,” says Krystal.

I enjoyed my visit to Tokerau A5. I loved the views, the people and the farm.

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Page 34

BECKETT

Coast & Country The Beckett’s Barfoote Construction dairy shed.

Beckett

Family values at the fore Now heading into the fourth generation, the Beckett dairy farm is formed upon a base of hard work, dedication and family values.

It is a true testament to these values that the framed photograph of the original farm owners, Isaac and Winnie eckett, hangs proudly within the strong and sturdy confines of the new Barfoote Construction, 54 bail rotary shed. The eckett family first arrived on the otongaro, untly farm in the early 1930s. They worked hard to turn what was then a mostly dense scrub and tea tree property into a functional and workable farm. Isaac and Winnie set the foundations for what the farm is today, starting a love for farming and the outdoors that has stretched through the generations.

Where to next obert eckett followed in his father Isaac s footsteps and along with wife Trish they continued to grow the farm and develop a family business to be proud of. obert and Trish s daughter Verena now holds the reins for the family farm, carrying the title of lower order sharemilker. obert s main role on the farm now is offering well-attained advice and taking pride in the very honourable position of calf rearer. With an increase in the milking platform, milking time was heading towards three hours for Verena in a 20-aside herringbone, causing pressure on staff and the cows. With these things in mind the family decided it was time to explore a larger and more modern shed.

After looking at several new sheds, the Becketts decided

to go with Barfoote Construction for the shed design and build.“They listened to everything we wanted and worked really hard to make it happen,” says Verena.

The outer layer John Hanson, the site manager for Barfoote Construction, describes the 54-bail rotary, 20m x 24m curved concrete precast, architecturally-designed shed as the “ olls oyce” of their parabolic shape designs. John says no two sheds are ever the same as the farmer gets to see the design drawn up Verena Beckett’s young boys, by the draftsman and make any changes necessary to fit their Strauss and Rhyver with Original farm owners Isaac needs. Barfoote Construction did the total build, consisting puppy Zoey. The Beckett’s next and Winnie Beckett’s photo of the shed, yards, loading race and weeping walls for effluent generation of keen farmers. that hangs in the new shed. processing. erena described the build as wow efore the concrete flooring was laid, Donny eill from ivertown Electrical was busy installing the underfloor electrical cables. “ idden under the concrete floor are separate lengths of more than 100m of 50ml duct. These all lead to the switch panel in the vacuum pump/chemical room and are screened from view with a large switchboard metal cover. This keeps the electrical work safe, clean and out of the way.”

The switchboard cover has been separated into five separate compartments with doors clearly labelled. This has made it The original Beckett dairy shed. clear to view and user-friendly for the farmer. ensures the durability of these areas and makes them easy to Keeping it clean clean,” says Verena.

To make sure that all high-traffic and fre uently-washed areas The Becketts use Aakland Chemicals supplied by Jeff Foy – of the shed were taken care of, Bruce Cameron from Specialised Wonder Silver, AC Liquid and Dairy Hypochlorite for plant Coatings was called in to apply the Acraflex coating. “This hygiene, and Teatspan plus for udder and teat health.

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Page 35 The Barfoote Construction loading race.

Donny O’Neill from Rivertown Electrical in front of the switch panel.

The vet and AB area at the back of the dairy shed.

Arthur Harrison and Dave Gray from Tru-Test, Verena Beckett, Gary Feeney from Waikato Milking Systems, Robert Beckett, Grant Pederson from Hutchies.

Waikato Milking Systems has been the supplier for the Beckett’s build, with Gary Feeney being their go-to man.

Verena is particularly pleased with the Centrus Composite Rotary Platform because of its low emission of noise. “It’s so quiet, the cows love it, and you can speak during milking without the need to shout to be heard.”

The Centrus deck is 75 per cent lighter and eight times stronger than concrete alternatives. This decreases wear and tear and reduces maintenance costs. The shed also sports a great automated system provided by Waikato Milking Systems, including SmartECRs – automatic cup removers, SmartSPRAY– a smart spray system and SmartD-TECT – for early detection of suspected mastitis.

Putting it all together Alongside WMS was Grant Pederson from Hutchies doing the installation of the all the milking and water systems.They chose Grant because he was the local agent and he was enthusiastic and dedicated to providing a great and thorough service. “After

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being taken around other farms I knew what I wanted – all the stainless pipework looked clean, tidy and smart,” says Verena, “and rant s installation was flawless”.

The new shed sits more central to the middle of the farm so Grant organised the water lines from the old cow shed to be directed into three 30,000L tanks that sit beside the new shed, supplying the shed’s water systems and the farm. Grant’s team installed a double bank cooler, vacuum pump and two variable speed pumps for cost efficiency.

Dave Gray from Tru-Test was the milk cooling expert on the Beckett job. He worked alongside Grant Pederson to get the water pre-cooling systems perfect. The Beckett’s system consists of an underground energy-efficient concrete water tank which holds the water temperature at seven degrees. This water is then pumped to the second pass of the cooler which in turn allows the milk to be at nine to 10 degrees Celsius when it enters the vat. The vat refrigeration then cools milk down to five degrees Celsius by the end of milking. “This more than beats the new cooling regulations,” says Dave.

Arthur Harrison, area sales manager for Tru-Test On Farm

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Jeff Foy from Aakland Chemicals.

Verena and the Wrangler.

Solutions, was a key advisor on the install of the Becketts’ full rotary system consisting of an automatic drafting gate, In-bail ID, Walk over Weighing, In-bail Feed and In-line Sensors.

This gives them full access to a large range of information on their cows including cow number, which bail she’s in, cow weight, days from calving, individual litres, and animal treatment status, to mention only a few. Being able to access their cow information 24/7 through Tru-Test’s MiHub Dairy erd anagement gives them total control and flexibility over making decisions and managing their herd. Verena particularly loves the In-bail feed control as she can utilise her palm kernel from her PPP silo effectively, and saves wastage. There’s also a smartphone app which allows them to draft out any member of their herd at the end of milking, all at the touch of a button.

Into the future From top to bottom this shed has been designed, installed and catered for with perfection, strength and resilience in mind. Making sure that at every step of the way, future generations of Becketts will have a building and infrastructure to be proud of.

Keely Muir

NGARUA DAIRY

Page 36

Historic farm in good hands

Coast & Country

Ngarua Dairy

When Brent Goldsack asked his business partner and father-in-law Derek Black to check out the potential of a Waharoa farm in 2008, it was “like asking a pig to roll in mud” says Derek.

The pleasure Derek took in exploring rural real estate was compounded when the pair’s tender was accepted by the Candy family, who had farmed the 82 hectares farm for 90 years.

In 2016, Derek and Brent also bought the neighbouring farm of 46.5ha and it was decided a new shed was in order.

“The shed here on the Candy farm was 50-60 years old, and the shed on the new farm was even older,” Derek says.

They decided on a herringbone dairy instead of a rotary milking platform for three reasons – simplicity, low-maintenance and lower cost.

The shed is designed simply but highly spec’d with automatic cup removers, swing-over arms and automated drafting.

“We’ve tried to future-proof, and to ensure all compliance will continue to be met going forward,” Derek says.

Pasture treatment The farm is a system 3 – very much pasture-based, but inputs are fed if needed. Derek says they buy in 80 tonnes of maize silage and 80 tonnes of grass silage a year.

“We also re-grass eight-10ha annually, spray out in the autumn, plant an annual rye grass, spray out again in October, plant chicory – which provides a valuable source of feed through the summer – and put it back into permanent pasture in late March,” Derek says.

Sharemilker James Manusauloa.

Farm owners Delwyn Goldsack and Derek Black.

We’ve tried to future proof, and to ensure all compliance will continue to be met going forward.

Exterior of the shed.

PH 07 578 0030 Last season the herd produced 137,000kg/ms with 430 cows, in a challenging season.

However, in the 2015/16 season the 310-cow herd produced 118,000kg/ms on the 82ha Candy farm.

“We were consistently up to and over 1400kg/ha but a major outbreak of bloat at the end of December had a devastating effect on our season,” Derek says. James Manusauloa is the sharemilker on the farm.

NGARUA DAIRY to complement its surroundings and has a circular yard and backing gate to move cows smoothly into the dairy.

Tirau Welders carried out all the steelwork on-site, including the herringbone shed and yard work.

“Some steelwork was manufactured in the workshop, but a lot was manufactured on-site to ensure the client s specifications were met,” Tirau Welders owner Russell Tye says.

Long view of Derek Black and the Goldsacks’ new dairy.

Blank canvas Kevin Wade from Wade Contractors was presented with a “blank canvas” when he first visited the farm.

“We dug the top one metre of subsoil out, then carted 3000m³ sand from a pile in the corner of the farm to build the site up,” he says.

After compacting and rolling, they used a laserguided blade to level it to exact specifications.

Kevin also completed the tanker track and the races to join the two farms, the bunker for the weeping wall, and the effluent pond.

“As a farmer myself, it was a benefit to be able to make suggestions to Derek, or know what he was talking about,” he says.

“We were there from the beginning right through to the end of the build and have been back since to do additional work. It was a pleasure to work with Derek and the other contractors.”

Gibson Construction designed and built the milking shed as well as the calf shed, project-managing the job from start to finish.

Gibson Construction specialises in herringbone dairies, from the very basic to more complex designs.

“The location of the shed is the key to optimising its performance, and with more than 15 years’ experience building cow sheds, we know a thing or two about the importance of delivering the best shed to fit your site,” Gibson says.

Page 37

Drafting.

Bruce Morley and sharemilker James Manusauloa have a closer look at the milking plant.

All round conditions Herringbone sheds are designed for effective cow flow, for increased milk production good air flow in summer months and warm, dry conditions in winter months noise minimisation to reduce stress on herds and the use of permanent, durable materials to reduce ongoing repairs and maintenance.

The Ngarua Dairy shed is an attractive green colour

Brook Evan of Williams Irrigation.

Waikato Milking Systems swing-over arms.

Bruce Morley of Morley Engineering and Paul McGill of Waikato Milking Systems.

NGARUA DAIRY

Page 38 Jimmy Neal Electrical did all the electrical work onsite, starting from the ground up.

“We did everything from the new mains going into the new build, to a complete wire of the cowshed, chillers, pumps and effluent pond,” immy says.

“It was a really good project for us and it was great to be on the build from start to finish.”

Dairy Wall Coatings is the South Waikato agent for the Acraflex Dairy Wall Coatings ystem.

“In when I first came in contact with the Acraflex system, then put some of it on, it seemed an upside down way of painting,” Dairy Wall Coatings director Greg Fulton says.

“Now, after years of applying it day in and day out, I can truly say that bang for the buck, it’s the best system on the market today.”

The plant started off basic but we’ve added extra technology.

Correct milking a priority Inside the Ngarua Dairy shed is a 40-bail Supa4 herringbone milking plant featuring SmartPuls pulsation and ultimate swing-overs for better cluster alignment, with lightweight claws with a five-year warranty.

Waikato Milking Systems national sales manager Paul McGill says cluster alignment and swing-over arms were high priorities on Derek’s wish-list.

“Derek wanted to ensure the cows were milked out properly,” aul says. “There are two staff operating the shed, but if one has to get a herd in, the cows won’t end up being over-milked.”

The plant integrates a . kw otan milk pump with a variable speed milk pump controller, and a swing-down jetter system for ease of cluster attachment when the plant is in wash mode. The vacuum system is a lower vacuum pump with a variable speed drive attached.

Automated drafting was another requirement so Waikato ilking ystems incorporated a avi ATE automated draft gate.

“The plant started off basic but we ve added extra technology,” aul says. ruce orley of orley Engineering, an authorised Waikato Milking Systems dealer, says they had a very tight deadline to install the milking plant, but they delivered.

“We ended up being given two-and-a-half weeks to get the whole thing up and running,” he says. “It

Coast & Country

Backing gate.

Tirau Welders manufactured all the steelwork onsite, including gates.

was a very busy time of year but everything went very smoothly. We ve been working with Derek and rent for many years.”

Future proofing rook Evans of Williams Irrigation says the system was designed to allow for a feed pad to be built in the future.

“All cowshed effluent is gravity-fed to a double weeping wall system,” he says. “ rom there, green water is transferred to a . million litre storage pond.” tored effluent is irrigated to pasture via a eid and Harrison Yardmaster self-priming multi stage pump and a Williams agnum Low ate Travelling ain un.

The aeroa recast Concrete weeping wall holds six months’ worth of solids on each side, ensuring solids have enough time to dry before being applied back to the land.

Agruline installed the . mm D E liner.

“It was all welded together on-site and pressuretested,” Agruline s arl ogan says.

“The lining has a eotextile under layer and a gas venting network.”

Anne Boswell

Kevin Wade of Wade Construction.

The Williams Irrigation-installed effluent pump station.

The milk vats and refrigeration system.

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Page 39

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Page 40

Coast & Country

The exit race of the dairy.

Work efficiency at its best

uilding a dairy that was custom-made for an evolving farm business was the catalyst for orrinsville farmer oss owman to move from an old rotary milking platform to a brand new herringbone.

Milking 450 Kiwicross cows on what was his wife Joanna’s family farm of 160 hectares, Ross wanted a farm dairy that would be the first step in amalgamating a farm that is essentially separated into three blocks of e ual size.

The new shed is centred between the three blocks, resulting in less walking distance and contributing to fewer cases of lameness.

“Each block – the home farm, the neighbouring block purchased four years ago, and the lease farm – has its own water pumps and troughs and is basically set up for herds of smaller sizes,” he says.

The old farm dairy, sitting adjacent to the new shed, is a -bail rotary that was processing cows twice a day, every day – a time-consuming exercise to say the least.

“Last year we decided to go with a -aside

herringbone dairy as we felt we were not uite big enough to justify a rotary,” oss says.

The improvement in work efficiency has been substantial. “ ilking time has halved,” he says. “It used to take four hours in the old shed, and now it takes two hours at the most.”

Contract milker Alan Jumawid, who employs one full-time staff member, says the acclimatisation of the cows to the new shed was gradual, but uick overall.

“We spent the first week just letting the cows familiarise themselves with the shed, allowing them to walk around it,” he says. “In the second week, we put them into rows but didn’t milk them, and by the third week, we were milking. aving in-shed meal feeders was very helpful during the process.”

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Farm owner Ros Bowman an s d contract mil ker Alan Jumaw id.

Bowman Farm Ltd Chapman Waikato Ltd

Alan enjoys milking in a herringbone shed, welcoming the re uirement for more physical movement around a herringbone than a rotary platform.

The farm is a system - , supplementing 1kg meal/cow/day and budgeting for production of , kg ms.

A well spec’d shed aul teiner contracting completed all the foundation work for the cowshed, as well as the tanker loop and connecting cow races.

“With the weather as wet as it was it wasn’t the best time to be earthmoving, but we got it done,” aul says.

Construction of the shed started on June , , and the first milking was held on ovember .

Don Chapman at Chapman Dairy designed

the shed, with Don

taking care of the build.

Don Chapman said the -aside herringbone shed is custom-designed for owman, based on a standard shed layout.

“The shed is not too far from the norm,” Don says. “There are in-shed meal feeders installed so we made sure there was extra room between them and the wall to enable easy reading of ear tags.” e says the dairy is well-spec d – along with the store room, office, plant room and toilet, there are also very good handling facilities a full length vet AI race located outside the entry race.

Don Chapman Waikato Ltd owner hanan White says the last-minute inclusion of the vet race was no hassle and has been an incredibly helpful shed feature for oss and Alan.

BOWMAN FARM LTD

PH 07 578 0030 Don n Chapma o t a ik Wa er n w o d Lt n a Shan White.

try Alan at the end by re gate, enginee ring. ee n gi n E sk ea L

The dairy has in-shed meal feeders.

Geo Hutchinson’s Brendan Paul.

Falcon F eed Systems deliver m e to in-she al d feeders.

A long view of Ross Bowman’s new herringbone dairy.

Another stand-out feature of the yard is the Chapman Dairy pre-cast centre sump and channel drain, a feature that is increasing in popularity.

“We are retro-fitting several yards each season with this system,” hanan says. “If there is a water leak, you simply unbolt the post and centre drain and slide the burst pipe or elbow out from under the concrete. There s no need to pull up concrete to find the leak.” ruce Cameron at pecialised Coatings applied the acraflex coatings to the dairy unit.

Acraflex is perfect for dairy units as it is hardwearing, easy to clean, hygienic and acid and alkali resistant.

Ecolab supplied the dairy detergents for

plant wash. n start-up of the new plant they put up new wash programmes, relevant afety Data sheets and safety e uipment.

“We also put through the first wash with the local Waikato ilking ystems team to make sure the plant was washing properly,” says Ecolab senior territory manager tuart Windsor.

Ecolab provides a free service when using Ecolab products for any grading issue – for example, bacteria in the milk – and also offers a free L Acid anitiser and kg leer lenz with every new Waikato shed built.

Leask Engineering, which specialises in the supply and installation of yard and farm dairy steelwork, manufactured all the galvanised

Page 41

piping and steelwork at the owman farm including posts, roof support and rafters, bail work, rail work and gates.

A standout feature in the shed is Leask Engineering s endulum Dairy Exit ate, the latest version of a flagship product which now has a heavier, more robust frame. It gives effective control over cow flow during milking, easily separating milked and un-milked cows and providing rapid entry and exit to the dairy shed. The gates can be opened from anywhere along the pit.

“The entry gates are particularly useful when there is meal feeding in-shed as it creates a solid barrier for cows,” David Leask says.

Latest milking technology Waikato ilking ystems installed a -bail upa herringbone dairy in the shed, with remier ltimate swing-over arms for cup removal and cluster alignment, claw

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Leask Engineering manufactured the Pendulum Dairy Exit Gate.

with a five-year warranty on the claw bowl, uadrant s uare milking liners, cluster washers with non-return valve, and mart uls pulsators with spare filtered airline.

A lomax . kw centrifugal milk pump and a martdrive variable speed milk pump controller with Industrial lower acuum pump get the milk flowing to the double bank industrial plate cooler for milk cooling. eo utchinson, an authorised dealer of Waikato ilking ystems products, installed the plant and the water reticulation system, which took around four to six weeks. wner rendan aul says the shed has standard, up-to-date technology. eo utchinson also fitted the pumps and pipework for the water system, including a rundfos variable speed drive wash-down pump, which uses as little water as possible while meeting demand, for Anne Boswell maximum efficiency.

LUND

Page 42

The Lund farms new Chapman Dairy Shed

The DeLaval P2100 with stainless steel cabinetry.

From honey

The boom gate lifting and water jets washing the row.

to milk Warren Lund has not always been a dairy farmer, starting his working career as a beekeeper in Otorohanga.

In 1967 Warren’s parents, Maurice and Margaret Lund, offered their son a half share in 40 hectares of dairy land at Te Awamutu. This was an opportunity too good to pass up, so Warren hung up his apiarist veil and put on a milking apron instead.

The move also enabled Warren to build on his passion for training steeple chasers, which is still a spare-time activity the Lund family enjoy today.

Warren began his milking days with a handful of cows and a walk-through set-up.

“At the time there was no room for expansion as there was a golf course nearby and the neighbours were not looking to sell,” says

Coast & Country

Warren. But in 1972, 67 acres of the golf course was purchased, and soon to follow was the installation of a 17-bail rotary.

Around the same time, Warren and wife Margaret’s eldest son Peter was born, followed by daughter Rose, and youngest son Daniel in 1976.

Can’t wait Daniel is now the Lund family farm manager and the farm has grown in size to 120ha. “We purchased part of the neighbour’s property across the road and put in an underpass,” he says. “This allowed us to increase the herd to 470, but has placed major stress on an already dilapidated rotary. Milking has been taking us up to four hours, so we cannot wait to milk in the new shed next week. The finishing touches are almost complete.”

Lund

Daniel credits his mother Margaret’s financial contribution towards the new dairy. “Without Mum, all this would not have been possible.’

After viewing several modern rotary sheds with their local DeLaval agents, Warren and Daniel were not convinced that another rotary was the right move for them. Once they set eyes upon the DeLaval Parallel Parlour P2100 with its rapid exit and stainless steel cabinetry however, their minds were set.

Rotary to parallel parlour Once the decision was made to go with the DeLaval Parallel Parlour, the earthworks began.

This involved levelling out a ridge by six metres,

drainage and the use of aggregates for the tanker track and the new cattle race. All work was carried out by Hamilton Bros Quarry.

“The Parallel Parlour 2x24 system matched all our requirements,” says Daniel. “The wider pit allows more movement for staff, and the area remains clean with the addition of the butt pan.”

When asked what his favourite feature of the new shed is, Daniel is quick to mention the automatic feed system. “Each cow is automatically identified as she enters the row and will present herself parallel to the pit edge. Feed is then dispensed to each cow, as per her requirements which are monitored within the system. This means there is better control of the feed, less wastage and no bullying for feed. It’s a system that allows us to keep average cows economical and turn good producers into elite.”

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LUND

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The Pratt Milking Machines installers with the farm owners.

Heath Lunjevich, Warren Lund, Aaron Murphy, Daniel Lund, Zakk Pratt and Josh Ferguson.

The DeLaval P2100 butt pan.

Individual info The new system also has individual LED lights at each working space, making viewing of the udder easy. The MPC – Milk Point Controller – enables the farmer a view of the individual cow’s information, and gives the operator full control at the touch of a button.

The Milk Meter automatically measures udder information including milk flow, yield, and blood conductivity. It also senses if the cups are kicked off, if there are any blockages in the air bleed and triggers the Automatic Cup Removers.

Top flow clusters have been used in this system for their vacuum stability on the udder.

At the completion of milking, the farmer

L to R: Zakk Pratt from Pratt Milking Machines, Geoff Berlyn, solution manager conventional milking systems from DeLaval, Warren and Daniel Lund, and Mark Bulwer from PGG Wrightson Te Awamutu.

The DeLaval sort system, vet and AB area.

The raised viewing platform and of e in the back.

Daniel says PGG Wrightson assists with great advice on feed options, fertiliser requirements, summer crops and cattle sales.

Page 43

The Lund farm tanker entrance.

activates the boom gate and all cows depart that row at the same time. Water jets are activated and that row’s concrete is automatically washed down. Once the cows leave the row they then move into the sort system. Here they are automatically teat sprayed, weighed and identified again. The system will then draft them for you depending on information received.

Installation of the entire milking system and everything from handrails to water and effluent systems was carried out by the highly capable team at Pratt Milking Machines. The Parallel Parlour is only the third one of its type currently in operation in New Zealand and Zakk Pratt says it has been the most technical and complex job he has done to date, with the install taking around four months to complete.

Geoff Berlyn, solution manager conventional milking systems from DeLaval, describes

Pratt Milking Machines as the “heroes” of this install. “They did a lot of hard work to install the Parallel Parlour.”

Back to the future A key factor for Daniel in the new dairy design was making sure it was future proofed.

Don Chapman Waikato has enabled this by making alterations to the designs to suit their client’s requirements. The alterations for the Lunds have included an extension to the concrete floor at the end of the row. “This will relieve any potential congestion in the area,” says Daniel. The staff room area was also moved to the outside of the main building.

The new dairy measures 34 metres long x 17 metres wide, with auxiliary rooms that measure 9m x 4m. Putting together this masterpiece was Don Chapman Waikato Ltd. Owner Shanan

White says his team pride themselves on being flexible to fit in with the farmer s needs.

“A standard feature in the Don Chapman Waikato Ltd sheds is the insulation panel,” says Shanan. “These come to the job site as a finished product, making it easy to install. They are easy to clean, and maintenance free.” The insulation panel, supplied by Insulation Panel & Door, helps keep the vacuum room quiet during milking and the staff/multi-purpose room warm.

