New Farm Dairies 2015 by Sun Media

Celebrating ten years of new farm dairies Showcasing 37 of New Zealandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newest dairy farm developments throughout New Zealand

Goat farming in the Waikato on pg 6

The Lockett farm in Waikato on pg 26

Rennie farm in Southland on pg 33

Proform Farms in Taranaki on pg 80

Westwood Dairy in Canterbury on pg 108

NEW FARM DAIRIES

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New Farm Dairies is brought to you by...

New Farm Dairies is New Zealand’s most comprehensive guide for farmers planning a new farm dairy construction. It showcases a range of the newest farm dairies in the country, offering farmers a vital, in-depth reference for their own dairy projects. We distribute more than 30,500 copies of the FREE publication to all dairy farmers throughout New Zealand, reaching all corners of the country’s vast dairying industry.

No.1 The Strand PO Box 240 Tauranga 3140 phone 07 578 0030 fax 07 571 1116 email lois@thesun.co.nz

Lois Natta Kerri Wheeler Advertising Graphic Designer 027 281 7427 Page Layout Coordinator

Brian Rogers Director/Editor

Claire Rogers Managing Director

Merle Foster Journalist

Elaine Fisher Editor

FRONT MAIN PHOTO TAKEN BY LOIS NATTA.

Coast & Country

Looking back to go forward We’re herding this tenth edition of New Farm Dairies out across the nation, in a volatile year of stampeding fortunes for the milking industry. Payout ﬂuctuations, often in the wrong direction, have meant more than ever, prudent management and investment in technology is a common thread in successful dairying farming operations. That, and having big balls. These 120 pages of new dairy installations are testament to those with faith in the industry and their own abilities and good judgement; to crystal ball gaze into their futures and make some gutsy decisions that will affect their farms and families for decades to come. We salute those forging on with new dairy sheds, in what may be the biggest investment of their lives, other than the land itself. This publication is as much a celebration of your tenacity and clever management as it is a comprehensive study of 37 individual new farm dairy developments. After ten years of documenting New Farm Dairies, in this edition we re-visit a dairy farm featured in our ﬁrst edition, The Latto development near Morrinsville, to see how they are faring after a decade of operation.

Did they get it right? What would they do different, with hindsight? How is the equipment performing after thousands of milkings? Our thanks to advertising consultant and co-ordinator Lois Natta for her stoic efforts in project managing this tenth edition of NFD and for a decade of commitment to the publication and the industry. We know NFD is an important resource for all dairy farmers across the nation contemplating a new installation or upgrade. To be featured in the 2016 edition, please call Lois (027 281 7427) to avoid missing out. Claire & Brian Rogers, Publishers.

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NEW FARM DAIRIES

Technology attracts tech savvy young people As New Farm Dairies marks its 10th anniversary, Elaine Fisher asks two industry experts, Dean Bell, CEO of Waikato Milking Systems, and Mark Smith, DeLaval Market Development Manager, for their predictions for the next decade. Both agree rapid advances in dairy technology now and into the future are not only helping make farming more profitable and sustainable, but are also attracting a new generation of technology savvy young people to the industry. Mark says operating a well-equipped modern dairy is a long way from the drudgery of milking in the cold sheds of the past where much of the work was manual. Labour-saving milking, drafting and yard cleaning technologies are already commonplace and robotic milking is rapidly becoming viable for New Zealand farms, giving farmers time to concentrate on animal health, production and pasture management. Dean says Centrus 84, a unique rotary dairy platform providing large-scale dairy farmers with new options is the way of the future for herds which are being milked 24 hours, seven day a week, year round. “We have just installed a Centrus 84 in the United States and there is significant interest from farmers around the world wanting a platform specifically designed for continuous milking.”

Overseas experience

Mike says the biggest advances in New Zealand dairying in the next 10 years will be to follow what is now in use overseas. That includes DeLaval’s Herd Navigator, which is an advanced milk analysis tool, and an extension to herd management systems, for heat, mastitis and ketosis detection which can quickly identify the cows needing attention and

recommend what action to take. “With accurate, real-time information about individual cows and by working with veterinarians, farmers can develop the skills to take the guess work out of farming and so signiﬁcantly increase the performance of their herds.” Marks says dairy farming is more rewarding and attractive as a career for young people who have grown up with technology, and that’s good news because: “farming needs to attract young people with practical and technology skills.” He also predicts that changing weather patterns from harsh winter snows in the South Island to ﬂooding and storms in the North Island may mean farming has to move away from total reliance on outdoor grazing. “The cost of land also means farmers can no longer afford to buy more land to graze more cows but instead need to raise per cow production. Modern technology is making that possible.”

Easy, efﬁcient

Dean says while they may be complex and sophisticated in design, milking technologies need to be easy and efﬁcient for farmers and their staff to use and operate reliably under the most demanding conditions. The deck sections of the 84 bail Centrus platform, designed, and manufactured, and exclusive to Waikato Milking Systems, are formed in a multi-layer laminated process that includes Kevlar a material used in the construction of aircraft and bullet-proof vests. The result is a platform which is 80 per cent lighter and ﬁve times stronger than concrete. “There are operations in the United States, and around the world, which milk large-framed cows – weighing around 1000kg – under almost continuous milking regimes. The Centrus 84 was designed to meet that need – an extremely strong yet light platform which will out-perform and out-last By Elaine Fisher anything else on the market.”

Page 3 FARM 10 Years On Riverside Dairy Goats Bosbry Trust Wallace Geerts Newton Lee Willows Broadview Farm G Singh & Sons Lockett Ellip Trust Rennie Dobson Dairy Pryde Trust Titipua Northope Dairies Roam Dairies AB Lime Perrin Estate Demeter Farm Willberg Trust Craig Gunshot Farms Ruaview Farm Landcorp Plateau Road Waipupumahana A1B2 Trust

Tau Ke Proform Farms DB & JH Roper Family Kereone Farms Holmleigh Trust Sam Lennox Farms Ltd Sayer Trust Mount Vue Camden Downs 'DUÀ HOG )DUP Ryan Westwood Dairy Dunkirk Farm Ltd

DISTRICT Waikato Waikato Waikato Waikato Waikato Waikato Waikato Waikato Bay of Plenty Southland Southland Southland Southland Southland Southland Southland Northland South Auckland West Coast Wairarapa Manawatu Tongariro Central Plateau Central Plateau Central Plateau Taranaki Taranaki Taranaki Taranaki Taranaki Taranaki Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury Canterbury

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WE MEASURE OUR PERFORMANCE IN Kg MS.

Just like you, we measure everything we do on a dairy farm in terms of productivity. Our job is to design and build milking facilities and automation solutions that enhance your productivity. It’s what we’ve been doing for more than twenty years. It’s why we exist, because on a dairy farm – nothing is just a shed.

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10 YEARS ON

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Coast & Country

Dairy still looks as good as new Latto

There’s virtually nothing Rex Latto would change about the dairy he and his father built on their Morrinsville dairy farm 10 years ago.

There are few environments – both inside and out – as harsh as those endured by a cowshed but the years, and its owners, have been kind to the Latto dairy at Tauhei near Morrinsville. In fact, the complex looks so good it’s hard to believe the 54-bail rotary and the building it stands in is 10 years old. The dairy was among those featured in the ﬁrst edition of New Farm Dairies in 2005 – and with 2015 marking the publication’s 10th anniversary we decided to return to see how the building and its Yarroweyah rotary platform has performed. “There’s really nothing I’d change about the platform or the building and yards,” says Rex Latto, who with his father Roland, carried out extensive research before deciding on which rotary to install. “If anything I would like the platform around 50mm higher, but that’s just because of my height. I’m very happy with the way the whole

Ten years on the Latto dairy, built by Chapman Builders, still looks as good as new.

