GEA milking system upgrade shaves 2 hours off daily milking

New Zealand Goat Farmers Wiebe and Piety Smitstra retrofitted their goat milking shed with a GEA low line double-up herringbone system, including automatic cup removers, milk meters and DairyPlan software. The efficiency gains have been well worth it, with the Smitstra family seeing big improvements in milking time, animal health and herd management.

The Smitstras farm at Matamata, a small community in the heart of the Waikato region of New Zealand’s North Island . The farm is 130ha and home to a herd of 1,200 dairy goats . Most of the herd are Saanen goats, originally from Switzerland . Approximately 30% of the herd are replaced annually, with all replacements reared on farm . Milking goats is a family business . Wiebe and Piety have been in the industry for 25 years, raising five children in that time . The farm is currently managed by Wiebe and Piety with the help of their two sons . The goats are milked twice daily, with Wiebe managing the morning shift and the boys managing the afternoon shift . In the past they worked with an old 40-bale herringbone parlour with highline swing over clusters and pulsation . Between them, the family spent up to eight hours a day in the milking parlour – four hours in the morning and another four in the evening .

The Smitstra family Wiebe, Emma, Piety

“We milk 600 ewes in just 1 hour with this shed.“

Rhys Darby - WAIKATO 42 a-side dairy sheep Rapid Exit Swing-Over Parlour.

Converting an obsolete herringbone 36 a-side shed back in June 2020, Rhys and the Darby family have added another string to their bow, with significantly less capital outlay – hoping to pay back their new install in just 3 years.

Having built 2 dairy cow sheds with GEA in the past, Rhys says “GEA equipment isn’t the cheapest stuff around, but at least we know it lasts and works really well, with what we want”.

Rhys enjoys the quickest and most efficient way of milking sheep, incorporating in-shed feeding and TopFlow S clusters for ultimate cluster alignment and a quick milking-out process. Each milking row is in, and then out in just 5 minutes - with it just taking 30 seconds to exit the stall, thanks to our Rapid Exit Stalling.

Need breaking ground technology like Rhys? Call us for your free on-farm consult.

0800 GEA FARM

Ground-breaking milking technology

Cost-effectively retrofit an existing shed to dairy sheep milking without even breaking ground.

Our milking systems are specifically engineered right here in New Zealand, with the added advantage of our global GEA expertise. Plus, all systems are customised to suit the NZ milking environment and of course, your farm.

With market-leading solutions for retrofit conversions - either double-up or swing-over, we know how to get you more bang for less buck.

Converting to sheep milking doesn't have to mean breaking dirt on a greenfield. If you have an existing plant, we can help convert it.

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Driving dairy efficiencies? We can help.

Increasing efficiency with GEA

Looking to increase efficiency, Wiebe called on GEA and GEA service partner Matamata Milk and Water . “I told these guys what I wanted, and they came up with plenty of good ideas, turning our old milking shed into something modern and efficient” says Wiebe . “I chose to work with GEA because they have a lot of research behind their equipment and they’ve got plenty of experience in the goat milking industry worldwide . ” GEA goat milking equipment is specifically designed around the comfort of the animal, while the range provides flexibility for farmers on a budget, with options to upgrade at any time . Most of the equipment can be retrofitted to existing parlours . Wiebe’s upgrade doubled the capacity of his parlour to 80 bails . New features include fitting a low line with cup removers, Metatron milk meters together with DemaTron 70 control units (featuring time or flow take-off) and PPiD (per point identification) with RFID . DairyPlan is linked up to record the milking time, volume and conductivity for each animal, with additional information on animal health, mating and kidding .

The changes have been very costeffective

Wiebe says that since the GEA upgrade, one person can easily manage milking 420–500 goats an hour . They’ve shaved off one hour in the morning and another hour and 20 minutes in the evening . And that’s with teat spraying . “A double up parlour makes cupping so much quicker and the cup removers ensure there’s no overmilking” continues Wiebe . Capturing data is another big plus for him . He can also see exactly how each goat is producing as they milk, with the information appearing on the Dematron units above each animal . This information is fed into DairyPlan so the Smitstras can see which animals consistently perform well . In addition, they can also identify animal health and possible mastitis issues before they might notice this with their own eyes . The data is saving the Smitstras money too . For example, they used to herd test 4 times a year, but don’t need to anymore because they can see all the details in DairyPlan . That’s a saving of around NZD14,000 a year .