Part of the new shed design and build was encompassing the existing yards onto the new shed. This has been seamlessly done by Leask Engineering which also installed a head bale into the vet and AB area. All raised concrete areas have been painted with Acraflex by ruce Cameron, further ensuring that this shed has been built to last and will sustain the Lund family well into the future.

Keely Muir

For a more efficient farm dairy Specialising in farm dairy design and construction

Authorised licensee

www.chapmandairy.com

Page 44

Recipe

MILBANK FARM

for happiness

Managers – and partners – Aimee Wilson and Chad Tong with “the friendliest dog in the world” boxer-huntawaycross Cody.

The Wilson family’s dairy showing the double-height loading race.

The i e platform ma es it easy to re t ear tags or drench cows while on-platform and also pro i es the option to t fee ins in future.

Milbank Farm

Everyone’s happy in the new Wilson dairy north of Te Awamutu, and it’s not hard to see why.

Managers – and partners – Aimee Wilson and Chad Tong were milking in a 40-aside herringbone they describe as a hybrid which started life, several decades earlier, as a 16-aside, subsequently undergoing two extensions.

Aimee says it took up to three people to milk 500 cows in the morning during the peak. “It was very labour intensive and there was no cow flow – the cows didn t want to go into the row, and didn’t want to leave due to a right-hand turn as they exited the dairy.”

The shed was beyond its useby date and the couple were pleased when farm owners – who are also Aimee’s parents – Peter and Jean Wilson decided to build a new dairy.

“We thought it would probably be another herringbone but when Mum and Dad said it’d be a rotary, we were absolutely

Coast & Country

thrilled,” says Aimee.

Peter and Jean say their decision to build a rotary was based on generating a milking environment that was labour efficient and conducive to cow comfort and production.

Due diligence Deciding on the dairy type marked the start of months of due diligence as Peter and Jean looked at rotaries in the North and South islands, talking with farmers about various shed styles and technology options before opting for a 54-bail Waikato Milking Systems’ Orbit concrete rotary platform.

Aimee and Chad say they’d worked with Waikato Milking Systems technology in the old dairy and although that wasn’t

An extended roof protects milkers and cows from weather.

the optimum environment “it worked really well, so we were really happy to have the prospect of working in a new dairy with the latest Waikato Milking Systems’ technology”.

“Service is also very important and we had had great support from Qubik and wanted to continue that association,” says Aimee.

The Wilson’s 150 hectares farm is ‘L’ shaped and although the family considered positioning the dairy towards the middle of the property, they opted for a site adjacent to the old shed to utilise the existing tanker loop. The building site was raised one metre with clay from the excavation of the large effluent pond.

The yard design influenced the direction with which the platform would rotate, the optimum exit point for the herd being to the right, requiring the platform to rotate to the left.

PH 07 578 0030

MILBANK FARM

Page 45

The Wrangler hoof handler makes it quick and easy to deal with any incidences of lameness.

The cladding of the new building is refrigeration panels with precast quarter concrete tilt panels providing the durability needed at ground level. The all steel-roof is interspersed with a large number of clear-light panels providing natural light to the interior.

Easy access The Waikato Milking Systems 54-bail Orbit concrete platform sits below the level of the dairy, providing good visibility across cows during milking and features a drenching race on the inside perimeter of the platform that is utilised during calving and mating. The wide platform also facilitates the retrofitting of feed bins in the future. The vet ramp is located adjacent to the office, which Aimee says makes it easy to access and record cow events.

Qubik of Te Awamutu was called on to advise and oversee the installation of the Waikato Milking System, which features SmartECR electronic cup removers, 320 claws, SmartPULS pulsators and SmartWASH. Aimee and Chad are delighted with the SmartECRS which, in contrast to standard automatic cup removers, ensure the BailGate strap stays down should a cow kick the cups off, keeping her on the platform so she can be re-cupped and finish milking.

The Waikato Milking Systems’ 320 claws are light and easy to handle, and are backed with a five-year unconditional warranty on the bowls.

Flies are not a problem during summer thanks to four misting fans hi h ire t a ne spray of water over cows on-platform.

Managers – and partners – Aimee Wilson and Chad Tong talk with Qubik operations manager Jeremy Collett and Waikato Milking Systems’ national sales manager Paul McGill.

SmartPULS pulsators provide stable pulsation and the diaphragm at the centre of each pulsator prevents moisture from reaching the electronics.

The SmartWASH automatic wash system is programmed to effectively and consistently wash the milking system and vat for the life of the dairy. And cupping is easy thanks to Waikato Milking Systems on-deck bullets.

Plus an automatic teat spray unit at the exit ensures udder health and teat condition.

Effluent set-up The dairy is equipped with a semi-automatic drafting gate, which is operated from cups-on or via a remote. A comprehensive set of animal handling yards on the side of the airy feature a dual-level loading ramp, drafting race and Wrangler hoof unit – making it safe and easy to attend to incidences of lameness. umpn of torohanga advised and installed the farm s effluent system, which starts with two backing gates in the collection yard one featuring a scraper and green wash. Effluent gravity

feeds from the dairy to a dual bunker solids separator constructed of precast concrete tilt panels. Each bunker is large enough to hold solids gathered during a season and is easily emptied by a digger. When one bunker is full, the cowshed drain is easily pulled across so effluent feeds into the other side.

The lined effluent pond features a surface pump and irrigation to pasture is quick and easy with a pumping canon towed behind the farm bike.

Construction of the new dairy commenced midway through 2015, necessitating Aimee and Chad to calve and milk through the herringbone, transitioning to the new rotary in December.

“The herd had always been milked in a herringbone so we anticipated a few challenges as they transitioned to the rotary and we were thankful the yard design included an entry race and training gate,” says Chad.

Long lead-in Entry to the platform is preceded by a long lead-in – a narrow race, which holds around three cows with a training gate behind enabling an additional five cows to be held in a row.

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Page 46

MILBANK FARM

Coast & Country

The effluent soli s separator is irtually maintenan e free hen one si e is full the effluent pipe is simply pulle a ross to empty into the other si e.

The extended concrete race before the collection yard.

The line effluent pon features a surfa e pump an irrigation is easy an quick with a pumping canon which is towed behind the farm bike.

“In preparation for the transition to the new dairy, we spent a few days running the herd through the training gates after morning milking. They became accustomed to being held in the collection yard, then walking through the training gate race and out of the dairy.

“The first milking was a breeze, the cows flowed onto the platform but were a bit reluctant to go on at the second milking.

Fortunately, we anticipated that and had additional help on hand to get them onto the platform.

“We continued to use the training gate for a few milkings but, by the third day, the cows had settled to the new environment and flowed on and off the platform like they d been doing it all their lives,” says Chad.

Looking back on their first full season milking in the new dairy, Aimee and Chad Wilson say it has taken an hour off each milking with one person in the shed and another doing herds and observation.

They ve also noticed their omatic Cell Count is around half of what it was in the herringbone, attributing that to the new and integrated equipment and improved milking practices – including washing-out the pit and entrance races between herds and

The entrance race to the platform features a gate, making it easy to train cows to the rotary platform.

ensuring water is not splashed on the cows.

“We re also very proactive with mastitis,” says Aimee. “In contrast with a herringbone, where you are walking up and down the pit with multiple opportunities to see any signs of heat or infection in the udder, in a rotary you only have one opportunity – at cups-on.

“It just requires a change of thinking, ensuring you observe any changes or signs of heat in the udder when applying the cups – and the extra vigilance is paying off in cow health.”

Cow comfort in the dairy is enhanced during summer by four large misting fans installed by Pratts of Te Awamutu. The fans direct a fine spray of water over the cows as they rotate, deterring flies and keeping the cows cool.

Happy all-round rom the owners point of view, the real mark of a good shed is never having to call contractors back to remedy faults – and Peter and Jean Wilson say the new dairy has met that standard.

The wide exit area enables cows to easily back off and turn around.

They also acknowledge the importance of the builder being resident on-site to oversee and project manage the entire project.

The value of this became apparent when Jean was diagnosed with cancer shortly after the build commenced. Thanks to the builder s presence, the build progressed smoothly freeing the family to devote their energies to ean s treatment and recovery. ut the final word goes to Chad, who came to dairying from a career as an electrician, initially working as a junior to Aimee with their roles reversing when she gave birth to their now twoyear-old son, Jackson.

“I d done a lot of milking but can t say I enjoyed it – until I came to this shed. ow milking and animal handling is a breeze.

“It s really transformed our lives, freeing us to spend more time with Jackson and his older half-siblings Alesha and Jake. The cows are happy, we re happy.”

Clare Bayly

PH 07 578 0030

MILBANK FARM

Page 47

LANSDAAL

Page 48

World first

at Waharoa DeLaval Dairy

Peter and Christine Lansdaal have hosted a virtual ‘United Nations’ of visitors and experts to their brand new 54-bail rotary dairy at Waharoa, keen to see its world-first leading edge DeLaval technology in action.

There is significant international interest in this prototype dairy, which is designed specifically for an all-grass farming system, says DeLaval business development manager, conventional milking systems, Luke McKee. When Christine and Peter approached DeLaval to provide the rotary platform and milking system for their new dairy, Luke says the company saw an opportunity to upgrade the system to incorporate technologies DeLaval wanted to trial in New Zealand.

The need for a new dairy arose from the couple’s purchase of an adjoining property and increasing their herd to 620 cows, which are all now milked in two hours by just one person thanks to the DeLaval technology – including a DeLaval DelPro integrated dairy management system. rom the platform control centre at the cups-on position, the milker can operate the entire milking process, through the use of a touchscreen console displaying information automatically gathered as the system reads the EID ear tags of each cow entering the platform. The programme also allows for the automatic drafting of cows for attention after milking. And there s automatic teat spray.

“There is also a speaker which will alert the milker if – for example – a cow being treated with antibiotics enters the platform, and should not be milked,” says Luke.

In the Lansdaal dairy, DeLaval has installed milk uality systems which exceed those currently re uired by the dairy industry.

DeLaval business development manager, conventional milking systems, Luke McKee explains the use of a touchscreen console.

Coast & Country

EID ear tags worn by the Lansdaal herd enables information to be automatically gathered by the DeLaval system as each cow entering the platform.

Lansdaal

Maximising harvesting “The technology in this dairy provides savings in electricity and labour, brings benefits for animal health, gathers data for optimal herd management and maximises milk harvesting.”

Th DeLaval touchscreen console.

De La v a l

The Hotter Engineering DeLaval PR2100 Steel Deck Platform in the Lansdaal airy is a orl rst prototype.

LANSDAAL

PH 07 578 0030 When the dairy was commissioned DeLaval’s IT staff assisted Peter to become familiar with the computer programme and were on-call to answer queries.

The technology has the ability to capture more information than Peter currently believes he’ll need but Luke is confident eter will find the data it captures invaluable in assisting decision-making and planning for the day-to-day running of the farm.

The Hotter Engineering DeLaval PR2100 Steel Deck Platform in the Lansdaal dairy is a world-first prototype, says Russell Hotter, who is company owner and CEO of Hotter Engineering.

“The platform design has been modified to accommodate the new cabinets for the DeLaval milking clusters.”

Robotic fabrication Because of this it has attracted a good deal of interest internationally, and Russell says DeLaval and Hotter Engineering clients overseas are watching its performance closely. nce the modifications were made by Hotter’s design team, the platform was laser cut and largely fabricated by robots in the company’s factory at Eltham before being transported to Peter and Christine’s farm for installation.

With 54 cows on the rotary, the platform weighs about 60 to 70 tonne, yet says Russell it can be turned by one person, should the need arise.

“If there’s a power failure and cows have to be taken off the platform, it can be turned manually. The ease with which it turns also shows we

have removed most of the friction, which means the platform is efficient and wear is reduced.” roomfield Construction built the new dairy, and ob roomfield says it was commissioned early to allow milking before the cows dried off so DeLaval could test the systems.

“We still had a few finishing touches to complete but our team and the subcontractors worked hard to have it ready for those late season milkings.”

It’s the fourth DeLaval dairy Rob has constructed and it features roomfield Construction s hallmark attractive, functional design with a focus on plenty of natural light and space around the platform and adjoining yards for both animals and staff.

The dairy has an office, lunchroom, machinery room and as well as the large circular yard leading to the milking platform, plus an extensive area of covered yards where the animals can be drafted.

King Electrical was the electrical contractor for the project and Jeremy Kidd says the power supply had to be upgraded for the new dairy.

Page 49

room el

onstru tion uilt the ne

ans aal airy.

Christine and Peter Lansdaal enjoyed having a ‘United Nations’ of visitors during the installation of their DeLaval milking hardware and IT systems.

Leask Engineering design and construction manager Rom Stellingwerf says the yards have een esigne ith goo o flo in min .

Energy efficient While the dairy features leading edge technology, including for chilling milk to the vat to four degrees Celsius, the milking system is very energy efficient – which is important to Christine and Peter, who wanted to avoid peak power use surcharges. Plus, a heat exchange hot water system.

King Electrical was the electrical contractor for the project and Jeremy Kidd says the power supply had to be upgraded for the new dairy.

LANSDAAL

Page 50

The Lansdaal dairy also features the TechniPharm ung uster.

Peter Lansdaal is impressed with the information DeLaval DelPro integrated dairy management system provides to help with decision-making for his hole farm s systems.

The extensive covered yards adjacent to the milking platform were installed by Leask Engineering and the company’s design and construction manager Rom Stellingwerf says they ve been designed with good cow flow in mind.

“There are a lot of gates in these yards but they all get used. It’s much easier to put in gates during the construction than later; and our farmers find they pretty uickly use all of them, provided they are in the right place.”

McGregor Farm Services installed the DeLaval milking plant and Peter McGregor says it was great to be part of the world-first prototype.

While much of the clever IT technology is new, Peter McGregor says the dairy also

has DeLaval s top uality tried and true e uipment including the milking clusters which are among the best in the world for udder care and milk harvesting because they are designed with cow comfort and udder health in mind. Each is attached to its own console, which not only houses the sophisticated technology gathering milk and cow information but also opens to reveal the DeLaval automatic cup-washing system.

Central swivel The platform is fitted with a DeLaval central swivel which carries the milk, delivers vacuum, electricity and air to the milking plant, and captures data from it.

“This is the second DeLaval swivel of this type we have installed and it features some

DeLaval Oceania sales and marketing executive Sharon Yeeles shows how the consoles on the platform open to reveal the DeLaval automati up ashing system.

very sophisticated technology.”

The Lansdaal dairy also features another world-first – even though it s not a recent innovation – the Techni harm Dungbuster.

“This was a world-first sometime ago,” says Harmen Heeson of TechniPharm.

“We’ve recently done some calculations and estimate that at least one-third of New Zealand dairy farms now have a Dungbuster.

“As the average size of each is between 10 to 50 metres, if you multiply that by 3500 dairy farms that’s a lot of muck Dungbusters are shifting each day.”

Three generations of the Wade family have worked for the Lansdaal family, says Kevin Wade of Kevin Wade Laser Drainage. “My father worked for Peter’s father, and now me and my son Clinton work for Peter. It’s

0

Coast & Country

McGregor Farm Services’ Peter McGregor installed the DeLaval milking plant, saying it was great to e part of the orl rst prototype.

great to have these kind of long-standing connections.”

The Kevin Wade team created the building site for the new dairy, excavating and raising it to provide drainage to the new effluent pond which had previously been installed nearby.

Christine and Peter’s reasons to choose DeLaval technology was based on the high uality of the company s products, service and data collection, the energy efficiencies of the plant and that the dairy can be operated by one person.

They’ve also enjoyed the ongoing international attention and the people they’ve met during the construction and commissioning of this “world first at Elaine Fisher Waharoa DeLaval Dairy”.

LANSDAAL

PH 07 578 0030

Page 51 TH1864M 2/8/17

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Page 52

O’MALLEY

Coast & Country

Do it once do it right ‘You only get one shot at building a new dairy so you might as well build a good one’ is the mantra which has served the O’Malley family well with their new dairy at Ikamatua on the West Coast of New Zealand.

O’Malley Farm manager Kolbie Groom with farm owner Mark O’Malley.

‘Bob the Builder’ – Bob Brown of Pump Services always wanted to ‘have a crack at building a dairy’.

Mark and Kelly O’Malley and their two children bought half of the family farm from Mark’s father, Peter, in 2015. ark is a fifth generation coaster , growing up on the sheep farm run by his father and uncle.

“Dad wanted to retire and decided I should take over his half and go dairying,” Mark recalls. “I’d been working for him for 10 years and had always said I d rather buy a pub than go dairying However, the reality was that if I wanted to buy dad’s half of the farm, I needed to develop it into a more profitable unit so I could pay out my two sisters.” ark s half is hectares plus a ha runoff. The dairy platform occupies ha with the balance used for young stock.

Built to highest standards Right from the outset Mark and his father agreed they would “do the conversion once and do it right.” They talked to close family friend and jack-of-all-trades , ob rown, who owns

O’Malley Farming’s new dairy. ump ervices West Coast and had always looked after the pumps on the farm. e was keen to “have a crack at building a shed”. They then talked to three dairy farmers they knew and respected about their thoughts around shed design.

“We were given recommendations on what was best and decided to build everything to the highest standards so it would be durable, perform to the highest levels and last. We wanted to over-build everything and have the latest electronic gear so we could upgrade over time and keep the shed current,” ark says.

The farm is capable of running . cows to the hectare but initial plans were to start with cows for the year and go from there. The objective was for a one-man dairy, which meant a rotary.

Mark, Peter and ob looked at a range of rotary sheds in Canterbury and then incorporated the features they liked into the design for the new dairy.

The right spot ob rown was to be the project manager and recalls walking around, with ark, in the autumn and winter of putting pegs in the ground to work out where the sun would be during the day so the new building would get maximum sunlight.

The optimum site was “right smack in the middle of the farm” which would also mean the new dairy could service a larger dairy platform should neighbouring land become available in the future.

The alley family owns an extensive range of machinery and undertook all work associated with the conversion – fencing paddock, races, site and effluent pond excavation – clearing and raising the building site by 1100mm.

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O’MALLEY

Page 53

Alternate shot of the dairy from the collection yard showing the backing gates.

Glen Atkin of Tasman Agriculture with the mineraliser.

often hit 30 Simple degrees Celsius. innovation The entry race to to entry race the platform features a takes it from wide entry point which narrows to wide, to single fi le thanks to an adaptation designed narrow. and developed by ark alley.

‘The best vet Site works began in stand on the December 2015 with the Coast’. new build commencing on January 13. The dairy was completed in April 2016.

54-bail with 60-bail footprint The new building contains a 54-bail Rakaia Engineering platform in a dairy big enough for a 60-bail with a Read Industrial milking system.

“We wanted the additional space around the platform because there’s more room to move around, it’s easy to keep the walls clean, creates a nice, light working environment and there is plenty of room for offices and auxiliary rooms,” ark says.

“And we liked the Read Industrial milking system because of its simplicity and quality.

“We have had quite a bit to do with Rakaia Engineering; they supplied the platform and yards in kitset form.

“Builder, Bob Brown and his team from Pump Services, assembled it all – shed, yards, feed and molasses system, silos, effluent and water supply. Roofers came in to do the roof and contractors fitted the refrigeration panel cladding and laid the concrete.

It was all done first class.”

A verandah above the entry exit to the platform protects operators from the weather and the clearlite gable allows sunshine and light into the dairy.

Yard layout Yard layout was designed by ark and ob, with akaia Engineering bending the rails for installation by the building team.

The large circular collection yard is capable of holding 750 cows and a comprehensive set of animal handling yards includes automated drafting and hoof handling systems. All pipework in the pump shed and risers around the dairy are stainless steel and all yards are galvanised steel.

There are no hoses in the collection yard; the yard effectively washed by jetters on the backing gate. Sprinklers around the outside of the yard give a fine spray over the cows as they wait to be milked, keeping them cool and keeping flies off them. This keeps the herd comfortable during summer temperatures which

Milking system Read Industrial advised and installed the milking system which includes 280ml capacity clusters, electronic cup removers and bail straps which hold the cows on the platform until they have finished milking.

The dairy is also equipped with a heat detection camera, milk meters every fourth bail, leg spreaders and automated teat spray at the exit.

The Read Industrial circuit wash system consists of a large bore four inch milk line with a valve at the receiver can end, hot water cylinders and a water reservoir. The valve remains closed during the wash process allowing water to flood the main milk line. During milking the circuit wash line provides a looped vacuum ring to maintain stable milking vacuum. An overhead wash gland allows the system to wash while the platform turns. kirt wash jets from the side of the platform send a constant fine spray during milking which keep the walls of the dairy clean.

O’MALLEY

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Coast & Country

Room for e erything an e erything in its pla e.

ffluent system re ol ing rum separator.

Tasman Agriculture pre-sets and deliver the chemicals needed for the wash system in 200 litre drums which are linked to the system, enabling the operator to simply set the required strength and activate the automatic system.

Feed system Tasman Agriculture also supplies teat spray, dairy pellets plus the molasses and minerals, trace vitamins, zinc, magnesium, and salt which are fed to the herd, as required, via an in-shed mineraliser.

The herd is fed high-starch dairy pellets, complemented by the molasses mix, on the platform via a PPP feed system which features high-back feed bins which prevent the cows from spilling feed into the centre of the dairy.

Mark says the mineraliser removes any doubt that the cows are getting the right mix for the time of season. “Dusting pasture is random; you can never be sure every cow has received the right amount of minerals, but this way we know each cow in the herd has been given the optimum mix of vitamins and minerals. The efficacy of the system is evident in only one cow out of suffering from milk fever in the first season.”

Travelling Irrigator.

Long-term plans ffluent are to install two pivots. system The effluent system features stone trap a rain diverter which automatically The ne ar ner home. re eption pit. diverts storm water away from the effluent system when the dairy is operating.

As the conversion was progressing, GJ Gardner of Greymouth The new dairy features a vet platform which the Artificial constructed a 213sqm ‘Napier’ three-bedroom, two-bathroom reeding technician describes as “the best on the coast” with home for Mark and Kelly. The brick veneer and Linea gable plenty of room and a cupboard for equipment close at hand.

Gregg Topp Electrical of Reefton scoped and did all the wiring home has a metal tile roof, multi-fuel fire, separate toilet and laundry, scullery, separate lounge, portico and attached garage. for the new dairy, effluent, water and meal feed systems. In the event of a power outage, business continuance has been assured with a generator supply system which enables a generator to be Going dairying good move hooked up to power the shed. ntil this point, ark had never milked a cow – his first milking taking place in the new dairy alongside farm manager, Progression Kolbie Groom.

Despite breaking in heifers in the first season, both say the Effluent gravity-feeds from the shed into a stone trap reception dairy is everything they hoped it would be – simple, effective pit where it is stirred automatically and then pumped through and efficient with excellent cow flow – enabling one person to a revolving drum separator which removes solids. It then goes milk cows in . hours. through a secondary bunker which removes fine solids and then ark says dairying is “better than I ever thought it would be. I into a 4.25m lined pond with a shore-based multi-stage pump. never envisaged going dairy farming but it’s given me a chance to nderground effluent hydrants feed ha of pasture with the run my own farm. oing dairying was a really good move”. remainder of pasture irrigated via a low application Cobra

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NEW FARM DAIRIES

Coast & Country

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NEW FARM DAIRIES

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ROWE FARMS

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Coast & Country

The emperor’s new shed Grant Rowe jokes that he started building his “empire” 22 years ago – so it seems only fitting that the emperor should have a pretty impressive building.

Builder Shanan White and farm owner Grant Rowe.

That development is a brand new 60-bail rotary cowshed, located at Grant’s 273 hectares effective dairy farm near Pongakawa in the Bay of Plenty.

Grant, who comes from a dairy farming family who farmed at hauiti, Tauranga, first purchased 80ha of the current farm 22 years ago, and has added parcels of neighbouring land as they have come up for sale.