The Yarroweyah platform designed to carry cows weighing up to 750kg.

shed operates and have been from the start.” Rex and Roland visited dairies in both New Zealand and Australia before deciding on the Yarroweyah platform because of features including the 100 nylon roller track system which requires no greasing and the fact the platform is designed for a 750kg cow, meaning it’s almost over-engineered for the average 400kg New Zealand cow.

Nearly 80 cows

“We have it serviced once a year and recently some of the rollers were replaced but that’s the only repairs it has needed,” says Rex. That’s despite 10 years’ of milking up to 800 cows. Don Chapman Builders constructed the dairy building and yards and the quality of the design, cladding and ﬁnish – and rigorous after-milking cleaning – means it continues to look modern, clean and functional. The dairy is spacious, partly because the 54-bail platform is bigger than usual, and it also houses a storeroom, ofﬁce, pump room and toilet. All the steelwork is galvanised and the

polypanel walls have Coloursteel cladding which is easily cleaned. The roof features a lighted ridge, while windows add extra light and fresh air on hotter days.

Feed pad

The yards provide compatibility for feeding and milking the cows, while working in with the existing farm races, which come from two directions. The feed pad is directly accessible to the circular holding yard and two backing gates enable workers to deal with three herds. While the dairy can be operated by one person, Rex says in reality it requires two to check cows leaving the platform for any lameness, mastitis, or any which have kicked the cups off too early. The platform is hydraulically, not electrically driven, and the milk lines run on the outside making it easily seen and eliminating the need to go into the middle. The Westfalia AutoRotor rotary is ﬁtted with electronic cup removers, cow tension arms and with a forward-sloped platform design so any water washes away from the operator. An addition to the original

milking plant is an ADF Teat Spray and cup cleaning system. Rex particularly values the fold-down platform which vets use during milking, which also makes the Artiﬁcial Breeding technician’s job much simpler, with everything within arm’s reach in the lockable cabinet. The outside, undercover vet bay, complete with holding pens, is also an asset. Yard wash time is reduced with a Dungbuster on the backing gates, while a ﬂood wash system cleans the adjoining feed pad.

Today

Today the dairy and farm are operated by Rex and wife Suzanne, along with staff members Nestor Sora, Charlie Hooper and Brendan Wilson. Roland, who purchased the original Tauhei property in 1980 no longer lives on the farm, but visits to help out most days. In 1990 Rex and Suzanne joined Rex’s parents as sharemilkers and today own the herd of 800 cows which are mainly Friesian-cross, a departure from the Friesians of the original herd.

By Elaine Fisher

Do you want to spend more time on your farming business to gain greater production? Then GEA robotic milking is for you.

To speak with your local milking machine specialist call 0800 GEA FARM (0800 432 327)

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engineering for a better world

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A new way of life... David McConnell Lely Farmer Waikato

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LELY FARM MANAGEMENT SUPPORT (FMS) SETS THE BAR FOR ROBOTIC MILKING SYSTEMS IN NZ Lely is the global pioneer of the milking robot, and have just recently installed their 20,000th robot worldwide. The Lely Astronaut A4 robotic milking system improves the quality of life for the farmer, while at the same time ensuring optimum yield for the dairy farm and welfare for animals. With each installation, Lely have developed themselves to be able to advise and support their customers in a successful transition to automated milking. Lely's Farm Management Support (FMS) is a service where Lely customers are guided through the whole process of implementing an automated milking system, including continual support after installation to assist customers with optimising farm productivity. Dairy farming is in their blood and they keep their knowledge fine-tuned at the Lely Academy and also through their worldwide networks both inside & outside of Lely. • Experts in modern dairy farming. • Tailored advice and guidance. • Many years' experience with automated milking. • Worldwide knowledge exchange. Lely's FMS is one of the many reasons that farmers are choosing to install Lely Astronaut A4 milking systems throughout the country, operating successfully in both a grazing environment as well as a barn environment.

Create a future for your farm & join the herd of Lely robotic milking systems being installed around NZ! Call Lely NZ on 0800 535 969 to find out more today!

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innovators in agriculture

RIVERSIDE DAIRY GOATS

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Coast & Country

The new goat milking dairy on the Blaymires’ farm is light and airy, built to withstand high winds.

‘Goat proof ’ systems essential in new dairy Venturing into the goat dairy industry has been a bold and emotional move for Bruce and Maryann Blaymires of Riverside Dairy Goats, near Matamata. The couple were sheep and beef farming on a Te Puke property which had been in Bruce’s family for 112 years when they attended a meeting called by the Dairy Goat Co-operative (NZ) Ltd to encourage Bay of Plenty farmers to consider converting to goat farming. “We were very interested and visited goat farm to ﬁnd out more but when we discovered there weren’t enough Bay of Plenty farmers prepared to convert to warrant the co-operative sending tankers over the Kaimai Range to collect milk, we decided we had to move to the Waikato,” says Bruce. “It was a hard decision to make because of my strong family ties to the Te Puke farm.” However, the property was sold and in 2014 the couple bought a 60ha dairy farm in Old Te Aroha Road and began the conversion to goat farming.

While Bruce’s family history is in drystock farming, goat farming is in Maryann’s genes. “My grandmother Constance Hopping of Tauriko (near Tauranga) imported the ﬁrst British Alpine goats to New Zealand in 1956, and some of the black and white goats we have on this farm trace their ancestry back to her imports.” Maryann is proud of that connection and believes her grandmother would be pleased she is now a goat farmer – and on a rather large scale. Currently the farm milks 900 goats but has the capacity for up to 1200.

Farmers’ help

Even before they moved on to the farm, planning work began for a 19 x 54m and a 57 x 66m building to house the kids, young goats and milking goats. “We are so impressed at how helpful the co-operative and its farmer members are. Everyone has been willing to share their knowledge and let us visit farms, helping us make decisions about what system and buildings will work best for us,” says Bruce.

Among those decisions was to contract Corohawk to design and install conveyor feed systems in both sheds. “Corohawk is proud to have installed the feed systems for Maryann and Bruce,” says managing director Chris Hawkings.

Four conveyors

The company designed, manufactured and installed four 50m-long conveyors, the longest it has produced to date. “The conveyors have beds of wooden slats which make them self-cleaning and it is easy to remove any feed which falls through. We designed the conveyors to carry different weights of supplements, including maize silage, which is comparatively quite heavy. “The rails we installed in the kidding shed can be adjusted in height as the kids get bigger.” Bruce and Maryann say installing conveyors saved money on building costs as they didn’t have to allow for wide raceway access for the feedout wagon, which in their barns, unloads feed directly onto one end of the conveyors instead of spreading it the whole length of the pens.

Corohawk installed four feed conveyor belts in the barns at Riverside Dairy Goats.

For after hours service phone 888 4405 We have got you covered 10 Waharoa West Road, Matamata. Phone 07 888 4405

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RIVERSIDE DAIRY GOATS

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Leaving behind 112 years of farming history Kiln-dried shaving supplied by Moorey Contractors Ltd form the bedding for the herd at Riverside Dairy Goats.

