Selwyn Dairy Canterbury

Transforming an dairy Clare Bayly

e rotary dairy shed from the yard. Gary McGregor, farm operations manager for Dairy Holdings Limited.

Installing a new rotary platform and milking system has transformed an ‘old, tired dairy’ for a fraction of the cost of a new dairy.

Dairy Holdings operations manager Gary McGregor says the rotary dairy on the company’s 312ha Selwyn farm had seen better days.

“It had worked hard over its 20 to 30 year lifetime, milking 1100 cows twice a day and the 50 bail rotary platform and plant were understandably showing signs of age.

“It wasn’t reliable and was costing a lot of money to keep it going, so we really had no option but to consider upgrading or building new.

“˜ e condition of the old dairy was a signiÿ cant issue which needed to be addressed so we could maintain our high standards of milk quality – but we also recognised the e˛ ciency gains that would be achieved with a larger platform,” says Gary. ˜ e building housing the old plant was in good condition so Gary asked Timaru’s Tony Boyce Builders to come out to discuss the options.

Tony says his team specialise at looking at things outside the box, ÿ nding solutions which cost-e˝ ectively meet the aims of their clients.

Speciaslits

“We specialise in dairy sheds and do a lot of alterations and new builds, pole sheds, feed pads and residential all around the South Island from Lake Hayes to the West Coast to Kaikoura and across South Canterbury. ˜ e company has a team of 20 plus craftsmen providing design, building, concrete and joinery services.

“In the case of the Selwyn dairy, the footprint of the original building was too small to accommodate a larger platform so we looked at what we could do to e˛ ciently extend that to accommodate a 52-bail platform.

“˜ e original building was clad in poly panels positioned on the inside of steel portals. We calculated that moving the poly panels to the outside of the steel portals would give us around 400mm more space which, overall, would generate a footprint large enough for the new 52 bail rotary.

“Moving the walls out meant we had to trim the edge of the roof, but this was relatively easy to do. ˜ e new platform would position the milkers on the outside of the platform, so we lowered the ˙ oor at cups-on to create the ideal height for milkers but there were no other signiÿ cant structural issues,” says Tony.

Gary says the suggestion of simply and e˝ ectively enlarging the dairy to accommodate the 52-bail platform was exactly what they were looking for, enabling them to transform the old dairy so it would be good for another 20 or 30 years.

Room to upgrade

Stocker Dairy Services, agents for GEA Farm Technologies in mid and north Canterbury, were called in to advise and install the new milking plant.

Stocker milking machine division manager Richard Neill says the additional space Tony Boyce Builders were able to create enabled installation of a 52-bail GEA iFLOW Gen 2 rotary platform.

“Constructing a 52 bail platform was something GEA had not done previously – their standard sizes are 50 and 54 bail – but their ˙ exibility and focus on meeting customer demand is evident in their willingness to design and construct a one-o˝ platform in a very short timeframe,” says Richard.

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e new platform utilising existing plant.

GEA milking cluster.

“˜ e new iFLOW Gen 2 rotary platform features a low-maintenance nylon roller system and hydraulic drive system. ˜ is is a great platform for farmers wanting a basic platform that can easily be upgraded, over time, with new technology like automatic cup removers.

Reassurance amid Covid

“˜ e reÿ t of the old dairy didn’t commence until May 2020 but it was good to have the reassurance, during all the uncertainty of Covid, that most of the GEA equipment was made in New Zealand and available.”

Richard says some elements of the existing plant had been upgraded in recent years and were able to be incorporated into the reÿ t.

“˜ ese included GEA Autopuls S pulsators, lightweight and high capacity GEA clusters and GEA milk ÿ ltration and milk pump controller,” says Richard.

“˜ e GEA iFLOW rotary is a highly e˛ cient low-line milking system, with the milking machine mounted under the platform, so it’s physically protected and easy to access for maintenance. With a HI FLOW central rotary transfer gland, you can continue to bring cows onto the platform, while in wash mode, no matter where the rotary is positioned.