Today, Grant has a herd of 960 Kiwicross cows that are budgeted to produce 400,000kg/ ms. The System 4-5 farm utilises grass, maize silage, palm kernel and a little kiwifruit, fed on a covered, stand-off feed pad.

Grant employs contract milker Thomas Chatfield, who employs four other staff. rant says improving work efficiency was the catalyst to build a new cowshed.

“We were running two farms side by side,

The 60-bail GEA iFLOW rotary milking parlour.

The re tangular yar as a etter t for the covered stand-off pads. milking 960 cows through two sheds, and it was taking six people to milk the cows,” he says.

“The sheds were both getting a bit old and our effluent system was struggling to remain compliant. We looked at the options of whether we refitted both cowsheds, or centralised one shed for the two farms.”

Simple functional shed Grant says the decision to go with one central shed was made when he found he could reduce labour by a unit or two.

“One shed is simpler and easier for everyone,” he says. “Being able to milk with one person in the shed is a real benefit.”

Grant looked around at different builders and farm systems before deciding to go with

The Redpath deep litter barn.

Don Chapman Waikato Ltd, which is licenced to build the ‘Chapman Dairy’ Sheds.

“Don Chapman Waikato had a generic cowshed design that had been perfected over time and that was what I was looking for,” he says. “There was no re-inventing the wheel; I wanted simple and easy.”

Don Chapman Waikato owner Shanan White says the 21.5 x 21.5m² dairy shed building itself is based on a standard layout, but custom-designed for Grant’s requirements.

“It incorporates some standard features of a Chapman Dairy, including a vented light gallery in the dairy, which keeps the dairy cool in summer and allows natural light in,” he says.

“This dairy also has a milking pit around the milking platform. The shed has all the usual rooms – office, toilet, and chemical store – and there’s also a vet area at the exit, with a

We are your total product solution As one, GEA has everything you need to produce quality milk.

fold-down platform for vets to use, holding pens and an Artificial Insemination vet race under cover.”

Fit with the animals A rectangular yard was chosen for the farm as it had to work in with the animal housing that was being built adjacent to the shed.

Shanan says a rectangular yard is less common than round yards, with only around 20 per cent of clients choosing a rectangular yard, but in this case it worked best.

Work on the new cowshed began in December 2015 and lasted around 20 weeks.

“Don Chapman Waikato was great at managing the build alongside me,” Grant says.

“It’s a simple, functional shed and I’m really pleased with the finished building.”

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The HERDFLOW crowd gate is designed for larger herds.

Witheford Electrical did all the electrical work on the shed, effluent systems and barns, from the main transformer right through to the multiple switchboards. ruce Cameron at pecialised Coatings applied the Acraflex coatings to the dairy unit.

Acraflex is perfect for dairy units as it is hardwearing, easy to clean, hygienic and acid and alkali resistant.

A E D L W Crowd ate was installed in the yard, which is specifically for larger herds such as rant s.

The new generation E D L W gate has a pinch drive system that reduces or eliminates gate slippage or derailing. The gate was customised to yard dimensions and has an audible alarm prompts for cows and staff.

Smart, easy-to-use The milking technology inside the shed follows rant s preference of simple, but functional and efficient.

ROWE FARMS

When you’re spending a bit of money you want the shed to look good too.

Thinkwater installed a -bail EA i L W rotary milking parlour that is specifically designed for the single-operator, high-throughput of seasonal pasture farming.

EA national sales manager ason uertier says the plant is e uipped with the latest automation, including EA De ax Automatic Cluster emovers, which operate the milking clusters individually and control pulsation for each unit.

Installing the AC s with Easy tart also eliminated the need for a terminal at each bail, adding lift to start functionality – the operator need only lift the cluster slightly to start the AC , attach the cups and milking is underway.

The platform also has bail restraints and i D teat sprayers, which are pressurised by compressed air. Twin nozzles are set in leg locators in each bail and deliver cross fire hollow patterns, directed by a cow positioning locator.

“I wanted technology that was smart and easy to use, without being over the top with

Page 59

Rowe Farms

functions I didn t need,” rant says.

Tru-Test technical sales support manager rian kiffington says they installed standard refrigeration units to the L and L vats. Also, a hp water chiller with heat recovery was installed to a , L insulated plastic water tank that is used for secondary cooling of the double bank late eat Exchanger. upporting technology is two at anager lus – a milk vat controller that has the capability to send out text and email alerts to the farmer if there is a variation from the preset temperatures.

“I took rant through technical information from previous jobs, looking at what worked well and showed the different performances between concrete, plastic and plastic insulated water tanks so he could make an informed decision,” rian says.

“The main consideration was ensuring the

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pe i ally esigne for the single-operator, highthroughput of seasonal pasture farming.

refrigeration complies with the milk cooling standards that come into effect in .”

Water, water everywhere Longveld general manager business development Les oa says they installed a L Longveld tack for hot water heating in rant s shed. uilt to the highest global standard of food safety, the integrated cylindrical stacks have a very small footprint, and they pack a punch.

The L tank can reach degrees Celsius in - minutes, and can be set to heat water when re uired so there is no need to maintain the cylinder temperature all day. It also integrates a heat recovery system off the chillers, and can be used either to fill the water tank with warm water, or fill the hot water tank and overflow into the dump tank using the two in conjunction can give further improvements in hot water heating efficiency.

ROWE FARMS

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Coast & Country

Witheford Electrical’s Shayne Reid.

The Longveld Stack means there is no compromising on where to use hot water.

AgFirst Te Puke incorporated two floo ash tan s into the design.

“Hot water in such a short timeframe means you never need to compromise – there is ample hot water for washing the dairy plant, plus warming calf milk and gear,” Les says.

“The stack is quick to install, incorporates excellent food safety aspects – it is completely pest-proof, locked and tamper resistant – and is the first hot water system that can be taken apart to clean or rid the tank of impurities.”

Robust and future proof AgFirst Te Puke was employed to design rant s effluent and irrigation systems, and stand-off pad collection.

AgFirst Te Puke environmental consultant cott c enzie says the system had to be robust to deal with high cow numbers, and future proof to ensure regulations continued to be met.

“It was a challenging site,” Scott says. “There are high-risk soils on-farm, and we had to

Tru-Test installed standard refrigeration units to the 16000L and 21500L milk vats.

The liptan effluent tan hol s almost million litres of effluent. on a design the system to cope with the sheer volume of effluent generated by a large herd.” cott used a ariable peed Drive controlled 22kw Rovatti pump as the main irrigation pump and a Davies transfer pump for the flood wash system.

The D allowed for varying pressure requirements. The tank is stirred using a combination of liptank s lipjet system and a Propipe Irrigation mechanical stirrer. The transfer sump also required a chopper pump and stirrer. liptank installed the above-ground farm dairy effluent tank in April , which holds . million litres of effluent – 3 million litres to the top, and is 2m high. liptank general manager imone ibson says liptank effluent tanks are ideal for

Beat Beatthe the seasons! seasons!

effluent storage on peat and other high watertable soil condition as they have a very light footprint.

Kliptanks are quick and easy to install and require minimal earthworks.

The barn has underfloor drains, sumps and transfer pumps.

Winter management barns After years of battling wet conditions of soft peat soil and having to stand off cows in winter, rant made the decision to build covered stand-off pads to rectify several issues.

“We were looking at feeding out maize silage but we needed a feed pad to do that, and anticipated challenges keeping storm water off the feed pad in winter,” he says.

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, m edpath deep litter barn in late .

The standard barn with roof ventilation, three drive-through service lanes and internal feeding was up and running in winter . In winter, the herd go into the barn for feed for between - hours before going back to the paddock. rant also calved the cows inside the barn last season, and plans to do the same this year.

“Calving inside the barn reduced calf deaths last year and made management a lot simpler,” he says.

Redpath New Zealand director Glen Williams says soft soil would have continued to have an impact on the farm business had rant not built the barn, which protects from weather and aids pasture management.

“Feeding supplements indoors also allows for intensification of the farm operation, with higher feed uptake than if it was fed in the paddock,” Glen says.

Anne Boswell

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ROWE FARMS

Page 61

Full turn turn-key turn-key projects

Supply and installation of scraper systems

Kitset options

Project management

Free stall cubical design and supply

Effluent Management

Range of standard options

Custom design options

Rescourse consent assistance

Concrete works

Construction

After sales support

OTAITAI DAIRIES

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Coast & Country

Growing the pie

The collection yard is large enough to hold 700 cows.

The interior of the dairy is light and quiet.

From the air the Templeton farm stretches below, a patchwork of rich green paddocks running to the edge of Foveaux Straight, east of Riverton.

This wouldn’t have been the perspective William Templeton had in 1911, when he leased his 2000 acres property as a site for a flax mill.

And he couldn’t have guessed that, 106 years on, his greatgreat-grandsons would be managing highly productive dairy units on a portion of the original farm.

When the economics of growing and milling flax ended in the 1970s, the property was used for sheep and beef until, to meet the demands of the burgeoning Southland dairy industry, dairy grazing was incorporated.

By now the original property had been subdivided into two 1000-acre farms owned by William’s great-grandsons Vaughan and Euan.

In 2002 Vaughan converted to dairy, building a 60-bail Waikato Milking Systems rotary dairy, incorporating some neighbouring land and progressively, by 2013, building a herd of 930 cows.

Farmer Luke Templeton sporting the facial injury, which prompted him to call on a mate who had never milked. Great-great-grandson farmer Luke Templeton talks with Quin Scandrett of Dairy Green.

The Templeton dairy.

At that point sons, Peter, 26, and Luke, 28, were invited to a rowing the ie succession meeting to find a path forward for the business.

Luke says his parents “wanted to step back and we wanted to go farming”.

We’ll go farming!

“Peter was already dairying, I was engineering in the North Island and we were both keen to return home to farming in Southland,” says Luke.

“Initially, we milked the then 1000 cows in two herds through the -bail rotary, but it wasn t sustainable or efficient. ilkings were taking a long time, the herd was spending too much time walking to and from the dairy and we were short of the farm’s capability of 1200-1350 cows.

“Achieving the ‘Grow the Pie’ strategy meant subdividing the property into two 215 hectares self-contained dairy units and constructing a new dairy on the farm I managed,” says Luke.

“We were happy with the original shed and so built another Waikato Milking Systems 60-bail Orbit concrete rotary platform. The build started in February 2016 and the dairy was

commissioned, ready for calving, in August of that year.”

Progressive Engineering Southland advised, provided and oversaw the installation of technology, which included Waikato Milking Systems’ SmartECR electronic cup removers, SmartSPRAY automated teat spraying, BailGate Straps automated cow restraints, a SmartWASH automated wash system, in-shed feeding, automatic drafting, hot water reclaim system and a monitoring system for milk silo, water tank, bore water and stock water.

Progressive Engineering Southland’s James Norman says Luke wanted a dairy with a high level of technology so one operator could effectively and efficiently monitor and maximise the health and production of each and every cow.

“The SmartECRs, BailGate Straps and SmartSPRAY work together, signalling the end of milking, holding cows that haven’t finished on the platform and accurately applying teat spray before they exit.

“In the milk room, the heat reclaim system enables a significant reduction in the cost of water heating and the monitoring system for the silo and water provide an assurance that resources are being well used and managed,” says James.

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Page 63

The milk room is located in one corner of the dairy.

Otaitai Dairies

The sludge bed and weeping wall separate solids from liquids.

The identical layout of the sheds ensured good cow flow from day one and, as planned, one person comfortably milks the herd in two hours during the peak.

Ease of operation Luke says the ease of operation came into play recently when a moment s inattention caused a facial injury re uiring urgent medical attention.

“I had to call on a mate who d never milked before and only had time to give him a brief overview before I left for hospital.

And he had no problems. It s an awesome shed.

“This dairy does so much without me having to think about it.

I just get on with cupping the cows and deciding if, and what, I want to draft out.

“The dairy does the rest – holds cows on until they ve finished milking, sprays every udder and then, when milking s over, semiautomatically washes the milking machine with the right mix, every time.

“We use the vet stand for applying tail paint and for Artificial Insemination. A mirror above cups-on shows if tail paint is worn or needs replacing,” says Luke.

The cows are fed molasses and alm ernel Extract to promote production at every milking. inerals are added from calving until December after which they are fed in-trough.

ROGRESSIVE MILKING | ELECTRICAL | IRRIGATION

Luke with the Wrangler, which enables preventative treatment on cow hooves.

Winton Stock Feeds sales rep Jo Scharvi beside the 30 tonne molasses tank and Conedose mineral dispenser.

Winton tock eeds sales rep o charvi says the innovative Conedose mineralised system makes it easy to feed the right mix of minerals at any time of the year at the farm.

“The Conedose takes all of the guesswork out of feeding minerals, mixing any number of li uid or powdered minerals into molasses that is then fed on its own, or on top of E, in the shed. “ ag xide and Lime lour, for example, re uire constant mixing to maintain a suspension and the automated timer takes care of this avoiding blockages and ensuring the mix is constantly ready for feeding,” says o.

ing a foot we can draft her out and attend to her there and then.

“You keep on top of it and the cows get better faster,” says Luke. ew paddock subdivision called for realignment and installation of about new troughs and k of water lines – undertaken by rendon hearing Contractors, which also installed two . k hydrant lines for the new effluent system.

Dairy reen provided the effluent expertise for the original farm and were called on again to apply for the re uired consents, guide Luke through the process with Environment outhland along with supervision of the earthworks and signoff of the effluent system installation.

Feed storage

Farm evolution

olasses is stored in a tonne tank, alongside two cones – one for blending minerals and water into a slurry that then combines with molasses in the larger cone, which feeds it into the shed.

The palatability of the feed mix is obvious with the herd running down the race to get onto the platform with many reluctant to leave, at the end of milking – resulting in a simple nose air spray, which encourages them to back-off.

Conversion of the farm included all new races and while lameness is not a problem, Luke invested in a Wrangler to make it easier to deal with hoof problems.

“It enables us to do a lot of prevention. If we see a cow favour-

The dairy is built on a natural sand dune allowing effluent to gravity feed to a sludge bed constructed out of compacted clay.

Twin weeping walls separate the solids from the li uids before it is pumped into a lined storage pond. The sludge bed, which is emptied once-yearly, avoids the need for a pond stirrer and enables use of smaller pumps and nozzles for transfer and irrigation.

Cleaning the large yard is simple and water-efficient thanks to a scraper on the backing gate and green wash.

In years the Templeton farm has evolved. Today it is a highly productive dairy unit milking more than cows, through two dairies, in less than two hours.

Clare Bayly

Page 64

Technology

TUI DAIRIES

Coast & Country

investment

A fascinating perspective of milking from the observation room.

Tui Dairies

All yards were designed and constructed by Baz Janssen Building.

adio-fre uency identification – or ID – coupled with herd records mean every cow in Tui Dairies -cow herd at Tuatapere in outhland is an individual. The farm s new state-of-the-art dairy is equipped with a herd records system that provides daily insights to per-cow production and enables individualised feeding to drive production.

The development of the hectares grazing property into a -cow dairy farm has been realised by e uity partners Alan Harris, who owns the property, and sharemilker Nick Tomsett.

The pair were introduced by their bank in . Alan recalls the goal was to convert the property, which had been in four blocks, into a highly productive dairy unit ready for the start of the season.

“Essentially, we were starting with a blank canvas and this gave us the freedom to include systems which would enable a highly effective, efficient and profitable operation with a minimum of staff,” says Alan.

“The plan was to incorporate technology which would make the farm simple and easy to run and would give us insight to the production of each cow. ick s experience over a range of farms and systems meant he was well positioned to oversee the

Tui Dairies. entire development,” says Alan.

The farm had to be re-subdivided into paddocks of . ha with raceways, and the new dairy was situated to take advantage of the farm contour and to minimise the amount of walking the cows had to do to and from the shed.

Set the target ick says the farm was consented to milk cows but the target was set at .

“In essence we wanted to provide our farm team with technology that would give them a high degree of visibility and management over the production and health of every cow in the herd.

“This allows more precision than has ever been possible with ad lib feeding or herd testing and injects another level of interest for people working in the dairy. Overall, of course, it provides us

The GEA Focus Our business is focused on you as a New Zealand dairy farmer.

The walls of the floo ash tan s are per cent thicker than normal to contain the green wash for the feed pads.

with a tool to maximise the production of the herd and the land.”

With technology as a central point, Nick worked with builder az anssen to design a building that would house the 64-bail rotary platform, milk and pump rooms at ground level, with a mezzanine office observation room above the entrance, looking over the rotary platform. The building cladding is refrigeration panels with bird-proof timber rafters, which minimise vibration against the long-run steel roof.

The heart of the farm s technology system is a antec ID system, from Dairyshed olutions, which combines electronic herd identification with a herd management programme and automated drafting.

Knowing each cow Each cow in the herd is fitted with an ID ear tag, which the system reads as she enters the platform. Alerts and events such as high Somatic Cell Count, calvings, matings, pregnancy tests and treatments are easily recorded either at cups-on cups-off or from the office triggering an alert when the cow is on the platform.

At the same time, inline platform sensors automatically record and measure parameters against each animal for milk volume, cell count, fat, protein, lactose, temperature, conductivity. Drafts can be preset with the antec automated drafting enabling threeway drafting.

Our aim is to help you achieve your goals with products and services that future-proof your investment. Offering a total product solution, that’s backed by local support and service; we’re focusing on your farm.

Focus on maximising production with GEA, contact us on 0800 GEA FARM.

TUI DAIRIES

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The floo

ash in operation.

Page 65

airy er i es effluent system.

On the south side, cows enter and leave the dairy via three concrete feed pads which feature an inno ati e floo ash system.

Tristan Whitaker of NIND Dairy Services beside the lined pond. and installed using GEA Flush Valves and NIND’s colour touchscreen controller allowing fully customised automation of the floodwash se uence to suit the farm’s requirements.

“The floodwash is pre-programmed to wash each lane individually, air bags within flush valves releasing green water to wash the race. It’s really effective and frees the farm team up to do other higher value tasks,” says Nick.

Dried Distillers Grain is fed in the dairy at each milking according to pre-set parameters for feed composition, which enable individual feeding to maintain or boost the milk solids production of each cow.

“The milk meters measure the milk components of each cow enabling us to individualise the feed mix and quantity to maintain or boost her production,” says Nick.

“We set 10-day parameters, which trigger an increase in feed volume should any cow drop either the composition of volume of milk. It s very easy, efficient and cost effective.”

Sophisticated but simple Builder Baz Janssen in front of the ne airy sho ing the me anine o ser ation room a o e the entran e.

Saving time and labour NIND Dairy Services advised and installed the GEA 64-bail iFLOW rotary platform, which is built on a raised plinth allowing the milking machine to be mounted underneath. The platform’s roller system reduces point loading with tensioners maintaining nylon roller alignment, auto lubrication and the absence of a wear strip reducing the need for maintenance.

Auto lubrication removes the need to oil the platform rollers and keeps the underside of the platform clean and tidy. The electronic grease packs on the platform and rotary gland are changed annually.

The iCONVEYOR rotary milking system includes GEA iCORE with automatic cup removers, dropdown system, cow restraints and iPUD in-bail teat spraying. The iNTELWASH automatic pre-programmed wash system cleans the milking plant and vat at the touch of a button. The automated platform

wash, supplied by the wash down pump, saves labour and time.

BB Cunninghame, which has been coating dairy sheds in outhland for years, applied the Allnex Terraflake system to the blockwork inside in the dairy. The system comes with a five-year guarantee, is easy to keep clean and resistant to acid and alkali.

The farm s effluent system was designed by ick in consultation with installers, NIND, and contains some innovations beyond the two backing gates – one with a scraper and green wash – weeping wall and plastic-lined pond.

The entrance to the collection yard features three wide concrete feed pad yards where silage is fed. Wanting a simple way to keep this clean, using green wash, Nick found an innovative floodwash on the internet that I D subse uently designed

Effluent from the dairy is separated via a weeping wall and sludge bed before storage in a lined pond and is easily irrigated to each paddock via an extensive network of effluent lines. An automated manifold system, complete with motorised actuator valves, utilises the main effluent pump to supply the separated effluent on demand to both the greenwash on backing gate and the floodwash tank ensuring it is constantly full. ut it also supplies the desired pressure and flow to the Cobra Travelling Raingun, allowing it to achieve the necessary low fertiliser application rate.

One year into the conversion equity partners Alan and Nick say the investment in technology is paying off.

“We’ve avoided the inconvenience and cost of routine herd testing, replacing it with a sophisticated and simple-to-operate system that enables us to finetune and maximise the performance of the herd.

“The insights into per-cow production and health adds another element of interest for the farm team because they’re not milking numbers – they’re milking individual cows.”

Clare Bayly

Quality solutions delivered on time We are focussed on supplying turnkey solutions for dairy farms throughout Southland, Otago and Central Otago.

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CARTER FARMS

Page 66

Coast & Country

Blank canvas ’s ing and Contracting rter, Southern Trench ip Muluihill, fencer Ca x Re r ne ow is m , 2IC Phill The farm tea nager Dean McMillan .

Ben Brunell, farm ma Rex’s son Marc Carter, who farms nearby Dave Hill and

Carter Farms

The downturn in the dairy industry was the best time to convert a 270 hectares farm to dairying, according to Mossburn farmers Rex and Megan Carter.

“I needed a new challenge at the time and, with the payout going down and a ready supply of contractors and supplies, thought we would convert the farm to a summer milking platform, with all stock wintered off-farm.”

At the time, the farm was a blank canvas with a house at one end but little else other than basic fencing and races.

This was because of the availability of contractors, services and equipment, which were all in short supply during the boom years of $8-plus kg/ms payouts.

The Carters purchased the property in the northern Southland region in 2013 largely because it adjoined their sheep and beef property.

“That first year we wintered cows on it but found we couldn’t even get to them because the soil is so heavy,” says Rex. “The farm is 300 feet above sea level; we get pretty severe winters up here. It’s marginal dairying land and certainly not ideal for wintering cattle.

“Before I made any decisions, however, we met with Ben Brunell, of Southern Trenching and Contracting, who has had a lot of experience in the area, to see if what we wanted to do was achievable.

“He was very supportive, becoming a valued advisor and went on to develop the lanes and effluent pond,” says ex.

The 215ha effective dairy platform is

A D E N

N

D

•

N E W

NZ Z

relatively long and narrow bordering State Highway 94 to the north and Chewings Rd to the south.

The subdivision plan for the farm identified a high nob in the centre of the farm as the ideal location for the new dairy, calf shed and effluent pond. Extensive subdivision – with races and fences – was required, along with a new home.

But bringing essential services of water and electricity to the site provided some challenges – the nearest source of power was the state highway 2km from the building site and a good quality and quantity of water was also located 2km from the new build. Establishing both resources was “hugely expensive” but once overcome, the development of the farm got underway.

I

•

M

Before decisions

E A L A

Milking doesn’t become a solitary experience.

Drenching races are incorporated and Rex Carter opted for a zigzag rail in the dairy.

Engineering

Extensive races were developed with gravel from a pit on the farm, and the mammoth fencing job began – subdividing the farm into 51 4.5ha paddocks with a total of 100 troughs, two in each paddock.

All lane fencing was constructed, during a week, by Des Gill Fencing who has built a reputation for high uality, fast and efficient work across the Southland region during 15 years, specialising in dairy conversions, sheep and deer fencing.

A clay pan runs under much of the farm, so fencing was neither easy nor fast with many strainers having to be spiked. Once the races were defined resident fencer Dave ill came in to construct the balance of the fencing – paddocks and gateways.

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Page 67

hea

Drafting is ‘a breeze’ thanks to the drafting gate.

In all Rex estimates more than 300 strainers were required to subdivide the farm into 51 paddocks.

Baz Janssen of Baz Janssen Building was called in to understand the brief for, and design and construct the dairy, blockwork and yards.