Moorey Contractors Ltd supply kiln-dried shavings to Riverside Dairy Goats and deliver with specialised high-cube truck and trailer units. “The shavings are from untreated timber and provide warm dry bedding for the goats,” says Steve Moorey. Steady growth in the number of dairy goat farms has seen a huge increase in the demand for these shavings, and Mooreys now deliver to more than 30 farms in the Waikato, Taranaki and Manawatu regions.

Calf bedding

“As well, we supply shavings to major names in the poultry industry which is also showing unprecedented growth in the demand for chicken, so much so that over the past few years we have introduced our dairy farmer clients to alternative products for their winter calf bedding requirements, of which we are also receiving very encouraging feedback.” Steve says it is pleasing to see the development of dairy goat farms like the Blaymires. “There is an increasing world-wide demand for goats’ milk in infant formula and it is good to see the industry and farmers getting a good return for all their hard work.” With the goats comfortably housed and a round barn set up for the newborn kids, attention turned to the construction of the milking parlor and the 80 bale rotary platform it houses. Wade Contractors demolished the existing herringbone shed and prepared the construction

Riverside Dairy Goats

site. “Because of our experience in building our own goat dairy, we were able to make suggestions to help Maryann and Bruce with their decision making,” says Klinton Wade. That advice was appreciated, as was the work Klinton and the team did to prepare the construction site. “We leveled it to within 100mm with the digger and then used our laser blade to complete leveling to plus or minus 10ml which was of signiﬁcant advantage to the builder who could put in the boxing and pour the concrete knowing all the levels were right.” Wade Contractors also formed the new tanker track to service the dairy. Graeme McIntyre of Crossroad Engineering says the Blaymires visited a goat farm where he had installed yards. “They liked what they saw and asked me to build the yards for their new dairy to their requirements.”

Maryann Blaymires with a coloured goat which probably traces its ancestry back to animals her grandmother imported to New Zealand in 1956.

Clever goats

Graeme has considerable experience in constructing goat yards and understands how the animals move through them. He also knows their curious natures which can make goats very clever escape artists, all of which was useful in building the functional and goatproof yards. Shaun Jellie of Milk ‘n’ Water Services and Austin Heffernan of GEA Farm Technologies NZ Ltd are acutely aware of how destructive and clever goats can be, and on the other hand, how delicate is the milk they produce.

Bruce and Maryann Blaymires have taken a bold step in becoming goat farmers – but they are loving the challenge

Call 0800 KARCHER for your nearest Stockist. www.karcher.co.nz

RIVERSIDE DAIRY GOATS

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Coast & Country

Gently does it essential for goats’ milk Goats are milked from inside this rotary platform at Riverside Dairy Goats.

Austin Heffernan of GEA Farm Technologies NZ Ltd and Shaun Jellie of Milk ‘n’ Water Services were involved in the installation of the milking systems at Riverside Dairy Goats. “Goat’s milk can be easily ‘bruised’ if not handled correctly so the GEA systems we have installed are as gentle as possible, using a positive displacement rotary lobe milk pump, to move it through the system,” says Austin. GEA, which has installed the milking systems in the world’s largest goat dairy in Holland, which milks 2000 goats per hour, sets high standards for its milk harvesting equipment. “Our systems for all milking animals, are fast, safe, gentle and complete, which means they are efﬁcient in terms of time taken to milk, safe for the animals and milking staff, gentle on the animals and the milk, and harvest all the milk available.” Austin says it has been gratifying to work with the Blaymires who are newcomers to the industry, and, together with Shaun, help them with decision-making. As well as being able to supply the technology for the new dairy, including the 80 bale rotary platform, Austin says the installation and

back-up service provided by GEA local agent Milk ‘n’ Water Services is crucial to the smooth running of the dairy from installation to commissioning to its day to day operation.

Future upgrade

Shaun is pleased the Blaymires decided on an internal, rather than external, milking system for their rotary. “By working inside the rotary they can observe all the goats, and milkers can easily move from one position to another if there’s a problem anywhere.” At 80 bales, this complex is just 20 short of the biggest goat rotary Shaun has been involved with and like all goat facilities, special attention has been given to ensuring there is nothing the goats can damage by chewing. Instead of rubber, the milk lines are made of silicone. “It’s more ﬂexible than rubber and longer lasting,” says Shaun. The GEA milking system can easily be up-graded in future by the installation of

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automatic cup removers and milk meters. The variable speed controlled rotary Lobe milk pump gently delivers the milk to the cooling system in the milk room which resembles that found on a conventional dairy farm, with a plate cooler and two large vats. Shaun and the team also installed the yard wash-down systems. “Goat dairies use signiﬁcantly less water than cow dairies because goats excrete a lot less efﬂuent.” By choosing to install GEA systems, the Blaymires have gained the advantages of the company’s extensive international experience with dairy goats along with its New Zealand made components, all backed by the local knowledge, expertise and 24-hour on call service of its agent Milk ‘n’ Water Services.

High winds

They have given careful thought to the positioning and design of their new dairy, which has been built in what is one of the country’s

highest wind areas. This means it has to meet very strict design and construction standards. Light and airy, it has large sliding doors on both sides, which can be opened or closed depending on the weather. Yards lead from the barns to the milking platform which the goats access through a narrow race with a tight turn which takes them up steps and onto the rotary. Bruce and Maryann are enjoying their new roles as goat farmers, despite the sharp learning curve they’ve had to traverse and the expense and hard work of conversion. “I fully understand now why young humans are called ‘kids’ instead of ‘lambs’ or ‘calves’. Goats have such personalities and the young ones especially are so playful,” says Bruce. “It’s really hard to stay cross at a goat for long.” Maryann has a soft spot for the black and white goats which trace back to her grandmother. “Some goat farmers just want white goats, but so long as they milk well, I’m happy to have these coloured ones too.”

By Elaine Fisher

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RIVERSIDE DAIRY GOATS

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BOSBRY TRUST

Coast & Country

Hesitation-free change to rotary The dairy built by Rob Broomﬁeld from Broomﬁeld Construction, and pipe-work and backing gate by Leask Engineering.

David Bryant’s new 60-bail rotary dairy sits alongside his old 44-aside herringbone in the middle of 200 hectares of rolling green hills, just south of Te Awamutu. When the need for a new dairy came along the Bryants had no hesitation in changing to a rotary. David and his son Hamish Bryant, who is the farm manager, looked at a lot of dairies and when they knew exactly what they wanted, they looked for contractors by studying references from other farmers and approached contractors they’d used before. Then, just to be sure, they got two prices for each job. The builder they decided on was Rob Broomﬁeld from Morrinsville-based

Broomﬁeld Construction, which offered a design that’s simple but very functional.

Building functionality

The building is all steel, square and about 23 metres on each side with a smoko room in one corner, an ofﬁce in another, and machines and hot water cylinders occupying the other two. A two metre wide raised skylight runs down the centre of the roof giving excellent natural lighting. Air vents either side of the skylight combine with big sliding doors to provide good air-ﬂow. “Getting a job like this up and running is a team effort; we work in with everyone to get it done on time with the least amount of hassles,” says Rob.

