Gorey Ireland

Clare Bayly

Tipperary in southwestern Ireland has been immortalised in song and reputation as the heart of Ireland’s horse breeding industry. It is one of three Irish counties through which runs the Golden Vale, rolling pastureland renowned as the best dairy land in Ireland.

Tipperary is also home to a new Waikato Milking Systems 50-bail Orbit Concrete Rotary platform on the farm of Paddy and Shane Gorey.

Shane Gorey recalls that, until March 2020, he had been milking the family’s 225 cows through a 16-aside herringbone parlour.

“It used to take roughly two hours and 15 minutes which wasn’t a good use of time. My perspective that there was a better way was based on the parlours I’d seen while on a working holiday in New Zealand in 2012.

“My brother Conor also went to New Zealand some years later, in 2016 and 2018, and over those times, we had the chance to see the Waikato Milking Systems parlours in operation. ˜ e contrast to what we had at home couldn’t have been more stark,” says Shane.

Simplicity

“We just liked the simplicity of them – it was about output. ˜ e cows walked onto the rotary platform, were automatically teat sprayed and, once milked, the cluster was removed automatically. At the end of milking, the autowasher started, e° ectively and e˛ ciently cleaning the plant.

“It was straight forward for the cows to hop on, spin around and come o° .”

What they had seen in New Zealand had a lasting impact on their plans for the future of the farm in Ireland and seven years later, Shane purchased a 50-bail Orbit Concrete Rotary from Waikato Milking Systems to upgrade the family’s Seanchoill Farm.

“We wanted to improve the e˛ ciency of our farm and future-proof it with technology and systems which would allow us to expand in the future.”

Working with Waikato Milking System’s European sales manager, Gillian FullertonSmith, and Courtwood Dairy Services, Shane conÿ gured the Orbit rotary to require just one person to milk.

Mary and Paddy Gorey, Shane and Conor’s parents. e new parlour is full of light and features generous space around the Orbit platform.

E ciency

“We agreed that a 50-bail platform would deliver the e˛ ciency we were looking for at milking.” ˜ e Orbit Concrete Rotary platforms are known for their strength and durability, designed to integrate seamlessly with Waikato Milking Systems’ dairy automation technology.

˜ e platform features a 100mm concrete deck, its hot dipped galvanised bail design ensuring cow comfort and protection of milking equipment. ˜ ere is a large walkway in front of the cows. ˜ e operator console includes stop/ start, platform speed control, reverse and emergency stop.

SmartFIT Brackets mean fast on-farm setup with no extra/hidden costs to ÿ t the milking machine – Shane admitting this was a help managing the budget.

Shane, Conor and Paddy Gorey. Cows calmly backing out of the bails (foreground) as cows enter (background). e new collection yard with the new parlour in the background.

“We complemented the platform with SmartECRs (automatic cup removers), SmartSPRAY, BailGate straps (to hold longer milking cows on the platform), SmartWASH (automatic washing) and a vet stand.

Shipped in

“˜ e whole parlour was packed in a 40foot container in Hamilton, New Zealand, and shipped over to the Port of Cork in Ireland, from where it was trucked to the farm.

“In contrast to most dairy parlours over here, which run three phase electricity, the Seanchoill Farm had a single-phase electricity connection but this wasn’t a problem for the installation team, who set up the new parlour using the single phase connection.” ˜ e new parlour was commissioned in March 2020.

Moving from a herringbone to a rotary can disrupt cow ° ow but Shane recalls the herd only took about two milkings to get used to the new rotary system.

“It was very easy. We were calving in February so we had some cows on the rotary ÿ rst, and they trained the next cows.

“˜ e real bonus with the new parlour is the savings we make on time to milk the herd.

“˜ e new parlour has halved the time we are spending in the parlour at milking time – from two hours 15 minutes in the old parlour to 50 minutes with 15-20 minutes to wash up.”

Shane says the time saved is used on other important jobs around the farm, or as time o˝ .

“If you take into account the time you are saving at each milking, twice a day, seven days a week and over a year, that really adds up big time. We can now get the ÿ rst cow into the parlour and the last one back to the paddock within an hour and that’s really important for increasing yield.”

It also means cows spend less time standing around on a concrete collection yard before heading back to the paddock, says Shane.

“˜ e vet stand is particularly useful for scanning cows, tail clipping, vaccination and AI.

“And if we didn’t have the automatic cup removers (SmartECRs), we would be a twoman shed and that would defeat the purpose of installing a new milking system, so that was a must.”

Shane says using the SmartWASH and SmartSPRAY added to the new parlour’s ability to increase e˙ ciency and reduce milking time.

Future-prooÿ ng the new parlour is enshrined by the fact that Waikato Milking Systems’ parlours and technology can easily be upgraded.

Future add ons

“Adding Electronic Milk Meters and SmartD-TECT are just two items of technology we might consider in the future, allowing us to conduct milk recording on the herd and measure somatic cell counts on each cow.”

SmartD-TECT measures the conductivity of each quarter separately to provide early warning signs of udder health problems, as well as stimulating pre-milking routine, to reduce milking time further.

Electronic Milk Meters provide accurate milk data for each cow and allow the operator to compare a cow’s milking performance over time.

Servicing for the new parlour is provided by Courtwood Dairy Services located in Ballybrittas, County Laois.

Re° ecting back to his ÿ rst impressions of Waikato Milking Systems’ parlours in 2012, Shane admits he had high expectations of what the new system would do for his farming operation.

“˜ e new parlour has transformed the entire milking operation. We’re very pleased.”