Maximum 650 cows The farm is consented to milk a maximum of 650 cows when an additional 50ha is brought into the milking platform.

When it came to the type of dairy Rex wanted, he opted for a herringbone because other family farms had them and he said staff enjoy working in them because “milking doesn’t become a solitary experience – they’re working alongside each other so there is always lots of communication”.

The Carter herringbone dairy – streamlined and ef ient.

The ideal size of the new dairy was therefore agreed at 44-aside, which would enable two people to milk the initial herd of 500 cows – and the maximum of 650 – in about two hours.

Baz Janssen Building commenced construction in November 2015. The dairy is positioned to the north for maximum sun and protection from prevailing winds. Refrigerated panel construction, which consists of a foam core sandwiched between two sheets of galvanized steel, provides good insulation from heat and cold while ensuring a quiet environment.

The roof of the dairy is long-run steel with bird-proof wooden rafters. Translucent panels create a light operating environment.

All pipework in the dairy was designed, constructed and installed by Baz Janssen

Building and features Eziflow Build pit gates, a zigzag rail and long lead-in which significantly speeds milking as three or four cows from the next row are already in the dairy when the preceding row leaves.

Drafting a ‘breeze’ Drafting, often the bug-bear of herringbone dairies, is “a breeze” thanks to a simple gate in the exit area which, when closed, guides cows through a drafting race and into a side pen. The collection yard features two backing gates, one with a scraper and greenwash.

The Allnex Terraflake paint system was applied to blockwork in the dairy by BB Cunninghame. The coatings high gloss finish is resistant to abrasion, easy to keep clean and

ail is in orporate in the side yard.

A GJ Gardner home positioned for all-day sun.

provides a durable, long-life surface that is resistant to chemicals all backed by a fiveyear guarantee.

NIND Dairy Services of Invercargill was contracted to advise, provide and install the all GEA Milfos milking system.

The system includes the iXPRESS4 large bore swing-over milking system, which provides stable vacuum due to milk and air separation in the 101mm all-welded milkline, generating fast milking and cow comfort.

Farm manager Dean McMillan says the swing-over arms ensure the clusters sit squarely under the udder, milking each cow efficiently, and are very easy to use and simple to maintain – and the iCR intelligent automatic cluster removers are “fantastic”.

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CARTER FARMS

Page 68

Large coll e features twction yard gates, one o backing wit and green h scraper wash.

from the airy ffluent gra ity fee s d two sludge to a weeping wall an pumpe into is r ise til e s. i ui fer a large lined pond.

The iNTEL automatic wash system does away with the need to manually wash the milking system because the controller executes a pre-set wash programme at the completion of milking. The system features 14 fully adjustable wash programmes and a possible six stages in each wash programme, each of which is fully adjustable.

Large ponds Rex says he worked with Environment Southland from the moment the concept of developing a milking platform was discussed – “and they were fantastic”.

“They came out here, looked at the place and made recommendations on what we should and shouldn’t do.”

One outcome of their involvement has been the development of two large ponds on

the farm, which have been ring-fenced and planted with natives.

NIND Dairy Services also advised and provided effluent services for the farm. The contour of the farm, and siting of the dairy, enables the use of gravity to feed effluent from the dairy to two sludge beds where solids are extracted through a weeping wall system.

Li uid effluent then flows into a large lined storage pond and irrigated onto pasture via 3km of hydrant lines splitting the farm into three effluent zones and D sprinklers guided by a NIND Dairy Services multi-direction effluent management system. reen water is also automatically pumped back to dairy shed for yardwash on demand.

I D s effluent and plumbing foreman Tristan Whitaker says the multi-direction effluent management system pressure monitors the

Resident fencer a e ill.

Coast & Country

Milfos iXPRESS4 large bore s ing o er arms ensure lusters sit squarely under the udder.

three lines individually to enable three different hydrant lines to be running in sequence at the same time, each with different pressures ensuring efficient irrigation regardless of contour.

Family accommodation While the farm was being developed, so too was accommodation for the two families who would live and work the property. With an existing home on the northern boundary, occupied by farm manager Dean McMillan and his family, Rex chose to build a second home on the southern road boundary for 2IC, Phillip Muluihill and his partner. ardner, based in Invercargill and servicing all of Southland, was called on to build the four-bedroom, two-bathroom concrete block house on an elevated site looking across the farm. The home features double glazing, two-car garaging with heating provided by two heat pumps. Construction took place during 100 days – from site

Milfos auto was h system features adjustable wash programmes.

preparation to handing over the keys.

The dairy was completed in February 2016 but, due to a delay in construction of the effluent system, was not commissioned until August when calving started.

As the first season draws to a close ex says he’s very pleased with how it’s come together.

“The first year was a testing ground and next year is when we see how it can perform. We operate a simple grass-only system, with minerals in the troughs, but there’s a lot of regressing to do and having grass species specific to this land and the demand will have a positive impact on production.

“We’ve got a good basic shed which works really well. The goal is when we go to 600 cows there’ll be three people in the shed – two milking and one bringing the herd in – and I’d like them to be working under a contract system so I don’t have Clare Bayly to worry too much about it.”

PH 07 578 0030

During the last ten years Hynds Megapond®s have been popping up on farms all over the country.

The Megapond ® is an engineered site specific large scale modular effluent tank. The product was developed by the Hynds Technical Team with the aim to provide farmers with a robust leach-free product that was cost effective and long-lasting. The first Megapond ® was installed in Southland in 2009.These large scale modular containment ponds were specifically designed to store Farm Dairy Effluent. However, a number of these ponds have been built for water storage and also waste water processing applications.

Megapond ®s are made from precast concrete panels, with a mass of approximately 1600 kilograms each.

Panels are bolted together and sealed using a grouted shear key jointing system. The panels are then installed using a suitable excavator. Once in place the structure is

CARTER FARMS

completed with a linked, poured in-situ precast concrete flooring system, which extends under the wall panels, to form an outside support ring.

David Nichols, Hynds’ National Category Manager for rural products, says that the result provides farmers with secure leach-free effluent storage that they can have total confidence in. A new pond located at the Lundy Farm near Pleasant Point is part of an excellent system which processes effluent run off from the Dairy shed by non-mechanical means.

The start of the system comprises of two very large stone traps combined with weeping walls which separate the liquid waste from the solid waste. The liquids are then further processed via three in-line 23500 litre Hynds Hytanks. From there this nutrient rich liquid is pumped into the associated (close by) one million litre Megapond ® storage tank and this liquid can then be applied through irrigation to the surrounding pasture in a controlled way.

“Megapond ® and associated infrastructure has provided an economic and robust solution designed to give many years of service.” Says David

Page 69

Megapond ®s come in five standard sizes – 500,000 litres through to four million litres capacity – with other sizes available on request. The product is manufactured

by Hynds at both North Island and South Island manufacturing plants, then supplied in component form. Although Hynds provide the product, a network of experienced installation contractors then install the product.

For more information on the Hynds Megapond® or Hynds comprehensive rural infrastructure product, contact your nearest branch or local Engineered Product Manager.

www.hyndsrural.co.nz or 0800 93 7473

TAYLOR

Page 70

Leap of faith

Coast & Country

Timber beams look great, are bird-proof and eliminate vibration of steel beams and the roof, and create a quiet environment.

ffluent from the large pon is irrigated via a slurry tanker.

Michelle Taylor with youngest daughter, Molly.

Adam Taylor.

The first cow Adam Taylor milked, was his own. In what might seem a leap of faith, Adam and his wife ichelle decided to convert their outhland grazing property to dairying because it offered the best potential for a family lifestyle.

While he d never milked a cow before, Adam and ichelle had plenty of friends who were dairying and who provided advice.

Adam came back to the farm after running a digger contracting business, progressively moving from sheep and beef to dairy grazing then leasing the farm to a dairy farmer and managing it along with another five grazing blocks. “ ichelle and I have four young children and wanted a lifestyle that was family orientated.

The dairy stock we were grazing were doing

well, dairying was becoming stronger in the region and we reckoned if you couldn t beat them, you may as well join them.”

That decision was made in spring with the intention of developing the farm ready for calving in .

The dairy platform occupies hectares of the ha farm, the balance in pines, tussock, scrub and swamp.

Speed of milking btaining the re uired effluent consents from Environment outhland was the first, and most vital, hurdle to overcome. ut nutrient losses from dairy grazing during winter, combined with potential losses with a commercial herd, resulted in consents being approved. rom the outset, Adam and ichelle decided the ideal herd size would be cows – short of the consented – it would be a low input system, the herd would be milked once-a-day and all stock would be grazed on-

farm year-round. “ nce-a-day was the best decision for the family and the land. We re uite high here at ft above sea level and it often snows in winter so our seasons are shorter,” says Adam.

The goal of a one-man operation saw them opt for a rotary system “for speed of milking and because I didn t want to be stuck in the shed for hours on end,” says Adam.

Adam s skills as a digger operator came to the fore when developing the site for the dairy and digging the effluent ponds.

The dairy, designed and constructed by az anssen uilding, is positioned to the north to maximise sunshine with refrigeration panel cladding, which provides insulation from the heat and cold and is easily cleaned and maintained. Timber rafters are bird-proofed and look attractive.

Cunninghame applied the Allnex Terraflake paint system to the blockwork in the

Taylor

dairy. Adam says it looks good, is resistant to acid and alkali, easy to wash and is backed by a fiveyear guarantee.

A basic shed The Waikato ilking ystems -bail rbit concrete platform has additional width to allow for feed-bins to be retrofitted, providing valuable room to move around the inside perimeter of the platform replacing ear tags etc. rogressive Engineering outhland advised, supplied and installed the Waikato ilking ystems technology, which includes martEC electronic cup removers, ail ate traps to hold cows on the platform until they have finished milking, mart AY automatic teat spray system and martWA automatic programmable wash system.

Engineering and more...

ROGRESSIVE MILKING | ELECTRICAL | IRRIGATION

Eng En and

TAYLOR

PH 07 578 0030

ith scraper gates, one w g in ck a b rd. in Tw ash for the ya and green w

rm The auto platfo in h as w r te us and cl operation.

e entrance Paddles on th slow the to the drafter n. cows dow

Page 71

the panels mean Refrigerated se of pumps is oi traditional n eating a quiet cr , ed contain t. environmen

th latform wid Additional p bins to be ed allows for fe is useful for t u retro tte r tags et . ea g in tt re

king Waikato Mil land Is th ou S s System r sales manage y. la rc a Chris B

If you can’t beat them, join them!

The first milking in the new dairy took place on August , . Adam says it was some weeks before the herd “which all came from herringbones” happily walked onto the platform.

“We had to manhandle every cow onto the platform but this became easier when we added a training gate, which enabled us to hold several cows close to the entry point. ow cow flow is superb with milking taking . hours from the time I walk in till the time I leave.”

Adam says the goal was a basic shed that could be upgraded over time. “We don t currently have milk meters or mastitis detection but the conduits are built into the floor so it s just a matter of plugging it in. asic shed it might be, but a number of innovations make milking a pleasure.

Innovations The raised vet stand is “one of the best things we put in,” says Adam. It utilised for

such things as applying tail paint and Artificial Insemination.

The simplicity and efficiency of the Waikato ilking ystems auto wash means Adam simply “turns it on and walks out at the end of milking”. “The seven-day wash programme is fully automated so all I do is push a button and leave it to it.” aintaining the cleanliness of the clusters and platform is also easy thanks to an automatic platform wash.

“A gland in the middle means we don t need to plug hoses in, so all I do is activate it and it automatically washes the platform while I m milking the last cows. ne lap and it s done.

“The vat is the same – the driver pushes the button after he s picked up the milk and it washes.”

The Waikato mart AY system ensures consistent and even spray coverage. It is also easy to maintain levels in the teat spray tank,

which is located under the platform with a low level alarm system.

“The master teat spray tank, in the milk room, is connected through the wall with a hose in the dairy, which plugs under the deck to fill the litre teat spray tank. A simple trigger on the hose mount prevents the deck being turned on while the tank is filling.”

Drafting is a one-man job thanks to a Waikato ilking ystems avi ate automated drafter, which Adam says is very uiet and easy to use, enabling three-way drafting.

Drafting on his own “There s never a problem with cows pushing through thanks to a stop gate, which closes behind the drafted cow, and doesn t reopen until she s drafted out. The remote control means I can draft on my own from any point in the dairy.”

Effluent gravity feeds to a stone trap, which

removes per cent of solid material, then it goes into a lined m , -day storage pond. Application to pasture is achieved with a slurry tanker, which Adam purchased “to save money”.

“The tanker sucks the effluent out of the pond and lays it on the paddocks in a m- m wide trail.” uture plans include installation of a shore-mounted stirrer and a i-Tech Enviro olutions Cobra Travelling aingun.

Electricity to the Taylor farm comes across the nearby reti iver with infre uent outages if fuses blow. “We don t have any alternatives if the power goes out – the nearest shed is km away, so we invested in a Cow ower generator. We ve already used it several times so it s paying for itself.”

Adam and ichelle say the new dairy has fulfilled the brief, generating a great family lifestyle and viability for the farm.

Clare Bayly

A IN &

SEED DRESSI

ID G E CRSEEDS

GR

NG

QUA LITY PASTURE SEED

Page 72

POINT TRUST

A GIANTstep

The Point Trust team in the centre race of the housing barn: Understanding Sara Guo, Charissa Davis, Dante Cornwell, Hamish Noakes how goats think, their and Jean Hamilton. nature and behaviour were “Goats were a better, long term option,” says Hamish. key ingredients in the design and The transition from dairy cows to goats was gradual with Hamish continuing to milk the cows as he gradually acquired construction of the goat house barn a herd of 750 mainly Saanen doe kids. In the short-term the and dairy on the Noakes’ family farm goats were grazed on pasture and milked through the old rotary west of Papakura. cowshed, which had been adapted from 16 to 34 bails for its Originally a World War II rehab farm, the family acquired the 40 hectare property in the late-1960s and milked cows until four years ago when Hamish, his mother Jean Hamilton and sister Anna decided to convert the property to dairy goats.

“We’d been dairying for decades so it was a big decision partly influenced by economics but moreover it was about the sustainability of the farm,” says Hamish.

“Environmentally and economically it made sense. This is a special part of New Zealand and we’re very conscious of the sensitive nature of land fronting the Manukau Harbour.

smaller inhabitants.

Both the grazing and revamped cowshed were short-term strategies, however, and the family had their sights set on building a new goat house with adjacent dairy. ut first came the psychology.

Sociable creatures “Goats are very sociable,” says Hamish. “They like mixing with each other and, unlike cows, don’t like being driven; you need to entice them so this aspect – plus the sociability which tends to stop them in their tracks – needed to be factored into

Coast & Country

Point Trust

the design of the goat house and dairy.”

Hamish worked with Aztech Buildings, which is acknowledged as leaders in the design and construction of goat barns in New Zealand.

Aztech Buildings’ sales consultant Daniel Prestidge recalls Hamish wanted a 114m by 50m barn, which would provide the optimum environment for the goats.

“To meet this requirement, the barn was optimised to achieve the temperatures preferred by goats. Constructed with timber poles, a steel roof system, and two 5m-wide concrete feed-lanes, the barn also featured clear roof sheets for lighting, and two partial sidewalls for an open-sided design which ensured protection from the weather while maintaining passive airflow providing the goats with even temperatures day and night.

POINT TRUST

PH 07 578 0030

Page 73

Working in partnership – GEA area sales manager Paul Convery and Tony McLaren of McLaren’s Rural Services.

Interior of the dairy is light and uncluttered.

Transitioning from milking dairy cows to dairy goats was a giant step, but one we’re pleased we took.

“Aztech utilise perch-free designs for all our buildings and our steel box section rafters and purlins feature special anti-bird perch flashings,” says Daniel.

Aztech uildings subse uently provided the steel framing and external structure for a m by m clear-span goat dairy, which is linked to the barn by a laneway.

New shed site amish says all of his research confirmed bails to be the optimum, most efficient size for a rotary platform. “ riginally, the new shed was going to be built over the old but that was too hard logistically. o we chose a site adjacent to the old shed but which facilitated easier passage for the goats from the goat house to the dairy, with easier access for tractors.”

WD Davenport uilders was contracted to finish the dairy with EA providing its erman-designed -bail goat rotary system and technology on a rench steel platform.

WD Davenport principal Warren Davenport s daughter ichelle Corlett, who is an architect, designed the new dairy,

Hamish Noakes with builders Jay Hawkins and Warren Davenport of WD Davenport Builders.

Construction of the goat rotary platform begins with bolts in the concrete to which legs are added, then the platform.

project managed by ay awkins, which Warren recalls took around four months to build.

“Working on a build of this size and complexity involves a lot of collaboration and we worked with the normal trades but also very closely with ural Engineering, which constructed the yards and cLaren ural ervices from orrinsville and EA around the installation of the plant,” says Warren.

“The cladding for the dairy is refrigeration steel panels with polystyrene centres, which have very good insulation and noise reduction ualities, and are also easy to keep clean.

“Davenports oversaw the design and installation of all aluminium joinery and supplied two large divider doors which provide light and ventilation,” says Warren. “ amish had visited a lot of sheds before this build commenced and goat flow was a priority so we worked with him to design the yard layout, marking out the position of the posts

Rur eerin g Ltd R ur a l Engi n neerin

and also the bolts for the stands on which the rotary platform would sit.”

All steelwork was constructed by ural Engineering, with rad ohnson recalling a sand-proof was done, with all the yards marked out, so amish could walk through and be happy before construction of the yards commenced.

Made-to-measure oat psychology is evident in the made-to-measure solid swing-up backing gates and a number of the yards that are covered with black plastic panelling so the goats cannot see others in adjoining yards or races.

EA area sales manager aul Convery and Tony cLaren of cLarens ural worked closely together on the installation of the new platform and milking system. EA supplied the technology, with installation undertaken by cLarens ural.

SP E CI ALI SE D COATI NG S LTD

POINT TRUST

Page 74

Coast & Country

Ra es are line so goats are not istra te on their ay into the airy.

oes are pre ominantly aanen ith an a erage age of e years.

The a o In contrast to a dairy cow rotary platform, the weight of a goat rotary platform is relatively light but extremely strong.

Construction begins with bolts in the concrete to which legs are added – and then the platform, which comes in segments, is attached.

Paul says Hamish wanted as much automation as he could get. “The new platform features GEA goat clusters, automatic cup removers and washing, manual teat spray – because of its accuracy – and GEA Per Place ID which reads each goat’s EID tag recording milk yield.

“At some point in the future Hamish can choose a simple upgrade, which will provide insight to per-animal fat, protein, lactose and Somatic Cell Count,” says Paul.

The social nature of goats has a large influence on the entrance and exit sections of the platform. On entry, the goats walk up steel steps and through a loading tunnel before stepping into the bail where their eartags are read. A sensor triggers the release of pellets, the goat’s head goes down and a head lock slips into place holding her there until she has finished milking.

At this stage every goat gets the same amount of feed but Hamish can choose to add scales and tailor his feed regime based

ire t

e an mil

ooling at is the rst of its in in e

on age or milk yield.

At the end of milking, the goats exit down a steep ramp designed to discourage them from jumping back up and mingling.

GEA showcase Tony says the farm is a showcase for GEA technology and innovation.

“It’s a whole different ballgame with goats and how they milk – there’s a lot less volume and they have a double let-down, which means they look like they ve finished milking but they will start again, and then finish very uickly.

“Goat milk is three times higher in protein than cows’ milk so filter socks don t last as long. To avoid disruption to the milking process, this dairy has two filters so when the operator is alerted – via the sanitary trap filling – that a filter needs to be replaced he, or she, simply shuts off one and replaces it without any interruption to milking.

“From here the milk goes through a double-bank plate cooler, which brings it down to 20 degrees Celsius, and then through a snap chiller which takes it down to four degrees Celsius before it

ealan .

goes into the vat,” says Tony.

The GEA Snap Chiller also enables energy savings by generating about 20 litres of hot water per hour, which goes into the dairy cylinders at degrees Celsius, re uiring the cylinders to only bring it up to the re uired degrees Celsius.

When it came to choosing a vat, Hamish opted for a horizontal Packo Direct Ice Bank milk cooling vat from Dairy Cooling Solutions, a division of Eurotec Ltd. Kelly Larritt of Dairy Cooling Solutions says ice water cooling has been used for many years in dairy farms and collection centres because it can cool large amounts of milk in a very short time.

First of its kind The first of its kind in the country, the acko vat typically utilises ice water from a separate ice builder, which flows through the vat cooling plates and rapidly cools the milk. Used in combination with a plate heat exchanger, ice water brings the milk under the critical temperature of 10 degrees Celsius before it reaches the vat. Glycol is also an option for cooling the milk in the Packo vat, as was used in the Noakes’ installation.

POINT TRUST

PH 07 578 0030 Goats walk up steep steps and through loading tunnels to gain access to the platform – and feed.

An innovative up-and-down table, at cups-on, make it easy for anyone of any height to work in the dairy.

Technology includes GEA goat clusters, auto cup removers and GEA Per Place ID.

Page 75 At the end of milking goats exit down a steep ramp designed to discourage them from jumping back up.

The goat dairy is linked to the 114m by 50m barn on the left.

The cooling system also generates energy savings of up to 50 per cent, says Kelly, who reckons the Packo vat is encased in ml insulation and that makes it very efficient at cooling and holding the temperature of the milk, even if the power goes off.

It is also self-cleaning.

The electrical work for the new dairy was designed and installed by MB Electrical of Clevedon, which organised new power supply from the road and installed the main switchbox with generator input. The switchbox is a one-stop for all drives in the dairy – feed, hot water, chillers and platform – making it easier and more efficient for the operators.

The dairy’s two 27 cubic metre silos and two 350 augers were supplied by PPP Industries. Currently, one silo is used for the pellets, vitamins and minerals fed to the goats each day; the second providing an option to feed a different feed mix. Sight glasses on the side of the silos remove the need for people to manually check the contents but, if they do, safety rings provide some level of safety.

All detergent for the dairy is supplied by Thames Farm and

Industrial Supplies, which has a multi-decade and multigenerational relationship with the Noakes family. The dairy’s automatic wash system ensures precise doses of the correct cleaning product at every milking and the company maintains regular contact to ensure issues never arise.

A giant step The herd of 900 goats is milked in three herds which will, in time, be increased to four. Each herd comes from the goat house into one of the two large holding yards in the dairy, the yard’s plastic covered walls obscuring the neighbours next door, limiting socialising and encouraging them to move towards the platform.

The platform stops to let two goats off and restarts once the vacant bails are occupied, retaining any goats which haven’t finished milking for another revolution.

Two staff are involved at each milking – one at cups-on and one at the automatic cup removal area teat-spraying and

checking for scraped-off cups etc. And one milker brings in the next herd.

One season on, the goats are very settled with each milking taking about two hours but Hamish recalls it took two to three days for them to transition from the old to the new dairy.

“It was really hard to get them to go through the tunnel and onto the platform – we had to manually push each one. But once they realised they’d be fed on the platform, they were pretty eager to go on.

“We’re extremely pleased with how the dairy has turned out.

We wanted a dairy which didn’t require a lot of operators in it so it had to be automated, very straightforward and easy to use. “We also wanted to future-proof it so we could add the latest technology,” says Hamish.

“Transitioning from milking dairy cows to dairy goats was a giant step, but one we’re pleased we took. We enjoy the goats, they’re happy in an environment which is sympathetic to their nature and behaviours and we’ve got happy staff,” Clare Bayly says Hamish.

NICHOL

Page 76

Half-million dollar dairy ticks all the boxes The large circular yard is capable of holding about 500 cows.

streamline ef ient an effe ti e airy that eli ers on all fronts.

Bob Nichol built a new dairy after ‘this farm’ came on the market.