“But no two sheds are exactly the same, we always modify to accommodate the farmer’s needs.” One of the team Rob works in with on a regular basis is Tatuanui-based Leask Engineering, which manufactured and installed all the pipework in the yards right up to the platform, including the fold-up Artiﬁcial Insemination vet stand at the side and the two backing gates. Leask’s Engineering’s design and construction manager Rom Stellingwerf says installing all the railing in the 14 metre radius yard was a pretty straightforward job. “We do most of Rob’s pipework. “He sorts out with the farmer what’s wanted, then we work to their design. “If there’s anything we think’s not right

we’ll have input, but Rob’s done so many sheds now there’s seldom a problem,” says Rom. Before building began, Graeme and George Goodwright from Goodwright Contracting Ltd were needed to cart in metal for the footings from Hamilton Bros quarry. “David contacted us for this job; we’ve done a lot of work for him in the past and I guess he wanted to go with the tried and trusted,” says George.

Land contouring About 95 per cent of the Goodwright’s work is farm-based drainage and contouring. On David’s place they contoured around the new dairy for later landscaping and laid the tanker track with Hamilton Bros metal.

BOSBRY TRUST

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Page 11

Bryants build a beauty at Bosbry Waikato Milking Systems bails, cup removers and retaining arms.

Aaron Hamilton says in addition to supplying farmers Hamilton Bros supply a range of metals from their quarry with everything the local communities could need. David and Hamish did their homework before deciding on a milking plant. They visited “loads of sheds” before concluding Waikato Milking Systems offered them the best option for their needs.

Best milking option

Waikato Milking Systems’ North Island sales manager Paul McGill says the 60-bail Orbit platform is ﬁtted with BailGates, Ultimate cup removers, Waikato 320 claws and G2 Cluster Washers linked to stainless steel 650L wash tanks. “The G2 Cluster Washers have the strength and ﬂexible you get from a one-piece moulding and are designed for easy clean up while maintaining

excellent plant hygiene,” says Paul. “In the centre is our Orbitor 12 track rotary gland, and off the platform there’s a BP400 Vacuum Pump with a variable SmartDRIVE vacuum control.” Waikato Milking Systems along with Qubik TMC Ltd, their long-standing authorised dealer in the Te Awamutu area, installed the Bosbry Trust’s milking system – and together they’ve made sure it works to maximum efﬁciency. They’ve achieved this by using Waikato Milking Systems’ SmartDRIVE Milk Pump Controller run by a variable speed Fristam Milk Pump, a SmartPULS digital pulsation system, SmartECR electronic cup removers and – to ensure the milk enters the silo in perfect condition – it’s put through twin Maxi Milk Filters. “It’s really a good, solid, tidy and efﬁcient dairy,” says Paul. But the beauty of the Waikato Milking System is it can be added to later if

David or Hamish feel the need for more automation, but right now just the LIC Protrack Vantage electronic drafting system and the MINDA herd management program suits them. Efﬂuent can be pumped from both ponds. The concrete one uses the existing pontoon-mounted pump and Qubik has ﬁtted the new pond with 25 HP Reid & Harrison Pump and 10hp stirrer, both mounted on the same safety pontoon.

Brilliant block-work

The concrete pond is made up using about 3500 concrete blocks and was constructed by Darryl Kirk from Te Awamutu-based All Brick Services. Darryl also did all the block-work in the dairy itself – that involved the inner and outer circles around and under the platform and tank stand. There’s another 1500 odd blocks and about a week’s work there.

Waikato Milking System’s stainless steel 650L wash tanks installed by Qubik.

Qubik technician Heath Lunjevich and Qubik’s branch manager and accredited efﬂuent design consultant, Kyle Osborne.

Waikato Milking Systems’ 320 claws and G2 cluster washers.

Background image: Builder Rob Broomﬁeld from Broomﬁeld Construction, farm owner David Bryant and his son and farm manager Hamish Bryant with Darryl Kirk from All Brick Services.

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BOSBRY TRUST

Coast & Country

It’s all about comfort and functionality Qubik TMC Ltd covers a pretty wide area with branches in Te Awamutu, Otorohanga and Putaruru. But their area is a lot larger than just the Waikato – because Waikato Milking Systems send them to all corners of the globe to install their equipment. Heath Lunjevich and Qubik’s other technicians get to see the inside of dairies in some very exotic places. Although Heath says they’re kept so busy that is about all they get to see. Heath installed the milking system, refrigeration and plumbing in the Bryant’s new dairy, including the backing gates in the yards. “We did pretty much all of it, including the automatic plant wash so the farmer just pushes a button at the end of milking and the plant cleans itself,” says Heath. “It took us 15 days from opening the ﬁrst box to tying the last rope, then we had two days for commissioning and it was all done.”

Drafting needs

Heath also worked with LIC to install the LIC Protrack drafting system. “We’ve got a good relationship and work well with LIC. “That includes supplying and installing a big three-phase air compressor that runs their drafting gate, as well as the auto plant wash,” says Heath. “All of that needs lines put underground before the concrete is poured.”

Hamish says LIC has installed control monitors at three different stations in the dairy – one in the main control room, another at cupsoff and one at cups-on. “We looked at different ways and systems for drafting and Protrack came out on top because their system links into the MINDA herd management program,” says Hamish. “It’s an excellent system – just what we wanted – and it gives us the capacity to add more automation later, if we want.”

Leask Engineering’s design and construction manager Rom Stellingwerf.

The LIC drafting gate.

Qubik calculations

Qubik also had a hand in the effluent system. Qubik’s branch manager Kyle Osborne is an accredited Dairy NZ/Irrigation NZ effluent design consultant, so it was up to him to do the calculations to determine the capacity of the effluent ponds and the irrigation rates needed for the number of cows and land-type. It’s a two-part effluent system – first a one million litre concrete pit followed by a three million litre, 1800m2 pond over the hill that’s lined with a state-of-the-art 1.5 HTP liner plastic liner. “About 80 per cent of our work is for farmers, I used to be a dairy farmer myself so I know what they need,” says Darryl. “But we do domestic work as well – at the moment we’re flat out with a retirement village and 100-odd houses in a new estate in Te Awamutu.” The electrics were put in by Liam

Darryl Kirk from All Brick Services with the 3500 concrete blocks in the primary effluent pit. Carter from Phase Electrical. Liam says the first job was to organise an upgrade for the transformer outside the old herringbone, then bring the power from there to the new build. “I do a lot of dairies,” says Liam. “This was one of the more straightforward I’ve had. Everything and everyone came together well, which makes it an easy job.” The dairy features an in-house feed system fitted by Corohawk. The milking plant from the old

MILK TEMPERATURE PROBLEMS?

Waikato Milking Systems’ Orbitor 12 track rotary gland.

herringbone has been sold and will be removed, and same goes for the building used for calves. But David wanted to recycle as much of the old feed system as he could, so he brought the two grain silos over and adapted them to the new set-up using Corohawk equipment and sensors. It took a bit of nous on Corohawk’s part, but they got it all up and running – and, according to Hamish, they’re doing an excellent job. Last, but not least from the

worker’s – and the cow’s – point of view comes Hayden Aymes from Otorohanga-based Dairyworx Ltd. Dairyworx Ltd has the job of installing mist fans to combat the summer’s heat and flies. While not in when New Farm Dairies visited, once installed for warmer weather they’ll drop the temperature inside the dairy by five to six degrees Celsius – and keep the flies at bay. They’ll be a welcome addition to an already very well set-up and highly functional dairy.

