Want to save time milking?

What’s NEW?

SOLUTIONS LEARNING

Skill set key to growing business

The New Zealand Diploma in Primary Industry Business Management, is the new name for the highly successful Agribusiness Diploma, reflecting that this qualification is relevant to all primary industry businesses – and that many farms also incorporate other ventures such as orchards, honey production, or tourism operations.

Farm owners and managers increasingly need to navigate changing workplace rules, environmental regulations and a myriad of other things, as well as planning ahead for success. These changing needs are part of why the diploma is a great way to gain extra skills, in a flexible way to fit in study around the other demands of life.

The diploma is also covered by the Government’s “Trades Training and Apprenticeship Fund”, which means course fees are covered until the end of 2022.

Learning through Primary ITO means people gain the skills specifically needed for their farming business, with the support of experts from Primary ITO and the polytechnic in their own region. The diploma covers four topic areas: Strategic Planning, Financial Planning & Management, Human Resource Management, and Environment & Sustainability Management.

It’s the practical application of learning that farmers find invaluable. Primary ITO is taking registrations for courses starting in February 2022.

Find out more at www. primaryitodiploma.co.nz and see what people who have completed their diploma have to say.

Want to save time milking?

Unsurprisingly on dairy farms between 40-50% of staffing hours are spent milking cows. However, a lot of this time is wasted due to inefficient routines.

When the milking routine lacks structure then this will lead to inefficiencies. This results in longer than necessary milking times - costing time and money.

That’s why Josh Wheeler from QCONZ developed the Milking by Time (MbT) device which has been designed to help farmers implement and maintain efficient milking routines. Josh realised the need for the MbT through his milking efficiency work with DairyNZ and their Milksmart programme.

The opportunity for NZ farmers to improve milking efficiency was highlighted by the recent benchmarking work Josh was involved with. This showed 94% of rotaries and 85% of herringbones were achieving less than 80% of their potential efficiency. Fonterra farmers wanting to see their potential time savings from implementing an efficient milking routine can review their Milking Efficiency Insights Report distributed in October 2021. With the MbT farmers have been able to operate rotary and herringbone dairies consistently at 90-100% of their potential. A win-win for all - less time milking, better teat health, and less overmilking.

To learn more about MbT and how easy it is to use, visit the website https://milkingbytime.co.nz/ . To watch some video clips of farmers using the MbT, go to the Milking by Time page on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/milkingbytime/

To talk to Josh directly, call him on (027) 431 0543 or email josh@qconz.co.nz

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