Contract milkers Clara Moore . n s it easy to apply lusters to the roll-down jetters.

The unique roll-down jetters enable the shed to be set up for ashing in e minutes.

A new farm was not on Bob Nichol’s agenda in 2015. He and wife Jill had, during three decades, developed a 700-cow dairy farm in Hikutaia on the eastern side of the Hauraki Plains, and were planning an overseas trip. But then ‘this farm’ came on the market.

‘This farm’ was 132 freehold hectares with 18 leasehold hectares of stock bank situated at Matatoki, not far from Hikutaia. The property was being sold by retiring vendors and needed a raft of improvements to realise its potential, so Bob did his budget and entered a tender process which he eventually won.

The deal became unconditional in November 2015 and the vendors were happy for work to commence ahead of settlement in May 2016 on the construction of a new dairy to replace the old 32-aside herringbone.

The initial plan was for the new dairy to be completed by the start of calving but the reality was that, although siteworks were completed in March, construction didn’t start until May 2016. This meant contract milkers Jason and Clara Moore started the season in the old shed.

Bob says the new dairy was always going to be a herringbone. “We wanted a simple, functional herringbone that would enable the 460-cow herd to be easily milked by two people in under two hours. It needed to be futureproofed so things like automatic cup removers and a drafter could be added and it had to be built for $530, 000,” says Bob.

‘Make like a cow’ The 2.5 million litre Kliptank.

A range of quotes was obtained with Bob opting to go with people he’d worked with before under the direction of Alex Quinn

Coast & Country of Quinn Engineering.

“Alex understood what I wanted and the result is a dairy that absolutely fulfils the original design brief but which also contains some real innovations, which ease and speed up the entire milking process.”

Alex says it’s one thing to design a shed on paper, but it has to work for the cows – and the only way to achieve that is to ‘make like a cow’.

“I stand in each area of the shed so I have the same aspect a cow would have and question whether this is going to work for them. This perspective enables me to finetune the layout with the result that cows flow in and out of the shed, are relaxed and milk well,” says Alex.

Capitalising on the farm’s existing layout, the new 40-aside herringbone was built adjacent to the old shed. It has 40 sets of cups with space – between the receiving can and first set of cups – for an additional four sets.

This long lead-in contributes to cow flow, which contract milker ason says is “exceptional”.

“The long lead-in means cows are already in the row and move on down the row when the milked cows leave the shed.

No delays “You simply mark the last cow with red foam and close the Ezi-flo pit gate behind her and the next row is there waiting for cups on. There’s no delay and it really speeds up milking.”

The pit is deeper than standard, at 900mm, so milkers don’t have to bend to apply cups and the water line, for pit hoses, doubles as a step – making it easier and safer to check ear tags.

All pipework was designed and constructed by Quinn Engineering with a large round holding yard capable of holding 500 cows and two backing gates, which enable the herd to be split during mating and calving.

NICHOL

PH 07 578 0030

ne of the water-driven gates is fitted with a Dungbuster, which washes and scrapes the yard as it follows the herd – simplifying and speeding the final hose down and saving a labour unit. The gates are activated by a solenoid in the gates’ centre gland, easily activated from the pit.

The purpose-built Artificial reeding race holds cows, enabling an A technician to safely inseminate the cows. And while drenching is not currently carried out, a race has been included for each row, backed by an inline mineral dispenser.

Cow comfort and milker safety is enhanced by a ‘bum rail’ with a kick rail 200mm below.

The exit race has been designed so automated drafting can be retrofitted but Jason says manual drafting is quick and simple with two large drafting pens capable of holding 200 cows.

Nichol Farm owner Bob Nichol and contract milkers Clara and James Moore are delighted with the new dairy.

The DeLaval MC31 clusters have a large bowl but are light and easy to handle.

plit plate cooler chills milk to 15 degrees Celsius before ice bank takes it down to 3.5 degrees Celsius.

Unique jetters When it came to the milking plant ob went with DeLaval.

“We’ve dealt with Thames Farm & Industrial upplied Ltd and DeLaval all the time we’ve been dairying – we’ve always had great service and been happy o flo is e eptional in o i hol s ne herring one. with the plant.”

Choice and installation of the plant was overseen by Neil Hall of Thames arm Industrial upplied Ltd. The -unit DeLaval idiline features C clusters, which have a large bowl but are lightweight and easy to use. A variable speed Lobe vacuum pump ensures even vacuum and milk flow and aids cooling of the milk.

Efficient milk chilling is a feature of the shed with a split plate cooler, which chills ual a ing gates ena le the her to e split in t o the milk to 15 degrees Celsius before it during calving and mating. passes through an ice bank that further

Page 77 chills it to . degrees Celsius before it enters the vat.

The dairy s wash system is a DeLaval Wash oss with air purge, which forces the milk out before washing commences.

Cluster washing is fast and efficient thanks to unique roll-down jetters, developed by Evan Goble, of Thames Farm & Industrial upplied Ltd, which remain out of the way during milking but are easily lowered so milkers simply push the clusters down onto the jetters.

Jason and Clara say this reversal from traditional wash systems, where clusters are pushed up onto fixed-position jetters, speeds the entire wash process – taking about five minutes to attach all 40 sets of clusters and eliminating “water running down your arms”.

Significant upgrade The farm effluent system underwent a significant upgrade by Williams Engineering before the change of ownership. Upgrades consisted of a concrete weeping wall system and 2.5m litre Kliptank as well as installation of a low-rate travelling irrigation system.

All cowshed and feedpad effluent passes through the weeping wall before the liquid is transferred into the Kliptank. The horizontal-mounted Yardmaster multistage pump delivers effluent to the Williams agnum travelling raingun, which is capable of irrigating about ha of pasture.

A separate hydrant line was also installed to enable green water to be used for the yard wash.

Construction for the new dairy commenced in ay , and was completed 12 weeks later.

“The speed with which the cows settled to the new dairy speaks for itself. In one milking they came across to new shed, flowing smoothly, settling and milking well.

“You can’t ask for more than that,” Clare Bayly says ob.

WILLOWBROOK FARM

Page 78

Coast & Country

Wearing

Two hats

The dairy’s circular yard was designed by Aaron Jane, and all the steelwork was completed by father and farm owner, Allan Jane.

While currently 22-a-side, the pit has been built with the future in mind and will accommodate up to 30 sets of cups.

Aaron Jane (left) and Nick Callingham, Tru Test milk cooling and tanks area manager.

There are lots of ways to go about extending and retrofitting.

Working to a tight budget wasn’t an impediment to getting a labourefficient dairy for multi-skilled tratford farmers, the ane family.

Allan and Debbie anes hectare effective property was converted back to dairy after years running drystock, and son Aaron ane started his first season sharemilking on the property in .

The conversion went smoothly, and little was needed other than rebuilding the existing, but dated dairy shed, explains Aaron.

“The old shed wasn t going to cut it. The standards today are higher and to comply it was necessary to upgrade. Also, the old shed didn t flow that well. In the end it was just cheaper and easier to upgrade,” he says.

ut they didn t throw out the baby with the bathwater, making careful decisions about how they could complete the build of their new -aside herringbone as cost-effectively as possible, which included utilising the milkroom of the existing dairy shed building.

A family affair Aaron wore two hats for this project – both as the client and the builder – as his business, A uilding, was responsible for construction of the new dairy. The build was a good fit with their expertise, because they specialise in rural and farm buildings, especially alterations and renovations, says Aaron.

“We offer a more versatile approach,” he says of his company s build philosophy. “There are lots of ways to go about extending and retrofitting.

You don t always have to build a brand new shed from scratch, and that s what we re good at.”

Where possible, the anes completed as much work as they could themselves. Allan completed the dairy s new steelwork, cutting down and welding everything from the zig-zag rails in the pit to the gates and pipework in the yard.

Excavation work for the building platform and concrete were also completed by the anes, helping to keep the overall build cost down.

They decided not to put in a herd management system with Aaron saying “We re only milking cows. We can keep an eye on the herd and performance without that. or us keeping everything simple and doing things the way um and Dad taught us was important”. arents Allan and Debbie continue to be actively involved in the farm, and sister arah

is employed to look after the day-to-day farm work. Aaron typically milks in the morning before heading out to work in his construction business during the day.

In his first season, Aaron finished kg ms ahead of his initial target, proving that a simple approach will deliver good results.

Shed design and build Aaron designed the shed and yard to suit the landscape and re-use of the milkroom and existing nearby sheds.

Industrial paint coating system, muralflex, applied by D ack ray, helps keep the shed clean. Aaron had used the system in builds for other clients, and was keen to use it in his own shed.

PH 07 578 0030 uralflex is a high performance high build coating which is applied in thick films where a durable hard-wearing, maintenance-free coating system is re uired, and it s perfect for dairy sheds, explains athan ray of D ack ray. “ uralflex coating goes on - times thicker than normal paints. A chemical resistant glaze coat is then applied, which provides an easy to clean surface which will not re uire maintenance for many years.”

Despite reusing the milkroom, the shed s electrical wiring is all new, explains ono eegan, whose company, eegan Electrical, has wired up hundreds of sheds in their years of business. “ ur team was on-site on and off for a couple of months, and we were responsible for everything from electrical design, to connecting the dairy to the transformer, and completing the internal wiring.” ne of the visible parts of their efforts is a fully contained and compliant switchbox that keeps out vermin and birds, preventing a common cause of fire in dairy sheds.

Mix of new and old nowing that the build was working to a tight budget, local DeLaval installers, Central ilking and umping, came to the party and helped the anes secure previously owned plant from a nearby dairy shed that had been decommissioned.

Chris Drummond of Central ilking and umping says “We knew the gear was sitting there, and it was great to be able to help both farmers out by moving the gear into the ane s new dairy. We ll do what we can to help farmers achieve their goals”.

As well as the recycled milk line, receiving can, milk and vacuum pumps, brand new DeLaval C automatic cup removers with pulsation stop were installed to help the anes achieve their goal of creating a dairy in which one-person can milk outside of Artificial reeding and other busy periods. ne of the things Aaron likes about the

0800 feedsystems

WILLOWBROOK FARM automated cup removal is that they provide consistency regardless of the milker. “All cows are milked out the same. The system is very reliable in that respect,” he says.

A Tru Test direct expansion refrigeration system, which utilises the chiller from the previous shed, was installed at the new dairy says ick Callingham of Tru Test milking cooling and tanks. ick estimates that milk is going into the vat at around degrees Celius and is then chilled down to degrees Celius within two hours.

A comprehensive milk cooling assessment, which involves data loggers monitoring vat temperature, milk entry line temperature and other key variables is available to verify milk chilling system performance, says ick.

In-shed feeding investment

Central Silo Systems in-shed feed system is easy to use and “bulletproof” says Aaron Jane.

Muck easily washes off the urafle high build industrial paint coating, applied by DR (Jack) Gray.

The decision to invest in a silo for in-shed feeding was easy because of all the time it saves, says Aaron.

They opted for a Central ilo ystems feed solution including a tonne alco silo, which dispenses feed simply by pulling either of two levers in the pit.

“With silo feeding, we can put all of our minerals in the feed and we don t have to add anything to our water or spread anything on paddocks. It just makes life easier,” says Aaron.

While the anes opt to purchase their feed – a tapioca, soy and palm kernel blend – with minerals already mixed in, a mineral dispenser can be added to the silo if needed explains Damian ellve of D W Engineering, Central ilo ystems Taranaki installation partner.

Central ilo ystems offered the anes a competitive price, and they were able to install the system with not much lead time which was great, says Aaron. uilding a new dairy shed re uires a versatile approach, and the multi-skilled ane family has looked outside the s uare to build a dairy that meets their needs. “We got just what we wanted.

The shed is reliable, it s simple to operate and Josephine Reader easy to manage,” says Aaron.

The shed and yard viewed from the tanker track.

Page 79

Willowbrook Farm

Central Silo Systems supplied the 16 tonne silo and in-shed feed system.

AJ Building was able to utilise the existing milk room in the dairy shed rebuild.

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MARSHALL

Page 80

The love of

The Marshalls milk 420 cows in under two hours with their new 50-bail Orbit rotary platform, compared with 2.5 hours in the old 36-aside herringbone dairy.

Speed o longer milking with a -year-old plant has opened the arshalls eyes to how inefficient their old -aside herringbone shed was.

Marshall

“It was still doing its job, but was pretty slow,” says red arshall from Inglewood, of the old plant.

“You put up with it because you don t know any better.” ilking time for their -cow herd has been slashed by about three uarters of an hour, and is much, much easier according to Dale arman, red and Wendy s daughter.

“I love milking in this shed. Every single part of it is great – cow flow is really good, everything is simple to operate, lots of light. It s so nice to work in.”

Dale and her husband aul arman manage the dayto-day farm operations alongside red and wife Wendy.

Proven design After looking at a few sheds and talking with neighbours and friends, red and Wendy opted for a Chapman Dairy shed built by local firm, uintin akes uilders who are licenced Chapman Dairy builders in Taranaki.

In the shed design and build business for years, Chapman Dairy s parlour designs offer the best of both worlds proven designs, which can also be altered to suit the site and individual farmer re uirements. red was sold on the design he saw because it offered lots of natural light, was bright open and spacious with lots of room around the outside of the platform. uintin adds that the dairy has fantastic airflow

Coast & Country

Nathan Hitchcock, Moa Milking and Pumping, Wendy Marshall, Dale Jarman, Quintin Oakes Quintin Oakes Builders, Paul Jarman, Fred Marshall, Brian Luff of Waikato Milking System. o al rm Engineering, designed and manufactured the backing gate.

keep clean. ardwearing, high-build acraflex paint coating on the shed s few concrete wall surfaces also helps keep the dairy looking new. This specialised coating is guaranteed to last years, says rits van Echten of urfatex licenced acraflex applicators.

The old and new shed buildings are very close, which at times provided challenging building conditions, explains uintin.

“We had to limit what we could to after pm because loud construction noises upset the cows, so worked activities around milking.”

The dairy s exterior is painted green, and with its rust red aluminium joinery, aul jokes that it is reminiscent of a Christmas tree. teelwork in the new yard, which includes a drafting race and small holding yard was completed by local firm, D Engineering, who also designed and built the two backing gates in the circular yard. The robust gate is designed to withstand the rigours of the cowshed environment, and usually includes a scraper to dislodge muck as the gate moves around says ohn Duthie of D Engineering, although this is optional, he says.

Labour-efficient plant thanks to special roof venting and windows on all sides of the building. reezer panel walls, supplied by Insulation anel and Door, not only provide outstanding insulation against heat and cold, they are also very easy to

A drench race on the inside of the platform provides easy access for cow administration of animal remedies.

When it came to deciding what plant to include in the new dairy, red approached athan itchcock from oa ilking and umping, local Waikato ilking ystems installation partner, for advice.

They were looking for plant that would reduce the manpower re uired in the shed, and after visiting a few new dairies to see what Waikato plant could deliver and how it performed, the choice was clear.

MARSHALL

PH 07 578 0030

Page 81 The Chapman Dairy designed dairy was built by Quintin Oakes Builders.

Tru Test On Farm Solutions automated drafting makes drafting a breeze says Paul Jarman.

“The Waikato plant is proven, and a known for us because it was in the old shed,” explains Fred of their decision to go with Waikato Milking Systems.

The Marshalls opted for a SmartDRIVE vacuum pump controller and SmartDRIVE milk pump controller, which eliminates the stop/start of the pump by ensuring that milk flows at a continuous slower speed. This improves the efficiency of plate cooler performance and reduces wear and tear on the pump, explains Brian Luff of Waikato Milking Systems.

The 50-bail orbit rotary platform features SmartECR automatic cup removers, which have a handy kick-off alert and automated start, and SmartSPRAY waves for hassle-free, efficient automated delivery of teatspray.

The Marshalls have used Ecolab shed hygiene solutions for 20 years or so, and have continued this long-standing relationship in the new dairy. They use Aquaklenz acid detergent sanitiser and Klear Klenz heavy-duty alkaline to keep their new plant hygienically clean.

Tru Test On Farm Dairy Solutions inbail i enti ation isplays information about each cow as they are milked.

short timeframe. Completion of this last bit of work, she says, meant that they could move into the new shed.

Keith Herbert of H.E.L Electrical says: “We also organised new power to the site, as the old transformer required an upgrade to account for the additional load. We have had a sound working relationship with the Marshalls and Jarmans for many years, and they are great people to work with”.

Tru Test delivers

Outstanding project management Fred speaks highly of the support from Nathan Hitchcock of Moa Milking and Pumping especially his initial advice, and later his project management of key aspects of the install including milking plant, platform, shed water and effluent pump system.

Nathan liaised with H.E.L Electrical over time-sensitive parts of the electrical installation including moving the vat refrigeration unit from the old shed to the new dairy in between milkings.

Dale says that the team from H.E.L Electrical pulled out all the stops to get the plant up and running within a

Surfatex applied the spe ialise a rafle paint coating to protect against abrasive shed chemicals.

The Chapman Dairy design with clear roof cladding, ensures plenty of natural light.

The old shed didn’t include any herd management technology, so deciding what system to progress with was untested waters for the Marshalls and Jarmans.

They eventually settled on a Tru Test herd management system after seeing the solution in operation at other farms and discussing system performance with other farmers.

“Our customers are our best salespeople,” says Richard Koolen, area sales manager for Tru Test On Farm Solutions.

Two large screens, mounted high for

easy visibility, display data about each cow, which is captured by the in-bail identification system. The milker can see and manage alerts for milk withholding, mastitis, lameness, record heat detection, see recent herd test results and much more, says Richard.

Dale particularly enjoys the ease of automated drafting in the new dairy, which is also part of the Tru Test system.

“We drafted some cull cows this morning and just punched numbers into the keypad, and it’s done. No mucking around.”

Drafts can also be entered by using a simple pull cord system, says Richard.

“The new shed and herd management system has freed us up so much that we have more time to focus on other farm tasks,” says Dale.

The modern dairy and milking plant has breathed new life into their farm and long, slow milkings are a thing of the past for this family who have embraced the best that modern farming technology has to offer.

Josephine Reader

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Page 82

KISS shed

STONEHAVEN FARMS

Coast & Country

In 2017 Bernie and Raewynne Lawn purchased 42 hectares adjacent to their existing property, meaning the longest walk for the 400-cow herd became 3km. So the rebuild also allowed them to move the dairy from the farm’s bottom corner to a more central location.

The new 50-bail rotary is now centrally located on their Rahotu property, near Opunake on the North Island’s west coast, with the longest walk to the shed 1.8km.

Keeping it simple

The need to upgrade their effluent management system and a dated herringbone provided the impetus for the Lawn family to invest in a new dairy.

Bernie says when it came to deciding what to include in the new dairy, they applied the Keep It Simple, Stupid – or KISS – principle.

The need to create a dairy that was compliant with current and upcoming milk cooling and effluent management regulations, and a desire for a one-person milking system, were all factors that guided their investment choices.

They liked the simplicity of Brian Hill Building shed design, and working with Brian Hill before they were happy to give him the nod to build the new dairy.

The shed design provides for the roof to go on first, which enables the plant and machinery people to begin their work as early as possible, says Brian Hill. “It also limits weather-related hold-ups, which is a real advantage.”

The prefabricated structural steel that forms the skeleton of the building, and what allows the roof to go on first, is manufactured by local engineering firm Coastal Welders before being galvanised and transported to site.

Ensuring the rest of the building materials were on-site when needed was the job of the trade team at Mitre 10 Mega in New Plymouth.

“Brian Hill’s guys call us and we get them what they need,” says Mitre 10 Mega New Plymouth store manager hilip ose. “We mean business when it comes to trade and do what we can to source and supply what they need.”

Cellphone coverage at ahotu is very poor, so as well as providing timber, ply, reinforcing steel and other items for the build, the Mitre 10 Mega team even provided a temporary cellphone tower for the duration of the project.

Experienced local firm Copestake as and lumbing – a family business with 70-plus years in the industry – was responsible for drainage and of the toilet, kitchen and septic tank for the new dairy.

Waikato Milking Systems supplied all of the milking plant in the new dairy.

The Lawns opted for a drench race on the inside of their Orbit rotary platform.

The design of the Brian Hill Building dairy allows plenty of natural light into the shed.

Stonehaven Farms

Modern, practical plant The first milking in the new shed was in ovember , about four months after construction began – Bernie and Raewynne’s daughter, Alexandra Lawn, who contract milks on the property, couldn’t be happier with the new set-up.

Brian Hill Building designed and built the Lawn’s new 50-bail rotary shed.

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PH 07 578 0030 Alexandra says the biggest benefit is milking now takes just an hour, compared to three hours in the old 30-aside herringbone.

Alexandra milks alone in the new dairy – and the drastic reduction in milking time is thanks largely to the Waikato ilking ystems plant, which includes martEC automatic cup removers, ail ate straps holding cows on the platform if needed, a martD I E vacuum pump controller and mart AY teat spray system.

The mart AY is a very efficient way to deliver teat spray, says IL area manager Trevor ilberd. e supplies the farm with hygiene and animal health products including IL s Iodoshield Active used in the mart AY. “Delivery of teatspray via the mart AY wave can use up to two times less spray than application by hand,” says Trevor.

Waikato ilking ystems Taranaki region sales manager rian Luff adds that the wave is also a more effective way to deliver the spray because it s applied “while the teat orifice is still open”.

STONEHAVEN FARMS

developed to ensure maximum cow flow,” says Andrew.

The washdown system is also simple, with chemicals measured out manually. uantum ne from IL keeps the new plant clean. As part of the IL service, Trevor completes a thorough check of milk and delivery lines twice a year “to eliminate any possible issues before they become problems”.

Eye for the future

Back row: Farm owner Bernie Lawn, Waikato Milking Systems’ Taranaki region sales manager Brian Luff, FIL area manager Trevor Gilberd. Front row: Brian Hill of Brian Hill Building, contract milker Alexandra Lawn, her mother Raewynne Lawn, Mitre 10 Mega New Plymouth store manager Philip Rose.

Ticking all boxes Alexandra likes the automatic start feature on the cups – as soon as cups are put on the cow vacuum starts automatically, which is another time-saver during milking. ther features in the new dairy include a Wrangler cow-handling bail, invented by former sharemilkers Wilco and Waverley lein vink, which the Lawns saw at the ieldays.

“It ticked all the boxes,” says ernie. Alexandra hasn t used a Wrangler before but is looking forward to seeing how it performs during the first calving in the new dairy. he expects it to be much easier than using a head bail to secure a cow safely.

Ensuring good cow flow is an important part of any new dairy and Andrew Wood from Coastal Welders, who led the yard design, says this yard is the result of many hours of planning and conversations with the Lawns.

“Each yard we design is uni ue to that farm and

Page 83

Coastal Welders completed all steelwork in the yard, and manufactured the structural steel for the dairy.

The Wrangler was a must-have for the new shed after the Lawns saw one at Fieldays.

Coastal Welders’ Andrew Wood.

eeping the shed itself clean is easy as well.

While the vast majority of dairy s walls are freezer panel, those that are concrete have a specialised Acraflex paint coating applied, which is extremely durable, impervious to abrasive dairy chemicals and guaranteed for years, says rits van Echten of urfatex, who applies the coating. uck hoses easily off both the painted concrete surfaces and the freezer panel walls.

The Lawns were also very happy with the work of EL Electrical, which wired up the new dairy. ne tricky job they managed was moving the chiller, which was only six months old, from the old shed to the new dairy between milkings.

“They only had a few hours to move and reinstall the chiller, and they worked hard to make it happen,” says ernie. “ EL was very good, and great at keeping us informed about what was going on. We will definitely use them again.”

EL Electrical managing director eith erbert says the project went very smoothly, and the Lawns were fantastic clients to work for.

“It was a great project to be part of.”

The Lawn family was surrounded by outstanding contractors, and this together with their philosophy of keeping things simple has resulted in a dairy with a practical, modern plant that enables a single person to comfortably milk.