By Graeme Dobson

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Page 13

WALLACE

Page 14

Coast & Country

The Wallaces go new at Waiuku

The Wallace’s old 20-aside herringbone dairy had started life as a walkthrough shed and had received three lots of modiﬁcations during the years to keep up with the demands of the herd increasing in size. Paul and Joyce Wallace have a 92 hectare dairy farm at Aka Aka near Waiuku in the Auckland region and milk 230 cows. “We have been dairy farming for 15 years, prior to this we sharemilked for eight years at Paparimu. “We have added another block of land to the original and increased the herd size – and the old herringbone wasn’t coping,” says Paul. Paul and Joyce have the cows on a 16-hour milking rotation, which means if the cows are milked at 11.30am one day the next milking will be at 4.30am the following day. “We have found this system ﬁts in with our lifestyle and we are doing the same production as we did when milking twice-a-day. There are quite a few other dairy farmers in the district doing the same,” says Paul.

The front of the new dairy shed with the silos under cover. The time had come to invest in a new dairy shed so in 2012 they talked to building company, Gibson Rural Ltd in Te Awamutu, looked at different dairy sheds and gathered information from the National Fieldays and considered all the options.

Better value

It was decided to build a 30-aside herringbone dairy shed. “The farm just wasn’t big enough for a rotary and they are a lot more expensive. With the herringbone we have much better value for money,” says Paul. The new dairy shed was built beside the old one, as it was conveniently located and some of the existing laneways could be utilised. Grant Fitzgerald, owner of Fitzgerald Earthworks at Mangatangi, did the site preparation. He started in December 2013 and it was ready for building to start in February 2014. Grant also built a few new laneways that connected the new dairy shed to the existing laneways. “We found Gibson Rural Ltd one of the few builders to build to the farmer’s speciﬁcations.

We had looked at several of their dairy sheds and liked what we saw,” says Paul. “One requirement was that I wanted the milk silos under cover. Nothing was a problem for Blair and his team and we are really pleased with the result. “We had a DeLaval milking plant in the old dairy shed, which had been reliable and easy to use so it made sense to install the same brand again,” says Paul. Neil Hall, owner of Thames Farm & Industrial Supplies Ltd, is the North Waikato DeLaval dealer and has been in the business for 14 years. “The 30-unit herringbone has Automatic Cup Removers with lower speed vacuum, reducing teat damage. There is one variable speed vacuum pump doing the job of three

Wallace

Thames Farm & Industrial Ltd owner Neil Hall, with farm owner Paul Wallace. pumps for energy saving and a variable speed washdown pump,” says Neil.

Swing-down jetters

The DeLaval plant has swing-down jetters so they are up and out of the way when not in use. The swing arms give a true alignment to the cow’s udder making it easier to put the cups on. There is a push button, manual washdown system. A milk sweep pushes a charge of air through the milk pipe at the completion of milking, making sure all the milk is recovered.

WALLACE

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Page 15

More time to enjoy life Farm owners Paul and Joyce Wallace are thrilled with their new dairy shed.

“The plant installation was supervised by Evan Goble, from Thames Farm & Industrial, who has been installing milking machines for over 30 years and makes sure everything is perfect. “We also offer a full back-up service and have a mobile shopping centre and visit clients approximately every four weeks to make sure there are no problems,” says Neil. The pit walls have a protective Acraflex dairy wall coating applied by Greg Fulton. It not only looks good but is hygienic and easy to keep clean. The pit was dug out by Pearce Earthmovers Ltd from Waiuku. “Graham did a great job, he also shaped the yard and helped to put in the effluent tank and the stone trap supplied by Precast Effluent Tanks Ltd,” says Paul. The rainwater diversion, the five metre by four metre stone trap and the 47,000L effluent pump were installed by Precast Effluent Tanks Ltd from Paeroa.

The pit area of the new dairy shed.

“Being a new site we were able to set the levels before the dairy shed was built,” says Trevor Christensen, owner of Precast Efﬂuent Tanks Ltd. “Sometimes on existing dairy sheds it is very challenging to get the correct falls and distances from the milking plant because they were built so close to the ground.”

Best cow ﬂow

Tirau Welders worked closely with Blair Atkinson at Gibson Rural Ltd, and Paul and Joyce Wallace to modify plans to suit their requirements. “We enjoyed working with Paul to achieve the best cow ﬂow and the most options for his drafting set up and truck/trailer load out races. “Congratulations to Paul and Joyce on their new dairy shed. We were proud to be a part of the team involved,” says Russell Tye of Tirau Welders.

The electrical wiring in the new dairy shed was completed by Tom Kane Electrical Ltd from Waiuku. Williams Irrigation from Waitakaruru moved the existing efﬂuent system to the new dairy shed and made sure it was operating within the required parameters. The large water tanks were supplied by Promax Plastics from Kerikeri. AsureQuality monitor the new dairy shed to make sure it is kept up the high standards that the export market requires. They came and did an inspection halfway through building and then again at completion. AsureQuality work alongside farmers to make sure their milking machines are working

DeLaval clusters and the painted pit wall. properly and ensure minimum standards in sanitation, structures and facilities. “The new dairy shed was a worthwhile investment and I can manage the milking on my own,” says Paul. “It takes one-and-a-half hours from start to ﬁnish, which is a vast improvement on the old dairy shed.” It also gives Paul and Joyce more By Helen Wilson time to enjoy life.

GEERTS

Page 16

Coast & Country

The new dairy from entrance yard. Tru-Test DTS Milk Cooling & Tank Solutions’ area sales manager Dave Gray, Leask Engineering’s Rom Stellingwerf, farm worker Kyle Reed, sharemilkers Peter and Charlotte Giddy, with Abagail, farm owner Michelle Geerts and GEA Farm Technologies’ area sales manager Paul Convery.

Michelle Geerts’ new dairy from the front.

Future-proofed to the max in the Waikato Last year farm owner Michelle Geerts and her sharemilkers of 15 years, Peter and Charlotte Giddy, decided it was time to upgrade their 170-hectare, 520-cow Waikato operation with a new dairy. So they did their homework and decided on a 44-aside herringbone with a pit that allows for future expansion to 50-aside. Then they chose a Chapman Dairy design because of Chapman Dairy’s reputation for attention to detail and their builder’s, Don Chapman Waikato Ltd, reputation for quality work. “The dairy’s fairly standard,” says Shanan White from Don Chapman Waikato Ltd. “But outside we put in a feed pad and a bunker for the solids from the GEA slope-screen effluent filter.” As a Chapman Dairy licensee, Don Chapman Waikato Ltd first sits down with the clients to sort out their needs, then passes the drawings on to Don Chapman to finalise. “Don’s experience is invaluable, he’s got a wealth of experience and often sees details that no one else has,” says Shanan.

Panels and doors

For the dairy’s walls they used the increasingly popular Poly Panelling from Insulation Panel & Doors. The modular foam and steel sandwich design gives Poly

Panelling sound-deadening qualities second to none, making the dairy’s work area quiet and relaxed for both cows and workers. But the ﬁrst contractor on the job was Paul Steiner to do the earthworks. Like most of their contractors, Michelle and Peter went to Paul Steiner because they’d used him extensively in the past and knew the digger operator well. “Paul was here for months. He did the earthworks, dug the pond, sorted out the races, everything,” says Peter.

