TECHNOLOGY Halter-equipped cows grazing on Pete and Anne Morgan’s Pokuru farm, near Te Awamutu. Cows are no longer confined with physical fences, with the technology holding them within “virtual” paddocks, defined on a digital farm map.
Dairying reimagined By Richard Rennie
Dairy farmers using the Halter technology are finding they generally have more time, giving them the freedom of choice.
A
sk a dairy farmer what brought them to the industry, and they will often say it is a love of working outdoors, being their own boss, enjoying working with animals or working to achieve measurable goals every day, every season. For many, it is likely a combination of all those and more. But ask what they would like more of, and it is likely one answer will be more hours in the day. That may be to work more ‘on’ their business rather than ‘in’ it, to spend more time with family and friends or to pursue other interests offfarm. It may also often be simply to rediscover what it was that made them passionate about dairying in the first place. Waikato-based agritech company Halter is delivering on its promise to unlatch dairy farmers from the daily grind of sitting behind herds heading to milking, setting up breaks or shutting gates at the end of a long day. The solar-powered GPS-enabled collars mean a herd can be managed from a
56
smartphone, and now early adopting farmers are starting to recognise the opportunities the technology is delivering them on a personal and professional level.
“Early feedback from farm clients indicates they are saving 20 hours a week by simply eliminating the amount of time spent on the farm bike behind cows and setting up breaks in between milkings.” Herd owners with Halter technology are reporting a new lease of life in their dairying careers, with the tech unlocking time that can be spent with family, off the farm pursuing another interest, or more constructively at home improving on-farm performance. Halter means trained cows are no
longer confined with physical fences, with the technology holding them within “virtual” paddocks, defined on a digital farm map. Scheduling stock movements like milking times and break shifts has eliminated the chore of having to be onfarm at set times to make those routines a reality. Early feedback from farm clients indicates they are saving 20 hours a week by simply eliminating the amount of time spent on the farm bike behind cows and setting up breaks in between milkings. For Te Awamutu dairy farmer Pete Morgan, with two 300-cow herds all fitted with Halter collars, the tech shift has given him a new lease of life later in his successful dairying career. He and his wife Ann farm on a challenging property, with multiple dips and gullies lined with sensitive wetland areas. Equipping the herd with Halter means grazing blocks can be defined to skirt around those sensitive areas needing a wider boundary. Grazing can be optimised by setting up virtual breaks with far more precise square metre per cow allocation. On a two-herd farm constrained by gullies,
DAIRY FARMER
June 2021