Their eye for the future means the dairy not only meets current needs, but is also ready for future growth. What better outcome could they ask for Josephine Reader

Page 84

STEVENSON FAMILY TRUST

Coast & Country The new Fabish and Jackson built octalock dairy and yard.

Stevenson Family Trust

One-person milking

A major project to amalgamate two adjacent farms allowed Michael and Barbara Stevenson to confidently move into retirement knowing the farm that s been in the tevenson family for generations was now set up for many years to come.

Daughter Catherine and her husband Ernie Blom are now running the hectares property in coastal Taranaki near punake, which features a new -bail rotary shed with a labour efficient Waikato ilking system plant, a new bridge to join the two farms together and a modern effluent management system. ichael believes it is increasingly difficult for younger couples to get involved in farm ownership and he Barbara have supported all three of their children into farm e uity of some sort.

Catherine and Ernie are now e uity partners in this farm as well as being contract milkers on the property.

Michael and Barbara Stevenson with daughter Catherine and her husband Ernie Blom, and grandson Benji.

While Michael and Barbara are still available to provide advice if needed, in August they moved off the farm, and out of the house ichael had grown up in. “They can learn to make their own mistakes without us looking over their shoulder,” says ichael.

Octagonal shed nce a site for the shed was chosen, the tevensons decided on a space-efficient octagonal-shaped octalock shed, designed and built by local builders abish and ackson.

While smaller on a square footage basis than a traditional design for the same size rotary platform, the shed doesn t lack any of the expected features there is a toilet, office, pit underpass, milk room, storage room, vet room and a family room and kitchen. ichael, who had been involved with an octalock shed build before, went with this design because “it was the best use of space”. The round platform fits

neatly into the octagonal shaped building leaving no unutilised corners as is often the case in a s uare or rectangular building.

Catherine loves milking in the new shed, and says the cow flow is great, which she says is partially due to in-shed feeding.

While the farm is primarily pasture-based, Catherine says they do use feed to “fill the gaps”.

The new dairy includes two tonne silos from Industries, which are controlled through the herd management system, and the benefit of this is that if a cow goes around twice, she will only get fed once, says Catherine. igh-back stainless steel bins help minimise feed wastage because the design stops cows from pushing feed over the back of the bin.

GPS farm mapping ecause they run a pasture-based system, good information about what grass is available is vital, says Catherine.

They called in en lummer, from Drone Technologies, who mapped the farm and now they have highly accurate paddock size data, which they use in conjunction with pasture meter technology to inform their pasture management.

Karl

BUNN

CONTRACTING LTD

PH 07 578 0030 mapping of the farm is very efficient compared to traditional methods. It took en an hour or so to collect the data by drone – the same task using traditional surveying methods would take an entire day.

Drone Technologies also pegged out paddock boundaries using the data they collected – again much more efficient than the measuring wheel traditionally used for this task.

Inside the shed, the tevensons opted for Waikato ilking systems plant, which includes a milk recovery system that, using air, forces that last or so litres out of the milk line into the vat at the end of each milking. ayback on investment is relatively uick because a large volume of milk is saved each season, says Waikato ilking ystems Taranaki area manager rian Luff.

One-person milking ne person can milk in the new dairy, which was an important factor in the milking plant selected by the tevensons.

They opted for the autostart option on the martEC electronic cup removers, which means no buttons to push or switches to turn on – as soon as the cow is cupped, milking begins automatically.

The martC T L unit is at the heart of the Waikato system, says rian, and allows the loms to view and adjust the operating parameters of all of their plant via a touchscreen. rom here, they can do things like view fault alerts about any aspect of the plant, adjust the mart AY teat settings, and adjust pump settings throughout the season to suit milking conditions. mart AY, the automated teat spray solution, was also installed. Triggered by the martEC , teats are sprayed from units mounted on the floor of each bail. They are sprayed almost immediately after the cups are removed while the teat is still open, which maximises treatment effectiveness.

STEVENSON FAMILY TRUST

Page 85

Taranaki-based oa ilking and umping installed the rbit concrete platform, which is manufactured at Waikato ilking ystems amilton manufacturing facility. The mart it system ensures that the platform integrates seamlessly with the milking plant, so no adjustments are needed on-site. This makes installation efficient, says athan itchcock of oa ilking and umping, which install about platforms each year throughout the orth Island.

Easy to keep clean “The shed is very easy to milk in and very easy to keep clean,” says Catherine.

Two small sprayers mounted at the base of the platform – one directed to the skirt with the other directed to the wall – spray a small amount of water as the platform rotates, which makes it almost unnecessary to hose down the walls or platform skirt, says Catherine.

The shed walls are also covered in protective Acraflex coating, applied by anawatu-based company urfatex. The coating is impervious to highly corrosive shed chemicals and cow muck thanks to its composition and application, which includes seven separate coats as well as a sealer.

Ecolab has supplied the tevensons dairy hygiene chemicals for many years, and they have continued this relationship in the new dairy.

The risk of getting a temperature grade is minimised with the installation of Tru Test at anager lus, which as well as controlling vat refrigeration also monitors milk temperature. at anager sends an alert to the loms cellphones if there is a problem with milk cooling. Alerts are also sent if there is a power outage, or if wash temperature hasn t reaching the minimum setting, says Tru Test milk cooling and tanks area manager ick Callingham.

Chris Perrett from Chris Perrett Electrical, Michael Stevenson, Waikato Milking Systems’ Taranaki area manager Brian Luff, Ernie and Catherine Blom and Barbara Stevenson.

Waikato Milking Systems’ Taranaki area manager Brian Luff in the centre of the rotary, accessed via an underpass.

Karl Bunn Contracting completed all of the earthworks for the build.

Page 86

STEVENSON FAMILY TRUST The 21,000 litre vat is cooled by a 13hp Tru Test refrigeration unit, which includes heat recovery to provide the new dairy with some of its hot water requirements.

Getting the power on

A bridge to join the two formerly separate farms together was a major part of the project.

Lots of windows let plenty of natural light into the octalock dairy.

Chris Perrett from Chris Perrett Electrical.

etting services to the greenfields site was a big part of the build. Chris Perret Electrical, which specialise in rural electrical work, first established temporary power that allowed the builders to get to work then began the electrical fitout including laying conduit, pre-wiring and later coming back to connect everything and do testing.

“We understand what farmers need,” says Chris Perret. “We’ve got three guys with a farming background on the team, and they know how important it is to keep the shed running. We work to farmers’ schedules, not ours,” says Chris.

He also liaised with specialist contractors to connect the new dairy to the local electricity network.

The Stevensons were impressed with the team from Chris Perret Electrical, saying: “Chris was fantastic. He always found solutions for problems”.

In keeping with their desire for a labour efficient and easyto-use dairy, the yard includes a Wilco and Waverley Wrangler cowholding system, invented by former sharemilkers Wilco and Waverly KleinOvink.

“The Wrangler makes life a lot easier for lame and calving cows,” says Catherine, who had used one in a previous shed and ensured there was one in the new dairy as well.

Numat rubber matting

Farmer Catherine Blom pulls shut covers that keep birds out of the dairy.

The new Fabish and Jackson-built octalock dairy, from the tanker roundabout.

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Coast & Country installed in the entry to the platform also helps reduce the risk of lameness that can come from moving onto the platform, and improves cow flow through the shed.

A T screen fitted by Chris erret Electrical was added at the cups-on side of the shed, which eliminates the need to stop the platform or scramble up the stairs to see what is going on out in the yard, says Catherine. “It was a simple thing to add and a real time-saver.”

Major earthworks Earthworks were a significant part of the project, and local firm arl unn Contracting built just under a kilometre of new races, completed major earthworks for the bridge that now joins the two farms together, as well as preparing the building platform on the greenfields site. They also completed the excavation work for the large m x m effluent storage pond.

The excavation work for the bridge was the largest part of the job, says Karl unn.

“This wasn t ichael s first shed, and that was evident in the good planning that made the overall build go smoothly from our perspective. Earthworks for the bridge were a big job and this was done while it was dry, and in advance of preparing the building platform.

“All up we were on-site on and off for about three months,” says Karl. ichael, arbara, Catherine and Ernie are very happy with the end result: the new dairy has delivered exactly what they set out to achieve – one-person milking. It has also enabled Michael and arbara to move off the farm, knowing it is now set up well for the next generation of Stevensons to take over guardianship of the family property.

Josephine Reader

STEVENSON FAMILY TRUST

PH 07 578 0030

Page 87

With new Health and Safety requirements changing, there is a real demand on farm & orchard owners to keep compliant.

Kyle from Nexus Signs has been assisting owners by creating a very effective interchangeable H&S Site Sign tailored to each farm or orchard.

The sign consists of separate modules that can be updated as and when details or maps change.

It also features areas in which staff can fill in and wipe off temporary or new hazards.

Signs are made of Composite Panel Board, 1220 X 800 with high performance vinyl and Laminate.

Also available is a kitset with posts and fixings to keep things simple.

This H&S Solution has been so popular that he is rolling them out across farms and orchards all over the Country.

Contact Kyle @ Nexus Signs today to order yours.

Nexus Farms Ltd: 62 College Road Site Emergency Information

Nexus Signs Orchard: 62 College Rd Site Emergency Information

GPS Location: 176.944558, -37.978164

Contact Details for person in Charge of this orchard are:

This Site Address: Te Rahu Farm Ltd

220 Te Rahu Road Whakatane 3193

Name:

Cam Bierre

Ph:

027 2999 239

Position:

Manager

DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT PERMISSION AND NOTIFICATION OF THE HAZARDS WITHIN

Nearest Medical Facilities:

COMMON SITE HAZARDS

Medical Centre: The Doctors Phoenix

Fire:

Phone:

Police: Ambulance: Power:

07 307 0586 Whakatane Hospital

Phone:

07 306 0999

- Slippery / uneven surfaces and tracks

- Live electric fences – Do Not Touch.

- Open waterways (fenced off) and hidden

- Dairy Shed – slippery surfaces, pinch points,

Treat all fences as live.

drains in some paddocks

rotating platform, hazardous substance

- Effluent pipes may be hidden by grass

- Slips, trips and falls

in effluent area.

GENERAL - All people entering the property MUST sign in and out.

- Dust

and feed wagons

3. Move quickly to the evacuation point located opposite the vat stand at the dairy shed

Remember the emergency telephone Number for:

- It is your responsibility to report all hazards / accidents / near miss to the Farm Manager

VISITORS REPORT TO: CAM BIERRE

PHONE: 027 2999 239

Fire:

have been trained - If you open a gate, shut it. All road gates MUST be shut.

Police:

ORCHARD HYGIENE RULES

- Abide by the speed limit of 20Km/Hr, 15Km/Hr for tractors.

- Covered footwear must be worn at all times

ACCIDENTS - Accident Register is located in the yellow letterbox.

-Stock

PLEASE REPORT ALL NEW UNIDENTIFIED HAZARDS TO MANAGEMENT

Bas Overdevest

Ph:

021 224 0732

Position:

Manager

PERSONAL HYGIENE This is a smoke free workplace - Always wash your hands before eating and drinking - Toilet facilities are located at the dairy shed

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY! THIS IS A MULTIPLE HAZARD AREA

Ambulance: Power:

ASSEMBLY POINT

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES PROVIDE FIRST AID, CALL 111 EVACUATE WORK SITE IF REQUIRED

Nearest Medical Facilities:

DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT PERMISSION AND NOTIFICATION OF THE HAZARDS WITHIN

Phone:

07 304 9106

Hospital:

Whakatane Hospital

Phone:

07 306 0999

National Poison Centre 0800 76 47 66

In case of any emergency, it is important you.....

1. Remain calm 2. Listen to your supervisor 3. Move quickly to the Evacuation or Muster point identified below 4. Ensure you stay together with your group and take others with as you go 5. Remember to take your Orchard Health and Safety Folder 6. First Aid Kit with Supervisor (This Contains the names of everyone in your group. When you get to the muster point Check this list to make sure everyone is accounted for)

HAZARD

CONTROL

While on site, All workers shall take all practicable steps to ensure their own safety and the safety

and other workers or visitors safe.

GENERAL - Never undertake a task if you feel it is unsafe.

- Always be aware of all hazards on the property you are working on.

- It is your responsibility to report all and health and safety related issues to your Supervisor.

- Do not perform any task, operate any machinery or deal with any substance, unless you have been trained.

- SPS’s must be available at all times.

ACCIDENTS

COMMON SITE HAZARDS

Medical Centre: Riverslea Medical Cen

ORCHARD HEALTH AND SAFETY RULES of others. They shall carry out work in a manner that will keep themselves

DATE

Persons entering this property must comply with all Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and its amendments

the yellow letterbox.

- First Aid Kit is located in the Dairy Shed in the toilet cupboard

2. Contact the Farm Manager Cam Bierre as soon as possible – 027 2999 239

Name:

- This is a drug and alcohol free property. Zero Tolerance.

- First Aider – Cam Bierre 027 2999 239

LIST OF NEW HAZARDS FOUND ON SITE

Contact Details for person in Charge of this orchard are:

- Always be aware of hazards on the property you are working on. Full register is located in

- Report all accidents, including all near misses that could have resulted in an injury,

-Vehicle movement – Motor bikes, tractors

1. Remain calm

Notes

Edgecumbe

immediately.

In case of any emergency, it is important you.....

4. First Aid Kit is located in the Dairy Shed in the toilet cupboard.

62 College RD

farm safe.

- Do not perform any task, operate any machinery, or deal with any substances, unless you

Hospital:

National Poisons Hotline: 0800 764 766

5. Farm Manager is a qualified First Aider

While on Farm, all persons shall take all take all practicable steps to ensure their own safety and the safety of others. They shall carry out work in a manner that will keep themselves and all others on

THIS IS A MULTIPLE HAZARD AREA

Persons entering this property must comply with all Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and its amendments

Remember the emergency telephone Number for:

This Site Address: Nexus Signs Orchard

Farm Health & Safety Rules: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY!

- Report all accidents, including near misses that could have resulted in injury, immediately.

- Make sure you know who your first aider is.

- MOVING VEHICLES - TRUCKS, TRAILERS

- Keep your first aid kit in your work area at all times.

- BEES AND HIVES

QUAD BIKES, SPRAYERS OR MOWERS - RABBIT HOLES, UNEVEN OR STEEP

- OPEN WATERWAYS / DRAINS / PONDS

ORCHARD HYGIENE RULES

GROUND

PERSONAL HYGIENE

- DUST

- SPRAY DRIFT / CHEMICAL SPILLS,

- Do not eat or smoke under the canopy.

CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION

- Always wash your hands after eating, smoking and toilet breaks.

- KIWIFRUIT CANES AND DEBRIS

- NOISE

- PERGOLA WIRES AND PROTRUDING

- ELECTRICITY

- Always cover cuts or grazes.

- Cover mouth and nose if you sneeze.

- Only use designated toilet facilities provided.

- No rubbish is to be left on the orchard or placed in harvest bins/bags.

LIMBS FROM VINES

- Appropriate clean clothing and enclosed sturdy footwear shall be worn.

- SECATEURD, LOPPERS, POWER AND

- Any jewelery likely to be a hazard must be removed.

- SLIP, TRIPS AND FALLS

- Where required clean footwear and sanitise your hands prior to leaving and entering Orchard.

HAND TOOLS

VISITORS REPORT TO:............................................PHONE........................

PLEASE REPORT ALL NEW UNIDENTIFIED HAZARDS TO MANAGEMENT

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES

OPERATIONAL HYGIENE - Grazing of livestock under the canopy is prohibited during harvest or at spraying times.

- Animals must be kept away from harvest bins, including load out pads.

- Any risk of contamination to product must be reported immediately.

SICKNESS REPORTING

PROVIDE FIRST AID, CALL 111

- If you are feeling unwell, report it to your supervisor before it becomes an issue.

EVACUATE WORK SITE IF REQUIRED

LIST OF NEW HAZARDS FOUND ON SITE DATE

Full Hazard Register located in H & S folder in dairy shed.

HAZARD CONTROL

EMERGENCY ASSEMBLY POINT

IN THE EVENT OF EMERGENCY OR SPILLAGE MANAGER: BAS OVERDEVST PH: IF ANY ONE IS HURT PHONE AMBULANCE: 111 Advise - Location, Number involved, Chemicals

FIRE INVOLVED PHONE FIRE SERVICE: 111 Advise - Location, Nature of incident, Type and quantity of chemical involved

SPILLAGE INVOLVED

Contain spillage, warn others, advise H&S Manager if waterways Land contaminated National Poison Centre (03) 477 7000

Ph: 07 323 6608 M: 022 674 9339 41 Liverpool St, Kawerau kyle@nexussigns.co.nz

Now available in Liquid & Solid form, talk to one of our team to discuss a programme to suit your Farm & Budget

0800 SEAWEED (732 9333)

www.agrisea.co.nz

Page 88

Going

SCHNELL & GEMMELL

robotic

A Lely robotic milking system has allowed sharemilkers Greg and Amy Gemmell to work smarter, not harder. And going robotic was a “no brainer” according to Greg, who wishes they’d done it years ago.

The Gemmells sharemilk on Amy’s parents’ property in Bunnythorpe, Manawatu. And when they and parents Brian and Margaret Schnell investigated the cost of a robotic milking operation, it was close to the cost of a modern rotary, says Greg.

Three Lely Astronauts – costing $200,000-250,000 per unit depending on the specification – service their 230-cow herd, which they run on an 82 hectares effective milking platform. They also utilise a 52ha run-off.

Greg and Amy initially worried the technology side of robotic milking would be over their heads, but they’ve found the Lely system easy to use. “If you can use TradeMe, you can use this,” reckons Greg.

Greg and Amy speak very highly of the support they’ve had from both Lely New Zealand and local service agent Bromley Dairy and Pumps to get the system up and running.

After sales support has also been outstanding, says Greg, with Steve Bromley and service technician David Stone as well as Lely Manawatu sales manager Trevor Ward

making regular visits to the farm to ensure things are working well. ed-headed Trevor is such a fixture at the farm the Gemmell’s kids have nicknamed a Hereford calf ‘Big Red Trev’ in Trevor’s honour.

“I know if I’ve got a problem, I ring and they’ll be here. The support we’ve had has been more than 100 per cent,” says Greg.

Transponders worn around the neck of every cow provide data about abnormalities in things like rumination and amount of walking. It also reports weight, milk production, conductivity, Somatic Cell Count and much more.

Before milking, teats get a gentle clean.

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Cups are applied one-by-one and are also removed one-by-one so each quarter is properly milked out.

Schnell & Gemmell

Low-impact farming “We have so much information at our fingertips. This system has taught us a whole new concept of farming,” says Greg, who enjoys no longer being tied to the shed, or having to order family life around being home for milking.

The Gemmells have implemented solutions that are in keeping with their philosophy

Each cow wears a transponder that captures a myriad of data about the animal’s health and production.

The robotic arm positions cups on the cow’s teats.

of minimising environmental impact and maximising cow health and wellbeing.

Animal health has improved significantly since moving to robotic milking and vet bills are way down, says Greg. He says mastitis is almost

Refrigeration | Air Conditioning | Sales & Service

non-existent – he s treated only eight cows in the last nine months, compared with 50 or so for the same period last season. They’ve also seen an improvement in conception rate and have had no lame cows.

PH 07 578 0030

SCHNELL & GEMMELL

Page 89

A cross-hatch pattern, applied by NZ Cowshed Groovers, provides a non-slip surface in the yard.

Top row: Sharemilkers Amy and Greg Gemmell. Bottom row: Forward Farming’s David Law, Ecolab territory manager Dan Darke, Frits van Echten of Surfatex and Lely Manawatu sales manager Trevor Ward.

Greg and Amy put this down to the reduction in human intervention.

“It’s quiet in the shed; there are no bikes, no noisy backing gates. Letting the cows do their own thing has delivered results,” says Greg.

“It’s a system that is really kind to cows,” adds Amy. Greg estimates in the nine months they’ve been operating with milking robots coupled with their low-impact approach to farming, production per cow has increased by 20 per cent.

Soil and effluent They ve extended this low-impact approach to their effluent management as well.

After ongoing problems with pond crusting and spending thousands of dollars on contractors to stir the pond and suck out the solids – still to no avail – Brian approached Forward Farming and biological farming expert David Law for advice.

David was able to diagnose the problem quickly, and within two months the pond moved from having a 15cm crust to no crust at all and a surface so clear it easily reflects surrounding trees.

The fix involved the introduction of slurry bugs – or aerobic bacteria – and David also recommended they stop using chlorine-based sanitising products because this kills slurry bugs.

The work didn’t stop there, however, because David told them

Cow comfort is a big part of the Lely robotic milking system. Here a cow enjoys a good scratch before moving out to grazing.

the pond crust was a symptom of undigested feed.

“Low pH in the cow rumen causes improper feed digestion.

This is directly related to nutrient imbalance in the feed, and in the soil it grows in. So what they really needed to look at was their soil condition if they wanted to solve the pond crusting problem long-term,” says David.

Soil tests were carried out and even though testing revealed an ideal pH of 6.4, what it also showed was an imbalance in four elements that influence p , says David.

“Brian’s soil magnesium was too high in relation to calcium levels, which was having a negative effect on soil condition.”

Based on that detailed soil analysis, Kiwi Fertiliser was able to recommend a specific programme that included the application of lime, and addition of compost to their fertiliser mix to get the soil back in balance.

“As a company, we’ve responded to a continuing trend of declining results owing to continued recommended use of chemical fertilisers, particularly in pastures, kiwifruit and avocados,” says Kiwi Fertiliser managing director Ron McLean.

Grass growth “We specialise in building and maintaining soil fertility for optimum quality and yields following sound science,” says Ron. The Gemmells report improved grass growth and note they do

not apply urea because it goes against their biological farming ideals and because the better uality effluent, together with the fertiliser programme, is delivering great results in terms of grass growth.

Ecolab cleaning products have been carefully selected to support robotic milking and the Gemmell’s low impact farming approach on their farm, like the chlorine-free alkaline plant cleanser.

Ecolab territory manager Dan Darke says hygiene in the robotic milking shed is largely self-contained and requires little intervention other than keeping the chemical containers full.

And Lely recommend Ecolab hygiene solutions.

Two automated hot washes and two cold washes are completed each day. The vat and buffer tank are also washed automatically.

Greg or Amy hose down the yard and each day manually wash the three sets of cups and the lasers that align the cups with the cow’s udder.

Sensors on the cups instantly analyse milk, and if, for example, it exceeds the preset threshold for conductivity or is flagged as coming from a cow that has recently received treatment, the milk is diverted via a dedicated milk line to either the calf milk tank or sewer instead of going into the vat.

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SCHNELL & GEMMELL

Page 90 Greg arrives at the shed at about 7.30am in the morning and can be gone within an hour after hosing down, opening gates, changing the filter sock and checking the computer for any cows that have been drafted or flagged as needing attention. The information is also available on their home computer and via mobile phone so the information can be accessed and controlled virtually anywhere in the world.

Robotics retrofitted The emmells also opted to utilise their existing herringbone shed building rather than build new, and filled in the pit and redesigned the yard to suit the Lely system. ecause the cows come and go at will, and during the night, making sure the shed s walking surface was as safe as possible for cows was important, says Amy. A cross-hatch pattern, applied by Cowshed roovers, provides a non-slip surface in the pre-milking and post milking parts of the yard.

And an Acraflex protective paint coating was applied in high traffic areas in the upgraded yard. Acraflex has been in ew ealand for about years and is a proven paint system that looks good as well as protects concrete surfaces from muck and harsh dairy chemicals, says rits van Echten, of urfatex, who applies the specialised paint coating to more than sheds each year.

Training the cows to get used to the robots wasn t as hard as the emmells expected.