“˜ e dairy’s new primary milk cooling system features an ultra-e˛ cient plate cooler, unique to GEA, capable of cooling milk to within one degree of available water temperature. ˜ e automatic water saving feature is controlled by GEA iNTEL controllers. ˜ e upgraded vacuum system includes a GEA vacuum pump and iNTELVAC variable speed drive. ˜ e new vacuum pump was paired with the 15kW electric motor but o˝ ers improved capacity and reduced operating cost compared to the original water-ring vacuum system.”

Gary says they opted not to have bail gate restraints as Dairy Holdings’ farms apply DairyNZ’s MaxT (maximum milking time) strategy, where cows are milked to a pre-determined time based on their milk volume.

“Basically it calculates and sets the platform speed to what is required to milk 80 per cent of the herd. If some cows come o˝ at the morning milking and haven’t been milked out, research (and our experience) proves they will give the balance at the afternoon milking. It’s an approach that doesn’t a˝ ect milk production or udder health and is 20 per cent more e˛ cient thanks to cows not having to go around a second time,” says Gary.

“˜ e monitor at cups-on is set to MaxT but also provides the milker with the ability to stop the platform if required.”

Looking into the pit.

Smooth refi t

˜ e reÿ t of the old dairy commenced in May 2020 with the removal of the platform and plant, enabling Tony Boyce Builders to construct a new concrete base for the new platform and to lower the yard at cups-on.

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The circular yard. The rotary platform.

Gary says the refi t went smoothly. The dairy was operational in the last week of July 2020 ready for calving of the farm’s 1220 cow herd.

“The sharemilker we had on the farm for the fi rst season in the refi tted shed moved on to his own farm in June 2021 but was delighted with the effi ciency gains from the new platform and technology.

“We now have a new sharemilker who graduated to this farm through Dairy Holdings’ unique incentive programme to help young people get into the dairy industry.

“Basically, young people wanting to develop a career in dairying are able to start with us with no cows and, over time, gradually build up a herd, which Dairy Holdings then leases off them. It’s a success story – building tomorrow’s farmers.”

Gary says the ability to upgrade the platform is already showing its value.

“The sharemilker is adding GEA automatic cup removers and we anticipate that, over time, we may add other enhancements to futureproof the dairy.

“Milking is much more effi cient than it was thanks to the design of the bails, which facilitate great cow fl ow onto and off the platform.

“The old plant was ineffi cient and the cooling was challenged to maintain milk quality standards – that’s now all in the past. We calculate the new platform and technology are 15 per cent more effi cient in terms of milking time, a lot of that down to the plant’s smooth operation and ease of cleaning. With cup removers, one person will easily be able to milk the herd.”

Improvements continue

Gary says the upgrade of facilities at the 312ha farm has a two-season timeframe. Number one priority was refi tting the dairy – now this is done, Dairy Holdings can focus on upgrading the old concrete yards that are not in good condition.

“All things going to plan, we hope to do this in the 2022/23 season.

“We are very happy with the shed. The refi t option we took was cost and time effective and has resulted in a dairy that has good cow fl ow and provides milkers with a modern, easy to operate and effi cient environment.

“It all fell together really well and looks very smart.”

The Selwyn property is one of 59 dairy farms that Dairy Holdings owns and operates in the South Island. In total, the farms produce 17m kgMS from 50,000 milking cows.

The self-contained operations include 18 support farms that provide for the rearing and supply of 10,000 in-calf heifers per annum to the dairy farms and grazing of all non-lactating cows over the winter months.

The all-rounder

For all-round milking efficiency choose GEA‘s iFLOW rotary parlour.

Whether you’re looking to improve cow throughput, increase cow knowledge, reduce staffing requirements or simply operate a system that won’t let you down, the iFLOW will help you drive efficiencies on-farm.

Custom-built to suit your farming goals, the iFLOW’s proven on pasturebased operations, here and around the world.

Want all-round milking efficiencies? We can help.

0800 GEA FARM.

Driving dairy efficiencies? We can help.