Good dealings

Another Paul – Paul Convery, GEA Farm Technologies’ area sales manager, says GEA supplied the Milfos milking plant and Tony McLaren from GEA’s Morrinsville agent, McLaren’s Rural Services, installed it. They’d shopped around, but Michelle and the Giddys’ history with McLarens proved the deciding factor in their choice. And as well as the GEA plant, they had McLarens install all the water pumps and the farm’s water reticulation system. “We’d always had good dealings with McLarens, and the price worked out well,” says Peter. “This dairy’s pretty straightforward,” says Paul Convery. “It hasn’t got a lot of the computer power we’ve got available, but we’ve included Automatic Cup Removers with swing arms and swing-down jetters.

“The swing arms open up the pit and provide better alignment, like when there’s a large cow beside a small heifer, and our ACRs include a feature that lets the cups drop to the floor if they’ve been kicked off. “This lets the milker know it’s a kick-off and she needs to be re-cupped – very helpful in a pit this long,” says Paul Convery. Apart from the ACRs, pretty much the only other computer equipment included in the new dairy is a three-way LIC drafting system – basic but one that can be easily upgraded in the future. “When we first started, some of the new cows had two ear tags,” says Peter. “That led to a bit of confusion, but we programed the LIC gate to draft out any unidentified tags so we could remove them. The gate’s never missed a beat since,” says Peter. “It saves a lot of labour, like during Artificial Breeding season when I just walk along with my phone and put in the numbers of the cows I want, send them to the gate and they get drafted out.”

Patented head bails The LIC gate was incorporated into the yard when Rom Stellingwerf from Leask Engineering ﬁtted the rails and steel work for the dairy. “This dairy was no problem,” says Rom.

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Page 17

Leask Engineering’s Rom Stellingwerf with the backing gate. The new dairy from the exit yard.

Geerts

The old dairy on Michelle Geerts’ Waikato farm.

Forward-thinking at its best “We made and installed all the steel and pipework in the dairy and out in the yards and races, including one of our patented Camlock head bails, two backing gates and a Dungbuster. “We’ve also put in the uprights for a roof over the feed pad so Michelle can put a roof over later on.” The new Technipharm Dungbuster that Rom put on the backing gate is a huge labour-saving device that cleans the yard as the gate goes round, washing down so close behind the cows the dung barely has time to hit the ground. All the electrics, from bringing in the mains through to wiring up the efﬂuent screen and the green water recycling and ﬂood-wash, were installed by Morrinsville company Silvester Electrical. They needed to put in a booster for the backing gate and interlocked controls, but Damien Silvester says the Giddys were so easy

to work with they had no problems – a mutual sentiment if Peter’s comment “they’re just bloody good, reliable sparkies” is anything to go by.

Heat recovery

Nor did the refrigeration pose any problems for Tru-Test DTS Milk Cooling & Tank Solutions’ area sales manager Dave Gray. Tru-Test supplied and installed all the refrigeration, including a DTS Patton Pak and a heat recovery unit, and put in a speciﬁc water cooling system to futureproof the dairy against any new regulations. “We put in an insulated plastic tank that maintains chilled water at eight degrees Celsius, giving milk entry into the vat at 10 degrees Celsius,” says Dave. “With the vat refrigeration you’ve got ﬁve degrees Celsius at the end of milking.” The insulated plastic tank he used was supplied by Promax Engineered Plastics,

specialists in all farm and industrial liquid storage and handling. The upcoming requirement to maintain lower milk temperatures is set to make their insulated tanks one of their most popular products with dairy farmers. The dairy’s other output, effluent, was taken care of by Pump & Pipeline. Pump & Pipeline had looked after the effluent system for the old dairy, so they were the logical choice for the new one. Michelle has almost all high risk soils – both peat and clay – so Pump & Pipeline’s experience was invaluable for the calculations involved. Effluent is collected in a large concrete sump where an Irriland Blueline submersible mixer agitates it before an Irriland Blueline pump pushes it up to a slope screen separator. Solids are stored in a concrete bunker and green water is held in a pond to be reused to flood-wash the yards before a Rovatti PTO-

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GEA Farm Technologies’ area sales manager Paul Convery. driven pump sends it across the farm to the existing sprinkler network. To finish off, Bruce Cameron from Specialised Coatings applied his distinctively flecked Acraflex protective coating to the dairy.

Easy to upgrade Acraflex is specifically designed to meet the high standards demanded by the dairy industry and its long-lasting, hard-wearing and attractive finish provides a very easily cleaned surface. This dairy is undeniably basic but very functional. However, every aspect of it – the longer pit, the uprights on the feed pad, the refrigeration, LIC drafting gate and GEA milking plant – has been designed to be easily upgraded. Even the 13 metre diameter yard has been oversized, to allow for an increased herd size. Now that’s forward-thinking at its best. By Graeme Dobson

NEWTON LEE WILLOWS

Page 18

Coast & Country

The second herd coming in to be milked.

nd, showing The efﬂuent po

liner. EnvirolineNZ’s

A modern makeover at Morrinsville They milk 740 cows and replacements on 279 hectares effective and in 2014 decided to replace their 33-year-old turnstyle rotary dairy. “We had grown the herd and leased some more land and the old turnstyle was limiting the number of cows we could milk,” says Stephen. “We wanted to introduce a fully automated herd management system. I decided on a 54-bail rotary, as in my own judgement it’s the best balance between use of capital and staff.” Milking time in the old turnstyle rotary was taking three-anda-half hours in the spring so it was time to upgrade. Site preparation work for the new dairy was carried out by Paul Steiner Contracting Ltd from Morrinsville. Paul Steiner says the dairy was built into a small rise in the paddock “which we had to cut into and then level”. “We used the clay from that to back-ﬁll to form a solid foundation and then spread that with crusher dust, ready for the builders to start,” says Paul.

His team also formed all the farm race approaches to the new dairy and dug the large efﬂuent pond. The majority of Paul Steiner Contracting Ltd work is rural-based, mainly dairies and efﬂuent ponds.

Chapman association

“I’ve had a long association with Don Chapman, so for me there was no other choice,” says Stephen. “Don’s dairies have stood the test of time and they are a proven design. I went and looked at a few dairies and said: ‘Build me one like that’ and they did,” says Stephen. Shanan White is the Waikato licensee for Chapman Dairy and owns Don Chapman Waikato Ltd based at Morrinsville. “Stephen’s is a standard Chapman Dairy design with a few changes. The side yard was made a lot bigger to allow for holding cows back after exiting or large capacity when drafting,” says Shanan. A raised vet area allows easy access to the platform for the vet and keeps the bench and drug area clean and tidy. The walls are refrigeration panel, supplied Insulation Panel & Door, which are easy to keep clean and good ventilation allows plenty of airﬂow and light with the standard roof venting system. Two insulated sectional doors on the sides of the dairy allow

for good cross-ﬂow during hot weather and can be closed during cooler weather. “We make sure the dairy is on the best site available allowing for contour, prevailing weather, distance from paddocks and allows for easy cow ﬂow,” says Shanan. The walls have been covered with a protective hygienic covering by Bruce Cameron of Specialised Coatings. This helps keep the walls clean, is easily washable and aesthetically pleasing as well.

Intuitive installation

Brian Crowe, who is operations manager for Hutchies of Morrinsville, oversaw the installation of this Waikato Milking Systems plant. The 54-bail milking plant has been fitted with SmartD-TECT for early mastitis detection, says Brian. “With SmartD-TECT if a cow issues an alert, the cow will be presented back to the milker. The Auto Start will not allow the cups to be put back on, so she can be drafted out for further attention.” The Waikato Milking Systems plant also has SmartECRs – electronic cup removers – plus a SmartSPRAY automatic teat spray system and two maxi filters to filter out any debris before it goes into the vat.