While Lely specialists estimate it takes about months for cows to fully acclimatise to robotic milking, the emmells reckon their cows had the idea within three months, but kept their herd mentality for a bit longer. ow they are starting to come through in small groups, which is the idea.

They started off training between two and six cows a day as they calved, and within a week they had seven cows come in overnight of their own accord. y the end of the second week, cows were coming in overnight.

“After that the rest of the herd just followed those lead cows,” says reg.

While reg and Amy run a pasture-based system, as an incentive cows get a small amount of pellets that include minerals and a splash of molasses via the robot

Coast & Country

Bromley Dairy an umps ely ro oti mil ing technician a i tone an Lely national pro u t spe ialist ar aun ers un erta ing some planne maintenan e. while they are being milked.

Linked to T C herd management system, a feed controller on the tonne silo from Central ilo ystems automatically dispenses each cow s individual feed allocation during a -hour period.

The install on this job was very easy and efficient, says Central ilo ystems managing director ean Curry.

“Lely provided a work calendar, so we knew when we needed to be onsite and when we needed to be finished by. It was great to be associated with such a forwardlooking project.”

No going back The Lely A C grazing system is a vital part of the overall herd management programme and involves the entire farm being accessed by one of three races – A, or C. As cows exit the milking robot they are diverted to the relevant race, with cows alternating between all three races during a -hour period. resh grazing is another incentive for cows to come in and be milked.

And after only nine months of using the Lely milking robots, the emmells are sold on them. They re on track to meet production targets – and better than that, they are no longer tied to the twice-a-day milking routine, and can spend more time on other parts of their farming operation, or watching their kids Josephine Reader play sport.

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Cows alternate between three ely ra e ay e its uring ea h hour perio .

Frits van Echten of Surfatex in front an rafle painte surfa e in the ne yar .

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SCHNELL & GEMMELL

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Page 91

BRUMBY FARMS

Page 92

Coast & Country

sparks new life Farm owner Grant Bennett in the pit of his ne asi e herring one airy.

The ne

airy

ith remnants of the she that as estroye

A fire that rendered the original -aside herringbone shed useless was the catalyst for the ennett s rebuild.

While a new dairy was always on their longterm plan, the fire brought forward upgrade plans by a couple of years, says rant, who with wife Charlotte, purchased the ahiatua property just four years ago.

The ennetts needed to rebuild uickly because they were forced to dry off three months early following the arch fire, so the new shed needed to be up and running before calving started in uly.

They opted for another herringbone shed – this one -aside – rather than a rotary because the building timeframe was four weeks shorter,

y re in the foregroun .

as well as being much lower cost.

While milking cows this season, the new dairy has been designed and built with a capacity of in mind.

The ennetts had a clear idea of what they wanted out of a new dairy and automation to improve milking and labour efficiency were important.

They decided to go with a shed design that had stood the test of time, and approached the same company that had built Charlotte s parents shed years ago.

“The in-laws shed was still in pretty good knick, and the company had a good reputation and did design, engineering and everything,” says rant.

Construction started in April and rant and Charlotte were milking in their new dairy

T o entral ilo ystems tonne silos arri e on site pre assem le an ta e a ouple of ays to install.

ot mu h sur i e the she re that le to the ennett s ne uil . in early-August.

The dairy itself is constructed from precast concrete, with wall panels fabricated off-site. aving one local service provider that was responsible for plant installation, electrical, shed and farm water reticulation and refrigeration helped streamline the construction process.

Automation important The ennetts chose a DeLaval milking plant including automated cup removers, automated wash system and refrigeration. They also opted for DeLaval variable speed milk and vacuum pumps.

“While it wasn t the cheapest option, DeLaval has a pretty good reputation for uality gear, so it was an easy decision to go

with them,” says rant. erviceability was also important. “It was good to know that DeLaval has a large local dealership team in place for support when needed.”

Labour and time-saving devices are a big part of the new dairy. “The automatic cup removers make this a one person shed,” says rant. acuum efficiency is important for a smooth milking, and the DeLaval C clusters maintain stable vacuum even at peak milk flow and are capable of handling up to litres per minute.

Automated detergent dosing ensures optimal detergent usage without milkers having to do anything other than keeping the tanks full and hooked up to the one-touch C shed wash system.

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BRUMBY FARMS

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Brumby Farms The yard and race have been designed to hold up to 700 cows.

The fact that the system alarms if water temperature, wash duration, detergent use or other things are outside set parameters, means Grant can quickly identify and fix any problems.

The benefit of this system is it s modular, so it is easy to add other capability – like milk metering – at a later stage if needed.

While a double-bank cooler for milk prechilling has been installed, the farm s cool spring water mean it s not needed at this stage. ut it was sensible to include it in case it is ever needed, rather than try and retrofit it later, says rant.

Smart yard design LED lights are used throughout the dairy, because they use - kW less power than traditional fluorescent lights. They also need replacing far less fre uently – about , hours for LED compared with for fluorescents.

Time and labour saving devices were incorporated into the yard design as well,

DeLaval MC50 ergonomic, lightweight clusters.

including a locally designed backing gate that scrapes down and washes the yard as it moves. rant reckons this cuts minutes or so off yard washing time.

The yard also has two entrances, which provides good flexibility for managing multiple herds, says rant.

To meet their health and safety obligations, and make handling cows that need treatment easier, the yard also includes a Wrangler installed just off Artificial reeding race, which really comes into its own at calving time according to rant.

“The belly straps are great and stop the cow going down, which makes assisting calving a lot easier,” says rant.

In-shed feeding While the dairy destroyed by fire didn t include an in-shed feeding system, the ennetts had used one at a previous sharemilking job

High backed stainless steel trays minimise feed wastage.

Page 93

Electrical conduit is af e to alls and ceilings, which is constructed of precast concrete.

Te ture on rete features in high traf areas su h as the pit e it.

and were keen to include one in the new build.

Central Silo Systems got the nod to provide and install the system based on their “reputation for quality and good name,” says rant. rant s supplement feed programme includes both palm kernel and specialised feed blends, with the latter supplied by ames and on. The supplements are stored in two 16 tonne silos that provide around four to six weeks storage.

Grant typically uses the same specialised blend year-round. “It s good to know the cows are getting the extra feed they need.

“The system is easy to use. The milker just pulls a lever and kg of feed is delivered instantly,” says rant.

The ennetts opted for pneumatic blow tubes on their two tonne alco silos, which

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means they can be filled up without the need for rant or any of his team to be present. The blow tubes can be retrofitted to existing silos as well, says Central Silo Systems owner Sean Curry.

As well as supplying water pipe and fittings and fencing timber for the rebuild, local rural supplies store Farmlands Pahiatua keep the Bennetts and their new dairy equipped with everything they need to keep the dairy running throughout the year.

“We were happy to support the Bennetts as they rebuilt, and are happy to continue to support them as they grow their farm and business,” says Deborah Abercrombie of armlands ahiatua.

While the unwelcome fire provided challenging building conditions and an especially tight construction timeframe, a new dairy – bigger and better than the last – has risen from the ashes and will hold the Bennetts in good stead for years to come.

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The shed design sees some plant installed in a semi-enclosed lean-to attached just off the milkroom.

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PUKIO EAST DAIRY

Page 94

OWN design

Eighteen months of milking 1000 cows through a 36-aside herringbone was more than enough for Marcel Boschma. Now his dairying business in the Wairarapa near artinborough is reaping the benefits of a new 60-bail rotary dairy shed.

From the start Marcel had a very clear idea of what he wanted out of the new dairy and he, along with his equity partners, invested a lot of effort into researching shed design and features.

Toni, Marcel’s wife, says that family holidays in the year or so leading up to the build often included side trips to look at recentlybuilt sheds, much to the chagrin of their two children.

Careful research led to the shed being built to Marcel’s own design. Construction started in October 2016 and was commissioned on schedule in February 2017.

“We invested in things that deliver functionality, would help run the business and would deliver a return,” says Toni of their approach to the build.

Disciplined approach “Nothing comes down the race that doesn’t add value,” says Marcel.

Marcel’s disciplined approach to only investing in things that add value, saw them forego non-essential items and focus on functionality.

For instance, access to the central rotary pit is via a staircase attached to one of the bails, rather than through a traditional underpass.

Marcel estimates this saved $30,000-40,000 on the building cost.

A local company was commissioned to refine his basic shed plan and build the shed, which is constructed ess to the pit is ia stairs from precast concrete. As instea of an un erpass. well as the milking parlour, the dairy s floor plan includes a toilet, staffroom, storage area and office with the milk room efficiently tucked into one corner of the shed behind a low wall.

The majority of the dairy’s extensive concrete surfaces – walls and floors – are covered with a specialised paint coating to maintain hygiene and minimise damage to concrete surfaces. urfatex applied the Acraflex wall coating to about m throughout the dairy, which involves five separate coats of an apoxy and paint combination, making the wall coating “very, very durable,” says rits van Echten from urfatex. Decorative flecks are then applied along with a sealer coat. The coating has a 10-year guarantee, but Frits says it typically lasts well beyond that.

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Pukio East Dairy

Surfatex’s Shane Angland and Frits van Echten in front of some of 240m2 surface area rafle all oating is applie to.

PUKIO EAST DAIRY

PH 07 578 0030

Page 95

A view of the new dairy from outside the shed.

The EID Reader is at the heart of the Tru Test dairy automation solution.

A heavy duty industrial paint was also applied to floors in the milk room and other areas to protect the surface against corrosive chemicals.

Milking and labour time cut The highlights of the new dairy for Marcel are lower labour content and a uicker milking time. A key part of delivering these outcomes was the installation of Waikato ilking ystems plant, which includes plenty of labour and time saving devices martEC electronic cup removers, in-bail mart AY teat spraying and the martWA automated plantwash system.

“Waikato is pretty proven in the ew ealand market, and they were very clear on pricing, as well as having a good reputation,” says arcel.

The -bail Centrus platform is at the heart

SmartCONTROL manages the dairy’s automation, and the SmartDRIVE unit provides milk and vacuum pump control.

of the new dairy, and is engineered to Waikato ilking ystem s exacting standards in .

The deck is formed in a multi-layer laminate process, which includes evlar – a material used in high-end applications like military vehicles – which is per cent lighter and eight times stronger than a traditional concrete platform. Centrus lighter weight improves longevity of platform running gear.

The platform s built-in rubber matting in each bail improves cow comfort and the extra wide deck – at . m – provides superior protection for vital platform running and automation gear, which are mounted underneath the platform. eavy-duty ura rubber matting from umat is installed in the platform entry and exit, reducing the risk of lameness as cows move on and off the platform. The matting doesn t need any special cleaning – just a simple

Ordish & Stevens managing director Scott Forbes, Waikato Milking Systems Taranaki area sales manager Brian Luff, Tru Test Milk Cooling and Tank Solutions area manager Tim Rix, FIL Area Manager Ryan Medlin, Marcel and Toni Boschma, and Surfatex’s Frits van Echten and Shane Angland.

hose down – and will last about years.

Installation of the platform, which arrived on-site in six-bail sections, took about three weeks and was managed by oa ilking and umping, which is the orth Island authorised installation partner for Waikato ilking ystems.

Breakdown service Taranaki-based oa ilking and umping s osh abish says their -hour breakdown service offers peace of mind for farmers. “If anything goes wrong, we work hard to get the shed back up and running as uickly as possible – either ourselves or through one of our local agents if needed.”

The martD I E vacuum pump controller is an investment in power saving. It dynamically

adjusts vacuum to suit airflow levels, which can save up to per cent compared to a standard vacuum pump, says Waikato ilking ystems Taranaki area sales manager rian Luff.

Waikato ilking ystems local partner, rdish tevens, installed the milking plant, and arcel project-managed the installation himself.

“It was uite good working in close with arcel. is expectations were clear, which was helpful,” says rdish tevens managing director cott orbes. ot only were they responsible for the install, rdish tevens milking specialist rian Deller was involved at the outset of the project, offering advice and taking arcel and his e uity partners to visit local sheds so they could see the Waikato milking plant in action.

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Page 96

PUKIO EAST DAIRY

Heavy-duty plastic on the vet platform means it is easier and safer to move than traditional metal construction.

Marcel Boschma hosing the central pit area of new Waikato Milking Systems 60-bail rotary.

Installing the shed water and completing electrical work, as well as milking plant installation, saw up to nine people from Ordish & Stevens on-site during the last few weeks of construction to ensure the new dairy was up and running on time.

effective solutions that suit is also important, says Ryan.

“We’ve been working with Marcel for a few years on this site, which has high iron levels in the water, so our premium acid – Quantum ed – is the perfect fit,” says yan.

And finding the right hygiene solution for the self-dosing, automated Waikato Milking Systems SmartWASH system was important.

On Ryan’s recommendation, chlorine is added separately to improve stability.

“We re confident this is the best fit, and will give the best results,” says yan.

FIL partnership Marcel uses FIL solutions to keep all of the new Waikato milking plant hygienically clean, and has added Ryan Medlin, a FIL area manager, to the Fonterra alert list for the farm.

This enables Ryan to act quickly to support Marcel and the team to get to the bottom of any possible hygiene-related grades.

Proper understanding of farm hygiene-related practices help maintain and improve plant performance, so Ryan will deliver customised training followed up with ongoing training, as required, to help Marcel and his team get the best out of the new dairy.

As well as training, understanding the unique circumstances of each farm and finding cost-

Function and value In keeping with his must-add-value philosophy, Marcel opted for Tru Test Dairy Automation.

The Tru Test system delivered similar functionality at a significantly lower cost than the other options he considered.

The decision wasn’t based just on price though, the system had to deliver much-needed

Scott Forbes, managing director Ordish & Stevens, checks the switchbox they installed.

functionality as well.

Tru Test Dairy Automation area sales manager Richard Koolen put Marcel in touch with several farmers who had recently installed Tru Test Dairy Automation systems for Marcel to talk with them about what the system delivered, how they used it, why they liked it, and any challenges.

“Our customers are happy with the system, and they are happy to talk with others about it, which is great,” says ichard.

The system installed in Marcel’s dairy includes in-bail identification, a feed controller, three-way automated drafting and two in-shed display screens.

“Because the system is modular, it can easily be added to later as needed or as budget allows,” says Richard.

Tru-Test On Farm Solutions also supplied the farm’s refrigeration solution, which includes a glycol unit for milk pre-chilling, and a second refrigeration unit for vat chilling. Milk enters the vat at about six degrees Celsius.

Coast & Country

The farm s effluent system in lu ing million litre pond, was designed by Hi Tech Enviro Solutions.

And the system ensures the new dairy will comply with the milk cooling standards that come into effect in June 2018.

Tru Test milk cooling and tanks area manager Tim Rix says the previous vat chiller ran about 14 hours per day, and because of the effective pre-chilling the new vat chiller switches on and off as required to maintain the milk in the vat at four degrees Celsius.

Plus the heat recovery units on the chillers take advantage of heat created during the cooling process to provide the shed with some of its hot water.

Future capacity lanning for the farm s effluent management system began a year or so in advance of the new dairy being built. And arcel engaged effluent specialist Hi Tech Enviro Solutions to create a fully accredited design that could be presented to the local council to obtain resource consent for their farm.

PUKIO EAST DAIRY

PH 07 578 0030

Tru Test Milk Cooling and Tank Solutions area manager Tim Rix with Toni and Marcel Boschma.

The system has been designed with a future herd size of up to 1400 cows in mind, says Hi Tech Enviro Solutions’ Sarah Hill.

“Marcel wanted to know what they needed to do to install an effluent system that managed properly, would comply with the regional council requirements 365 days of the year – and the system had to work for the old shed and be able to be transferred to the new shed [now in operation].”

The newly-built dairy uses gravity to move effluent and shed washdown water to a stone trap, which then drains to a sump. Effluent is then pumped from the 25,000 litre sump to either the storage pond or irrigator. olding five million litres, the m by m lined pond currently uses a tractor PTO-driven pump to irrigate effluent via a low-rate Cobra Travelling Irrigator to 137ha of land.

An electric pump and stirrer system is planned in the future.

Due to shed washdown water and effluent

The herd grazing near the new dairy.

being gravity fed to the stone trap and sump the building platform for the new dairy needed to be raised by more than one metre, which was the job of ray s Contracting and another local firm.

It took a couple of weeks’ work of both contractors working together, with two or three tractors and trailers and an excavator to get the foundation at the right height, says Shane Gray from ray s Contracting.

“It’s always rewarding working with a progressive farmer who is investing in good infrastructure and we were happy to be part of the project,” says Shane.

Peace of mind Living a couple of kilometres down a deadend gravel road means electricity supply can at times be unreliable, and a Cowpower icardo series diesel generator provides peace of mind that cows can be milked regardless of the status of the local electricity network.

“It just makes sense to have a generator on a farm this big,” says Marcel.

Taking into account the starting and running wattage of milking plant and other key equipment is an important factor in choosing the right size generator. With a 500 litre diesel tank, the generator will provide about 15 hours’ run-time before refuelling is required.

The 120kW model chosen by Marcel is one of the biggest capacity icardo models available, and is a stand-alone unit that is well suited to providing back-up power for a large modern dairy with high levels of automation, says arry ayes of Cowpower.

Supplement feeding sorted The new 60-bail rotary shed is serviced by a Central ilo ystems in-shed feed solution, which includes milling capability for barley grown on-farm.

The barley goes through a disc mill, which

Page 97

SmartSPRAY automated teat spray is one of many laboursaving devices in the new dairy.

runs at night to take advantage of cheaper power, and the system weighs out palm kernel and barley to a specific ratio for each batch. This is stored in a seven tonne silo before being moved into the shed. Minerals are added to each batch manually, but this can be automated as well if desired, says ean Curry of Central ilo ystems.

The new 30 tonne palm kernel silo and seven tonne mixer silo arrived on-site assembled and took a couple of days to install, says Sean.

Although this whole install took a couple of days longer on this job because Central ilos also moved a massive barley storage silo, which was being reused from the old shed, to the new dairy.

The Boschmas and their equity partners now have a new dairy that has slashed milking time, reduced labour input and dramatically improved milking efficiency. Their uncompromising focus on investment in functional solutions that deliver value mean the payback period on their investment will no doubt be quick.

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ANSTIS DAIRIES

Page 98

Coast & Country

New shed a

MUST

Situated on the very edge of Opotiki suburbia is the recently purchased dairy farm of Anstis Dairies.

Peter and Marnie Anstis purchased the farm one year ago from a neighbouring family – and, because the old shed was in a pretty bad state, they decided on a major upgrade.

Peter and Marnie have lived in Opotiki all their lives and have a kiwifruit orchard on the same road as the dairy farm.

Marnie is also an author in her own right.

Shareholders and aspiring farm owners Dave and Nat Wilson run the dairy farm.

The old shed had an 24-bail internal ardco milking system installed that was well past it’s use-by date, so a new shed was a must.

“When we purchased the farm we knew the old shed would have to go,” says Peter. “The farm came up for tender close to our retirement, so that just made it easier to transition to the next generation.”

Cris Fairbrother from Manktelow Consulting Engineers.

Three- uarters of the first season was spent milking in the old ardco shed, then cows were dried off early to allow the construction of the new shed to commence in May 2015.

Demolished The old shed was pretty much demolished – apart from a few structural walls, which were the mainstay of the new design.

Peter and Marnie’s’ son Chris and his wife Jen currently run the orchard as well as looking after Peter and Marnie’s share in the dairy.

Dave and Nat have been involved from the start of the project. They currently 50/50 sharemilk another property, while at the same time managing the Anstis farm. They moved onto the Anstis farm this season.

The new shed is a one-man shed, and Dave employs

Looking back over part of the farm to the dairy shed.

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GEA area sales manager Paul Convery and Mark Boyde from CoolLogic.

Richard Palmer and Glen ame from rif th teelte h in Whakatane.

one worker. Dave says he’s been milking cows for 30 years and this is the first time he s ever had a new shed.

Dave and Nat brought their herd in his words: “during a shit payout” so decided to merge the best of the two herds – some of the existing cows purchased with the farm and some from Dave and Nat’s’ herd. Currently, 420 cows are milked through the shed, but if more land comes up for use then it may enable the farm to milk more cows.

Full earthworks package

in Opotiki was the project Anstis Dairies Contractors manager for the earthworks.

Anthony ‘Rud’ Rudkin from Waiotahi

Rud says they had to contour a couple of paddocks to get enough fill for the site preparation for the shed, plus they constructed races and prepared the drainage for the ponds and wetland areas that Peter wanted constructed.

ANSTIS DAIRIES

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Chris Anstis, Dave and Nat Wilson, Richard Palmer, Waverley Klein Ovink, Mark Boyde, Paul Convery, Keith Nicholl, Glen Fame and Peter Anstis.

Waverley Klein Ovink in front of The Wrangler.

“We had to hook into some of the old raceways when we were originally on farm doing earthworks but we are heading back in earlyFebruary for stage two, which will consist of realigning the old races and incorporating fully into the new setup,” says Rud.

Seismic strengthening Cris Fairbrother from Manktelow Consulting Engineers in Whakatane explained their process for designing the upgraded shed.

The focus was on an efficient solution to provide a bigger milking shed. Rather than demolishing, keeping as much of the existing structure as possible resulted in a significant saving in cost.

Keeping the original blockwork meant adding height and width to obtain the new dimensions required.

“We erected a whole new roof structure

on the existing walls,” says Cris. “We also incorporated seismic strengthening of the existing blockwork, which was done to meet the requirements of the latest seismic design standards.”

Removal of the old roof, and the increase in height of the old walls meant support had to be reinstated up to the level of the new roof.

Peter chose to include a skylight and roof vent in the design. The roof vent provides good ventilation, and is fitted with mesh and flashing to prevent birds from loitering, while the skylight is a simple and effective measure to reduce lighting costs.

Accidental supreme success Whakatane company Steeltech executed all the roof beams and framing for the building, including all yard, backing gate and pipework in the races.

The bulk of the fabrication work was happening out in the paddock while demolition work was taking place in the shed. Peter says the reason for this was that a lot of the poles were 16 metres long so transferring them to the site would have been too much of a challenge.

The entire extension of the shed came from a few existing walls, with all walls being heightened as well as extended in length to ensure a larger and more workable shed. The roof has been bird-proofed with a cap going on the exposed purloin. ichard almer from riffith teeltech says Fonterra came on-site to approve the initial design, which was followed up by a mid-term and final inspection by Assure uality. riffith teeltech s len ame says the entrance layout was “an accidental supreme success”.

“There had been some leftover pipe from

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Page 99

FIL’s Bay of Plenty and Paeroa area manager Tony Hooper. the yard, which had been placed by the entrance to the bridge, so while contemplating it was decided to follow the curve on the side of the yard to the platform bridge.” The cows love going onto the platform from the side of the yard, and it has improved cow flow enormously.

Innovative ‘must’ The yard had an existing Race Wrangler incorporated in the design. The Premier mobile Wrangler was purchased by the previous farm owner, but with the new build it was decided best to cement in place. It took a while to find the right place to locate the Wrangler, but eter looked at other people s layouts and also took advice on where it should be placed for maximum benefit. easy to see the love and care that s gone into this project.

Page 100

ANSTIS DAIRIES

Coast & Country

Looking into the shed from the yard.

The FIL measuring bucket.

“It works brilliantly where it is sited,” says Waverley Klein Ovink from The Wrangler.

“The cows think they are walking to their paddock, next minute they are in the head bale.” The Wrangler systems are an innovative ‘must’ for new dairy shed builds. They are built to last and designed not only for cow comfort but also for farmer comfort too.

Low maintenance Peter decided he wanted a GEA plant installed in his new shed, so made contact with Mark Boyde from CoolLogic – formerly ESP Technologies in Whakatane – who, along with GEA area sales manager Paul Convery, worked out a system that suited Peter’s requirements.

