EFFLUENT & SUMMER MANAGEMENT
One of three SmartShelter sheds on Martin Dairies at Morrinsville which are used mainly for the winter milk herd but also during summer to help keep cows cool.
A smart solution By Cheyenne Nicholson
A
fter making the decision to start winter milking a portion of his herd, Morrinsville dairy farmer Peter Martin and his son Shane Martin decided he needed to look at options that would enable him to feed his cows in winter and keep the
pressure off his pastures. Peter and his wife Karen farm in an equity partnership with their son Shane and his wife Mel. With 1200 Friesian cows milked across three sheds on 300ha, the operation has scale, and they are always looking at ways to optimise their systems
to make the business as profitable as they can while ensuring cow and land health are the top priority. “Pugging was the main thing on my mind when we decided winter milk,” Martin says. “We obviously had the option of putting the cows in
the cow shed yard at night, but I hated the thought of that, it was just asking for lameness issues. So, we started to look at shed options.” They started winter milking a few seasons ago and now winter 450 cows with plans to increase that to 600 over the