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Four generations of Silcocks have farmed at Tahuna near Morrinsville in the Waikato. Stephen and Annette Silcock are today’s owners of Newton Lee Willows Farm.

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NEWTON LEE WILLOWS

Page 19

Fourth generation looks to the future warranty,” says Haden. Liners for efﬂuent ponds are now commonplace in the rural market to assure zero efﬂuent leakage into waterways.

“The SmartWASH system is individually set up for each dairy and depends on the size of the plant and water source and can be ﬁne-tuned to a different wash cycle each day if need be. “This is a high end milking system, easy to use and Stephen and his staff have been competent in dealing with any problems,” says Brian.

Monitoring efﬂuent

A Smart Farm Systems’ product called a TIM – short for Travelling Irrigator Monitor – has been installed on the farm to monitor over-application of efﬂuent on the farm. “This is operating as it should and if over application occurs it switches off the main pump and alerts me or my staff by text if there is a problem,” says Stephen. The TIM utilises low frequency radio for sending signals and data about the farm, data logging to a PC. In 2012, Smart Farm Systems became the benchmark for fail-safe monitoring, beating 14 other companies, securing a much sought-after contract. Currently, SFS is working on a fully managed data service which is commercially available.

Newton Lee Willows

Tracking cows

The shed is also integrated with LIC’s Protrack Drafting System. Protrack allows the farmer to instantly get information about any individual cow. As she steps onto platform Protrack identifies her electronic tag and at this point the cow is allocated the correct bail within Protrack. The operator can see instantly on the monitor at the cups-on and cups-off positions which cow they’re dealing with without having to climb up on the platform and read Farm owner St ep her ear tag. assistant manag hen Silcock and er Gonzalo Gar The monitor will display information such cia. as antibiotic withholding period, weight and mastitis detection, which is all crucial for the farmer to make the yard. Reducing water correct management decisions. usage at the source reduces Hutchies also planned where the water outlets should be and cost and time. installed the washdown pumps, toilets and washbasins. “It’s all about being smart lopment “We worked with the builder to lay the pipes underground with water,” says Harmen ness deve , farm si u b s’ ie before the concrete was poured to get it right,” says Brian. Hutch derson Heeson of Technipharm, the Grant Pe tchies’ Hutchies has another shop at Taupiri and provide an efficient manager n Silcock and Hu we. manufacturer of Dungbuster. e h r p Co 24-hour seven days back-up service. The effluent pond at Newton owner Ste s manager Brian n o Lee Willows Farm has been lined operati Yard-wash solution with a special quality plastic liner Dealing with effluent at the source is always more cost-effective supplied by Cambridge company EnvirolineNZ. EnvirolineNZ than after it’s created. It saves on time and costs. owner Patrick Haden says the liner used for effluent ponds has At Newton Lee Willows Farm, Stephen has installed a high density polyethylene – called HDPE – properties. Dungbuster automatic yard washing system. “We can line any shape or sized pond. The joins are double Chapman Dairy A Dungbuster uses a fraction of the water that a conventional welded on-site, assuring there is no leakage. The product ’s Wai dairy builder Sh kato licensee, yard washer does and does not require any labour to wash the has a 20-year guarantee and an eight-year workmanship anan White.

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NEWTON LEE WILLOWS

Page 20

nk Solutions’ ilk Cooling & Ta Tru-Test DTS M ager Dave Gray. area man

Leask Engineering’s construction manager Rom Stellingwerf, with the yards they designed.

Coast & Country

Silvester Ele ctrical’s hea Damien Sil d electrician vester.

Time to upgrade the turnstyle The yard has a Top Dog overhead gate manufactured by DairyTech near Otorohanga. It can be used in circular or rectangle yards. It moves the cows onto platform by using low current electriﬁed chains, which are switched on when in the down position. They can be controlled manually or by automatic pulse as the cows are moved forward.

Electrifying expectations

Based at Morrisville, Silvester Electrical’s head electrician Damien Silvester says this dairy is high-spec and Stephen had high expectations about the electrical work. “We have been his farm electrician for many years and have a good working relationship with him,” says Damien. “He was happy to throw ideas around and discuss any problems. It’s not often we get to wire up all the systems, and the auto-wash was quite involved.” As well as the auto-wash Silvester Electrical wired the efﬂuent system, washdown system, milking plant and the water supply. Most of their work is rural-based and they provide a 24-hour seven day back-up if need be. A new source of water had to be established for the new dairy and Barham United Well Drillers from Te Awamutu completed the task. Leask Engineering at Tatanui near Morrinsville designed the layout of the yards and took charge of the welding.

Travelling Irrigator Monitor

K-Line Irrigator Monitor

Leask Engineering’s construction manager Rom Stellingwerf says they work in with the farmer’s designs and offer advice if they need it. “Stephen’s yards were straightforward and have good cow ﬂow,” says Rom. Leask Engineering has more than 50 years’ experience in designing and constructing dairy yards as a recommendation. Tru-Test DTS Milk Cooling & Tank Solutions’ was also involved in the dairy project, in particular sorting out the refrigeration needs. “We approached this dairy with a two-pronged attack using chilled water to take the heat out of the milk so it’s delivered into the silos below 10 degrees Celsius where it is then chilled to ﬁve degrees Celsius as required by the Ministry for Primary Industries,” says area manager Dave Gray. Warm water from the cooling system is then captured and recycled into the hot water cylinder and reduces energy costs for hot water.

Impede bacteria

Chilling the milk to ﬁve degrees Celsius helps impede bacteria growth and assures the best quality milk at a premium price. “The system installed allows for expansion of the herd and Stephen has been very comfortable with the results,” says Dave.

Tru-Test DTS also offers a data log service for a milk cooling audit. And they’re happy to performance test any brand of refrigeration to make sure it meets the industry’s requirements.

Hoof health

Trimming cow’s hooves has never been safer or easier on Newton Lee Willows Farm than with a WOPA hoof treatment crush from Veehof Dairy Services. The heavy duty, galvanised steel frame features safety winches for both front and rear legs and a walk-through head bail, which is operated from the rear so the handler is safely out of the way and in control at all times. The wide belly strap helps keep the cow calm, and the absence of excess bars behind the cow enables the farmer to stand close to the cow in the correct trimming position. Both the belly strap and leg strap have quick releases if need be. Based in Ashburton in the South Island, Veehof Dairy Services supply a full range of hoofcare products as well as offering hoofcare training workshops throughout New Zealand. Stephen says the new dairy has met all of is expectations. “It has the staff ’s approval and it’s a joy to come and do some relief milking, though not too often. “All the contractors were a pleasure to deal with – and we now have an efﬁcient dairy that futureproofs our investment in the dairy industry,” says Stephen. By Helen Wilson

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BROADVIEW FARM

Coast & Country

Chamberlains go big at Cambridge Twenty months ago Ken Chamberlain bought a neighbour’s property and increased his farm size to 150 hectares and lifted his herd size from 300 to 450. But the increased farm size brought a problem. “It was a long way to walk the cows in – well over an hour – so we decided to put a new dairy in the middle of the farm,” says Ken. “So we approached Don Chapman to build us a 50-bail rotary. Our neighbour’s got a Don Chapman Dairy and so has my mate up the road. “Don’s got a good name, we liked his design and he’s easy to work with.”