One of the main priorities of the new plant was ensuring it was low maintenance. Mark, who project-managed the plant install, says this was the reason they installed the iFLOW twin iBEAM multi roller platform.

“The iFLOW is built onto a raised plinth,

The new wetland area. which means the milking machine is mounted under the platform – providing physical protection as well as making servicing the machine easy.

“The nylon roller system requires very little maintenance, and the rollers are distributed evenly under platform providing a reduced loading point and less wear and tear.”

Peter is pleasantly surprised by how quiet the new platform is when in action. And he didn’t want too much in the way of electronics, but they did want to keep staff to a minimum so opted for cup removers and cow restraints plus there is automatic teat spraying and an autowash system with the 3C gland.

The vat cleaning, however, is manual. The 3C gland is the wash gland that enables the plant to be washed in any position without having to ‘park’ the platform.

As there was no feed pad, Peter opted for feed bins on the platform. They’ve already got a feed pad but wanted to futureproof the platform by installing bins and it also helps with

the older cows not bullying the younger cows.

CoolLogic oversaw the entire electrical, water and milking machine fitting.

“Because there was already a water bore in place it just meant re-routing all the pipework,” says Mark. “We also put in One Devan water tank to go with the existing concrete tank.”

The new plant hot water system runs on gas, and is serviced by having two large gas tanks away from combustibles on the tanker track.

An ongoing issue with the old shed was clusters were constantly being dragged out into the yard, therefore Somatic Cell Count was an issue. To combat this problem iC330 clusters were installed, which in turn dropped the SCC from day one and lifted production by 55 per cent.

Hygiene under control Ensuring the new system is using the right volumes of product for wash programmes is the role of GEA/FIL’s Bay of Plenty and

The GEA platform.

Paeroa area manager Tony Hooper.

Tony’s role is to review current milk dockets when he visits and ensure there are no dairy hygiene issues, that SCC are under control and the farm has plenty of product on hand to see them through until his next visit.

Tony is very happy with the way things are running at Anstis Dairies. He says the old shed had some hygiene challenges because of its age and that things were just getting past their use-by date.

Tony showed me the teatspray mixing bucket, which is one of the tools GEA/FIL supply. It gives the correct measurement for teat spray, water and emollient at each of the challenge periods throughout the season.

“The iodine spray that is used on farm has given them good control over mastitis and is working really well,” says Tony.

With views out over the surrounding countryside and towards the ocean, this is a lovely farm – and it’s very easy to see the love and care Lois Natta that’s gone into this project.

PH 07 578 0030

ANSTIS DAIRIES

Page 101

BROOKLYN FARMS

Page 102

More

Coast & Country

The Technipharm Dungbuster automatic yard washing system reduces the amount of water used.

MILK!

The herd at Brooklyn Farms in Opotiki is on track to achieve an extra 60 days in milk thanks to the farm’s new dairy, DeLaval technology and improved pasture and effluent management.

“The 700-cow herd previously had 270 lactation days but that will now increase to an extra 60 days in milk,” says Ian Brown of the company which owns the farm.

“We now know every cow as an individual, not just a number and in a way it’s like learning to milk and manage cows all over again,” says Ian, who is impressed at the amount of data the new technology delivers.

He also appreciated DeLaval’s support including from Ed Dentice and Sean Killalea, who are technical support specialists for DeLaval NZ,

Ian Brown is impressed with the DeLaval Delpro Herd Management System.

who spent about two weeks helping with installation and teaching staff to use the systems – an exceptional service DeLaval offers all “start-up” Delpro farmers.

Powerful tool “There is so much information and it’s a very powerful tool. The DeLaval support staff here to get us up to speed emphasised: ‘Just enough to start’ as not to overwhelm the milkers with the new technology. “ ow all functions are in use, and decisive decisions can be made regarding cow health and production.”

By his own admission, farm manager Stuart Seabourne was a computer novice but is now using the office computer in the day-to-day management of the farm as well as for forward planning.

Installed by DeLaval dealer King Farm Services of Edgecumbe, the two by 30-aside

Farm manager Stuart Seabourne and staff Bailey Kurei and Jacob Parkinson really appreciate the DeLaval P2100 Parallel Parlour milking system.

P2100 Parallel Parlour with rapid exit enables 30 cows – on one side of the parlour – to be released at the same time, reducing delays. And as the cows leave, the milking stalls are automatically washed down.

Butt pan Farm staff Bailey Kurei and Jacob Parkinson also appreciate the automatic cup removers, the gutter for kick protection and especially the ‘butt pan”, or as they call it the “shit catcher” behind the cows, which significantly reduces the number of times milkers in the pit are sprayed with effluent.

Cows have easy entry to the milking place, a comfortable, natural position during milking and exit to a wide yard before heading through yards, to be automatically weighed after every milking and drafted according to a pre-determined programme – or as set by the milkers if

they identify a cow that needs extra attention.

Cows are fed in each stall with the supplement dispensed while they let their milk down. ow much is fed to each cow is determined by the DeLaval Delpro Herd Management system reading the animals’ ear tags and acting on instructions entered into the computer by farm staff.

Animal health King Farm Services’ workshop manager Iain Watson is also impressed with the DeLaval and the engineering behind it.

“This project was a lot more complex than other installs. The stalling and exit gate system had to go in first before concrete was laid.

“And because the milk line is as close to cups as possible, the vacuum is kept at a level to promote animal health,” says Iain Watson. ing arm ervices also installed the water systems.

BROOKLYN FARMS

PH 07 578 0030

The automatic cup removers, a gutter for kick protection, the “butt pan” and DeLaval colourcoordinated floor mats make for a comfortable, safe work area.

Ian Brown with KlipTank sales representative Ian Jamieson and the 2.2 million litre Kliptank in the background.

In the equipment room the DeLaval double-bank plate heat exchange pre-cools milk from 35 to six degrees Celsius. This is achieved by a DeLaval Compact Water Chiller before it enters the vat. The C200 Automatic wash system cleaning unit, operated by the touch of a button to automatically wash the system, is also in the same location.

The DeLaval Milk Meter MM27BC in the pit is a highly accurate ICARapproved milk meter that also monitors any blood traces in the milk, conductivity, kick-off and air entry in the lines.

It offers fast milk yield monitoring and better control of cow health.

Eric Codlin of Codlin Electrical carried out the wiring for the dairy, the refrigeration units and effluent systems. “There s two of just about everything because they milk both sides of the dairy at the same time. The large pre-cooler is up to Fonterra requirements and I installed what was needed for the dairy systems to DeLaval specifications. It all went together well. We ve had no issues.”

Wrangler versatile Ian Brown is a fan of the Wrangler hoof trimming system. “Every dairy needs a Wrangler – and Wrangler inventor Wilco lein vink didn t tell me to say that. It makes for easy, safe and fast handling of cows and we are also using

it as a head restraint when checking or fitting ID ear tags.” “ ets also like working with cows restrained in the Wrangler. The key is to learn to operate it properly and we have a YouTube video which can be viewed on a smartphone to help train staff,” says Wilco. ecause of the farm s topography, a raised site had to be constructed by Waitotahi Contractors and Ian says they did a great job in preparing the ground before construction started.

“We had to build up the site to a level of two metres to meet the requirements of the new building code for the local council.”

The Technipharm Dungbuster automatic yard washing system reduces the amount of water used to clean the yard by up 40 per cent, and the time pumps have to operate, saving electricity, and minimising the amount of yard effluent going into the tank.

Ian Brown says when it came to an effluent system – he wanted something that was bullet-proof, so he installed a Kliptank.

King Farm Services’ workshop manager Iain Watson.

Brooklyn Farms

High water table KlipTank sales representative Ian amieson says the company s team designed a system to suit the size of

WAIOTAHI CONTRACTORS LTD

Page 103

herd, the farm and its soil types.

“This farm has a high water table and high-risk soils, so an above-ground storage was the best option.” lipTank designed the effluent system based on using a low rate application with a Cobra ain un,” says Ian amieson.

“There are three lip et aerators in the . million litre tank providing a waste water treatment and stirring. The treated effluent product has virtually no smell, so is less toxic.

“This reduces leaching because it delivers plant-available nutrients directly to the root zone, via Cobra rain gun irrigation across a large area,” says Ian amieson.

Wrangler inventor Wilco Klein Ovink with Ian Brown of the trust that owns the farm.

Ian Brown says soils have improved since spreading effluent from the lipTank. “The farm manager can t wait to get more from the tank. There is a significant difference in grass growth and soil tests show improved soil biology.”

The tank at Brooklyn Farm took just two days to erect. It has two metre high walls and can contain all effluent produced from the dairy for up to days if necessary. But the main advantage is in the low application rate at just 6mm over large areas that enables application shortly after rain events.

Ian Brown and his team are looking forward to the challenge of using this technology in a practical and sustainable way.

Elaine Fisher

NOSEROCK FARM

Page 104

Winter milking

winner

Noserock Farm

Outside yards looking back to the shed.

Water/air fans inside the Watkins family dairy on Noserock Farm.

Simon Watkins, Michael Watkins and Gwynn Watkins.

Noserock Farm staff are manager Dion Clothier, second-in-charge Fred Fraser, farm assistant Preet Shah and farm manager Gavy Shah – and Gwynn Watkins baby son Blake Watkins.

#1 #1

UTE in NZ

UTE in NZ

No song.

No dance.

No poems.

Just a thank you to all of you who helped us get here.

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FINANCE IS NOW AVAILABLE No poems.

Just a thank you to all of you who helped us get here.

Business as usual.

#1

Qubik TMC Ltd director Mark Craig.

Coast & Country Noserock Farm is a conversion from a hilly drystock farm to a dairy farm. The new dairy farm, located on the outskirts of Tirau, is owned by four of the five Watkins brothers.

And the enterprising brothers will be specialising in winter milk production.

The name ‘Noserock Farm’ comes from a favourite part of the farm where the boys played when they were young.

Noserock Farm neighbours the family dairy farm and was owned in past years by extended family.

There are five Watkins brothers and sister halee but four siblings – wynn, ark, imon and ichael – are partners in this dairy operation while Greg works off the farm. They’ve had plenty of dairy experience – working on the family farm and then sharemilking.

The four brothers purchased the property in December 2015.

“We built in the winter, we had to put the lanes in, reconfigure the paddocks, lay water and effluent pipelines.

We did it all ourselves; had to keep to our budget,” says spokesperson imon Watkins.

Hard lessons imon says they had to learn some hard lessons as they went along – so he has some advice for others who are about to convert farms.

“Don’t think you know everything, seek advice and take it.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help.”

“We took over in April 2016 and had to get a shed built straight away because we wanted to winter milk.

“While the shed was being built we were milking three-timesa-day in the home farm shed including walking a large mob once-a-day from one end of the farm to the other,” says imon.

“It wasn’t easy but it was the only option we had.” imon spent a lot of time pre-build getting uotes, looking at new sheds, old sheds, yards and effluent systems.

“I used the three- uote system and then gave the top two another chance at a better price. [We were] Just trying to get the best deal.

“We thought we would spend $1m and we have managed to keep close to that budget – within $100,000. A forestry block has been used to offset the debt level on the property.”

“We decided to build the shed in the place that would be the most practical for our day-to-day milking and in a place where we could subdivide in future if we wanted to.”

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Business as usual.

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Page 105

Tirau Welders manager Russell Tye.

They had a budget and just had to work to it.

The 44-bail herringbone was built by Lowe Construction and Simon cannot say enough about how good Paul Lowe was with the build.

“We went for Lowe Construction for price and looking at his work we could see just how good it was. But a competitive price was certainly the big influence,” says imon. “ e does such a good job, so meticulous and all of the other contractors say the same thing fitting their work into the shed was easy because it was so exact.”

The shed sits along and into the hilly terrain and has stained timber purloins with the main construction of sandwich panels.

The staffroom office is located at one end and has a window out to the dairy platform. A toilet separates the office and chemical store room and a pump plant room continues down the long herringbone shed finishing with the tanks and vats. The lean-to look roof means the shed is light and airy.

Latest technology The new dairy has a Waikato ilking ystems plant, which was installed by their authorised dealer Qubik TMC Ltd. Qubik director Mark Craig says the 44-bail herringbone has Waikato Supa4 installation with a modern milk pumping system, which is both fast and uninterrupted. The mart L is a digital pulsation system that opens and closes liners consistently and dependably every milking.

The SmartDRIVE Vacuum Pump Controller continually monitors the system and adjusts the vacuum pump speed according to airflow demand and with a martD I E milk pump controller the milk is pumped continuously a slower speed to maximise efficiency of the primary plate cooler. ltimate cup removers are designed to provide fast and efficient milking.

Easy electronics Laser Electrical Putaruru was commissioned to do the full electrical installation with a wide scope to use the latest technology for full automation.

Laser Electrical director Chris McKillop says it was a good opportunity to showcase all the services and technology available.

A particular feature in the new dairy is the air conditioning or mart ool isting ans, which send out a very, very fine mist that helps cool the cows, keeps the flies away and makes it a cool pleasant working environment for the farmers to work in.

This system can reduce the air temperature from 30-plus degrees Celsius below 20 degrees Celsius in a matter of minutes. enior electrician Darryl arl developed, installed and integrated a full automatic plant and vat wash system for the new shed, which is controlled via a LC and linked to a LCD I screen with graphics and messaging for function control and faults. istory is also stored for wash temperatures, water heater

Laser Electrical director Chris McKillop next to the effluent pump station. and recirculating temperatures.

Darryl says the plant and vat wash unit can be adapted to any type of milking machine plant in existing sheds, and units are flexible and adaptable.

“We also have the ability to remote access to the farmers PLC if WiFi is available so faults can be diagnosed online and assist farmers,” says Darryl.

Clever yards Well thought-out yards were built by Tirau Welders including the large top-gate and while most of the pipework was built onsite the large trusses and top-gate were manufactured in Tirau Welders workshop.

Tirau Welders manager Russell Tye says he took Simon to several sheds where they had done the pipework to give him an idea of what was available and then they worked through what would work best for the site.

“It was great to work with imon and the Watkins brothers, they are very positive and the builder Paul Lowe was awesome. “ e does such a very good job, it made our job easier,” Fritha Tagg says Russell.

Page 106

AANZIEN LTD

Coast & Country

Effective herringbone When Aanzien Ltd went to merge two of its smaller dairy farms at Putaruru in the Waikato, it was obvious building a new shed for both operations would have benefits.

Aanzien Ltd – a Van der Heyden family company – made the call to build a new parlour at the end of the season.

Now a 50-aside herringbone now caters well for the combined herd from both farms, says Aanzien Ltd contract milker Wayne ughson.

Wayne says it was always on the cards to join the two neighbouring farms, “it was just a matter of when and how”.

And Wayne, who manages the day-to-day running of new farm and grazing blocks for absentee owners and trustees, had some handy experience for the build.

Before being the farms’ contract milker for 18 months, he was milking on his father’s farm in eporoa. ut with two dairy farming sons the farm was too small to cater for both, so it was time for Wayne to strike out on his own.

When it came to this build his previous experience doing a similar project with his father was a big help with the development, conversion and build of the new shed.

Wayne says the main driver for the amalgamation of the herds and farms was efficiencies.

Having one shed meant merging daily

operations, staff management and being able to take advantage of the economies of scale.

“With the combined farm we were always going to put a new shed on – neither shed would work for the combined herd.

“We’ve gone for a central location and the herringbone choice was all to do with costs. We didn t think of a rotary – just too expensive,” says Wayne.

And with three Aanzien farms in Putaruru all having herringbones, cows can be moved between farms with little resistance in milking in different parlours.

Looking down at the yard at Aanzien Ltd’s new dairy.

Shopped around For the build, Wayne says they went to the market and looked at different new sheds.

He worked closely with Michael Van der eyden, also a utaruru dairy farmer.

And when his father redeveloped his Reporoa farm a few years back Wayne went with him to look at new sheds, so he already knew what he wanted.

Wayne and the owners approached several different dairy builders – looked at all the options and looked again at the costs and decided to use Lowe Construction.

“I worked hard on the uotes. It took a long time to get the quotes, to nail down just what we wanted but the groundwork was worthwhile,” says Wayne.

Earthworks by Luxford Earthworks started early January 2016, building began in ebruary and the official opening was held in June after about a month of milking.

Aanzien Ltd contract milker Wayne Hughson inside shed.

Lowe Construction manager Dean Lumsden outside the 50-aside herringbone his company built.

Qubik branch manager Mark Craig says the plant’s installation went very well.

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AANZIEN LTD The build by Lowe Construction went very well, says Wayne. “During construction we managed to keep milking on the two farms while the new shed was built.

“We took out one paddock but just kept working, and Paul Lowe did a great job.

“It was awesome to see the workmanship which went into it. It was only Paul himself and one other builder and they just quietly got on with the build.

“There was no pressure on the builder and he worked solidly and effectively.”

Aanzien Ltd

Light and airy

Waikato Milking Systems’ Paul McGill demonstrates swingdown.

Tirau Welding’s high level of workmanship inside the shed.

Laser Electrical Putaruru’s Darryl Karl and Mark Camp.

Paul’s brief from initial project manager, Michael, and Wayne was reasonably straightforward. They wanted a shed that worked well for cow flow and was simple and easy for staff to operate.

The 50-aside herringbone means it is a very long shed but with the ‘lean-to’ look roof it lets in plenty of natural light.

“It’s summer-friendly,” says Paul. “And most milking is in the summer. I am big on air-flow and light.”

The build was a timber and steel frame combination using insulated panels for walls and ceilings. There is a combined staff room and office, a separate toilet, and a chemical and store room that lead on to the pump plant room.

All of these auxiliary rooms run down the side of the milking platform, ending with tanks and water supply.

A very practical layout.

Paul says he likes to do all parts of the build himself – concrete, roofing and panelling. “This means I have full control and can ensure the quality workmanship and can walk away knowing it’s a good shed, done properly.”

From Paul’s point of view the shed build was one of the best he’s done.

“It was just one of those jobs that went without a hitch right from the start,” says aul. “The fine

Page 107 weather was a big help and everything went to plan.”

Wayne had a pretty good idea on what he wanted for plant. He’d again done his research and came back with Waikato Milking Systems plant as the Rolls oyce and it was fitted by Waikato ilking ystems authorised dealer Qubik.

Latest plant technology This shed has the latest in design and technology, says Waikato Milking Systems New Zealand sales manager Paul McGill.

The 50-aside herringbone has Ultimate cup removers, a BP400 Blower Vacuum pump with variable speed drive. The cluster sets – Claw – have a fiveyear warranty on the claw bowl, meaning if there are any problems they will be replaced free of charge.

The German-made Fristam Milk pump is controlled by variable speed milk pump controller. The pulsation system has 24volt SmartPULS pulsators with separate filter air-line and axi-plus top-loading milk filter.

A feature in the shed are the G2 Cluster Washers with non-return valves, which means they can be put straight up for washing and use a swingdown jetter line. Ecolab dairy detergents are used to keep the plant in pristine condition.

Qubik installed a stainless steel industrial double-back cooler and all the milking machinery and shed water is underground using PE fusowelded pipe.

Qubik director Mark Craig says the installation went very well.

“We worked with Lowe Construction and Laser Electrical and it was a very smooth build and install.”

“The glycol pre-cool system, which we have been installing for 10 years, allows the milk to hit the vat at four to five degrees Celsius within three to four minutes of leaving the cow – a necessity with today’s Ministry for Primary Industries’ cooling regulations.”

The system has built-in heat recovery – every minute the unit runs it produces four to five litres of hot water at 60 degrees Celsius, which gives good power savings.

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AANZIEN LTD

Page 108 Qubik installed the vat refrigeration – a Danfoss unit, which again gives the safety of ensuring compliance of the milk supply regulations.

Making life easy Laser Electrical Putaruru was commissioned to do the full electrical installation with a wide scope to use the latest technology for full automation.

Laser Electrical director Chris McKillop says it was a good opportunity to showcase all the services and technology available.

Senior electrician Darryl Karl developed, installed and integrated a full automatic plant and vat wash system for the new shed, which is controlled via a PLC and linked to a LCD HMI screen with graphics and messaging for function control and faults. History is also stored for wash temperatures, water heater and recirculating temperatures. The farmer can easily make changes for the main functions.

Darryl says the plant and vat wash unit can be adapted to any type of milking machine plant in existing sheds – and units are flexible and adaptable.

“This technology helps with the fault diagnosis and keeps problem-solving to a minimum.”

The effluent system is also controlled via the HMI Screen at the cowshed with messaging for run-on times, faults and history. This uses a wireless unit with endless capabilities and can be extended using WiFi so the farm owner can operate from home or further afield.

“We also have the ability to remote access to the farmers PLC if WiFi is available so faults can be diagnosed online and assist farmers,” says Darryl.

All lighting installed in the shed is

LED fluorescent – and the LED yard flood lights give long life, efficiency and a crisp white light.

Good cow flow Tirau Welders was responsible for all the pipework and did a very efficient job.

“Every shed we looked at had the pipework done by Tirau Welders, their level of workmanship is very high,” says Wayne.

“I came back after a day away and the whole lot was done. They pre-fabricate the backing gate and breast rails.

“They had a great team and they just got on with it,” says Wayne. And Ezi-flo Pit Gates were supplied to Tirau Welders for this build. Ezi-flo director Chris Picken says they are the easiest, quietest and strongest pit gate to operate and they supply many new dairy builds.

Coast & Country

into the same trench, which means we have about seven effluent hydrants around the farm that we can tap into with our effluent hose attached to an effluent spreader gun,” says Wayne.

“This means I can choose exactly when and where we spread any effluent onto our paddocks.”

The natural lie of the land runs towards the Putaruru Golf Club, so they have to be very careful about when and how and effluent irrigation is carried out.

“It needs to be a quick thin layer so there is never any effluent leaving the Fritha Tagg farm,” says Wayne.

Effluent right Wayne says the farm has a 5.5million litre dam lined pond with a stone trap catching the solids – which is emptied every two weeks – and a stirrer and pump station.

Tanner Industries supplied and fitted the new Yardmaster effluent pump system.

Luxford Earthworks dug out the effluent pond, which was lined with a pond liner from I.S. Dam Lining.

The liner has an HDPE lining system meaning the weld seams of the HDPE are fully tested and guaranteed. Wedge or fusion welding is recognised as the premier method of joining geomembranes, as each weld can be tested to ensure a complete and uncompromised seal has been achieved. The process uses heat and pressure to create a double-track weld along the length of overlapping sheets of HDPE. “When we re-watered the farm we decided to put the water and effluent

Laser Electrical Putaruru was commissioned to do the full electrical installation

Ezi-Flo pit gates, which are very popular in new shed builds.

The rear of the shed.

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alves.

V d n a s g in nsen Fitt d for it... a r H o w e v r u lo o Kiwis just take ’t n o d t u B

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we rm. When a f y ir a d into a eef farm b d n a p e y she nverted m o c I o g a years started About 4 ths they n o m 6 r afte off, then r o n o n r ult to tu ally diffic e r e m a hbour c be to my neig in and they d e p m u own I b tore in t s ly p p u s l rural in my loca n w o d s a I w Next time u can st tap yo e b e h t alve is t from sen Ball V l and righ n a a r u H t a plastic? e n h t h it, y that it feels oblems wit safely sa is great, r n p n a io c y t n I c a a r d e /close d by a ver ha ears lat ooth open ’s covere ce. I’ve ne m it n s About 3 y , a g m e n r h o o T r f . w r goes the pe t works hing ever t appy with buy. It jus y h n n a e e if b t now tha ning I’ve the begin good to k ’s it d n a leaks, it never else! anything y u b ’t n ly would I definite orth erston N lm a P , r e y Farm idson, Dair v a D l il B -

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Page 109

Page 110

NEW FARM DAIRIES

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Coast & Country

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Page 111

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Coast & Country

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