Good operator

Chapman Dairy’s for design. Before beginning any dairy they discuss the details with the client, then pass them to Don Chapman Dairy to ﬁnalise the drawings. “The only hassles were a few issues with the high water table,” says Shanan White from Don Chapman Waikato Ltd. “We struck water and had to pump for a month from the underpass below the platform. But it was nothing we couldn’t handle.” This reporter gets the impression there’s very little Shanan and Don Chapman Waikato Ltd can’t handle. For the walls of the dairy they used Poly Panelling from Insulation Panel & Doors. Poly Panelling

is an increasing popular modular construction that employs panels of polystyrene sandwiched between steel. It’s easy to use and its efﬁcient insulation and noise deadening qualities makes working areas very quiet. “We use Poly Panelling pretty much in all our sheds. I’ve had clients we’ve shown through sheds and when we close the doors they ask what other insulation we’ve put in the walls,” says Shanan. “It’s easy to install, easy to clean – and once it goes up that’s the ﬁnish.” The Poly Panelling doesn’t need painting,

but the extensive blockwork in this dairy does, so Don Chapman Waikato brought in Bruce Cameron from Specialised Coatings to put on an attractive and very functional finish with his distinctively flecked Acraflex protective coating. Acraflex gives a hardwearing and very easily cleaned surface that’s specifically designed to meet the high hygiene standards demanded by the dairy industry.

Broadview Farm

Gate homework

“I’d had no experience with Reporoa Engineering before, but we wanted a reliable new backing gate and when we did our homework their gates seemed to best suit our needs,” says Ken.

edu chem

But before any building could Left: DeLaval’s fourhappen the ground and foundations nozzle teat spray is had to be prepared – and here incorporated into entered John Brewer, owner of the leg spreader. Corohawk’s grain silos. local Cambridge company Camex Earthworks and Drainage. John had done a lot of good work for Ken in the past so he had no hesitation in getting his team in again. “They carted all the sand in from their own pits. They had a very good operator on our job and we got excellent results,” says Ken. On that solid foundation the new dairy was erected by Chapman licensee, Don Professional Farm Services’ managChapman Waikato Ltd, ing director Dave McMillan and Shanan White from Don Chapman The Acraﬂ ex ﬁ nish in Ken which has a reputation business manager Mark Bilsby. Chamberlain’s new dairy. Waikato Ltd built the dairy. for quality to match Don

Engineering excellence

The pipework in the yards was manufactured and installed by Rom Stellingwerf from Leask Engineering. Rom has been associated with Don Chapman for many years and now does a lot of work for Chapman Dairies’ licensees. “This is a pretty straightforward yard,” says Rom. “Although, Ken’s preference was for a rectangular instead of the usual round yard. “There’s also a good set of holding yards, drafting both sides from the DeLaval drafting gate, vet and Artiﬁcial Insemination races, a loading ramp and one of our Camlock head bails.” Leask Engineering worked well with the other contractors, doing things like setting up the rails so DeLaval could bolt in their drafting gate and scales, and leaving the top rail off the sides of the yard so Reporoa Engineering could install their backing gate.

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BROADVIEW FARM

Page 23

Upping the farm size and herd brings new dairy The backing gate has a Technipharm Dungbuster ﬁtted that efﬁciently washes down the yard with a series of water jets as the gate follows the cows around the yard. “It’s doing exactly what we wanted, so it was a good choice,” says Ken. “It was a combination that came together and works well – we’re very happy with the end result.” Not surprisingly, the new Technipharm Dungbuster saves on washdown and is a huge labour saving device, but it’s not the only labour saving technology Ken’s incorporated.

One-stop-shop

“This is a PR2100 platform with some brand new developments, like the central hub. This is a rotary transfer coupling that carries milk, air, vacuum, electricity and data – everything,” says Peter. The PR2100 platform is manufactured in Eltham by Hotter Engineering. The concrete deck is 100mm thick, high-strength reinforced 40mpa concrete, poured in situ and ﬁnished to a non-slip surface. The concrete frame work is removed after concrete curing to leave a smooth surface under the platform for ease of cleaning and corrosion resistance All exposed steel is Hot Dip Galvanized for durability. “Then there’s the DeLaval on-platform teat spray incorporated into the leg spreaders – that’s so new it’s still on trial. “We’ve had the experts out from England making sure that it’s set up right so we’re conﬁdent it will work very well.” Peter says the system is a full ALPRO that allows the herd to be micro-managed to whatever detail Ken wants with a fully automated herd management system, which

“We want it to be a one-man dairy once calving is finished. We looked around at several different plants before and Dean, who handles the day-to-day stuff, decided the DeLaval system with ALPRO herd management makes that possible,” says Ken. The company chosen to install the plant and equipment was Professional Farm Services Ltd, a Cambridge-based business that represents DeLaval milking equipment. The company was chosen because it’s a “onestop-shop” for milking equipment, water pumps and reticulation, effluent systems and a full electrical service as well. And they have one 24/7 phone number to cover it all. Ken has dealt with PFS for more than 30 years so it was an easy choice. DeLaval’s district sales manager Peter Cartmell Professional Farm Services’ Mark Bilsby, DeLaval’s district says the DeLaval equipment sales manager Peter Cartmell, Professional Farm Services’ specified by PFS is “state of managing director Dave McMillan and farmer Ken the art”. Chamberlain.

gives total milk monitoring with top of the line ICAR approved meters, weigh scales, automatic drafting “and a feed system that will have four feed heads that can feed cows individually”. The DeLaval augers and heads are fed from a Waikato-based Corohawk Feed System’s silos and boots. “We went to Corohawk simply because theirs was the lowest quote. They got everything here, installed and working on time. It turned out to be a good choice,” says Ken.

Three feed decades

Corohawk has 30 years’ experience supplying feed systems to NZ farmers – their equipment is either manufactured or assembled in the Waikato, and they provide a two-year warrantee backed by rapid and reliable service. Actually, that pretty much sums up this dairy – fast and efﬁcient with a reliability borne from the sum of all those that contributed to its build. The level of technology and the quality of workmanship throughout were obvious. By Graeme Dobson

Rom Stellingwerf from Leask Engineering.

The DeLaval centre gland handles milk, electricity, water, vacuum and power.

Corohawk’s feed bins.

A cow’s eye view of the platform.

For a more efficient farm dairy Specialising in farm dairy design and construction

Authorised licensee 021 780 477 e shanan@donchapmanwaikato.co.nz

www.chapmandairy.com

G SINGH & SONS

Page 24

Coast & Country

Naginder’s narrow farm needed new dairy This dairy isn’t as flashy as some, but it’s as efficient as any in its class. Naginder Singh bought a neighbouring property to increase his Morrinsville property to 160 hectares, then he centralised the dairy with a new 50-bail rotary to handle the new 520 cow herd “This became a long narrow farm so we had to get the dairy more central,” says Naginder. When he chose a dairy designer and builder, Naginder went for experience and availability, which he found with Warren Davenport, owner/director of Morrinsville building company WD Davenport. Before starting the build Naginder dug three metres of peat out of the site, then the pit filled up with water from the high water table. “We had to use four pumps to drain the pit before we could get the concrete in to seal it,” says WD Davenport’s site foreman Jay Hawkins. “Then we put a lot of reinforcing and drainage around the pit to ensure it doesn’t float.”

that there seems to be more herringbones going in here; but when you get to a good size herd like Naginder’s it pays to go to a rotary,” says Warren. The dairy he designed incorporates an office and smoko room for staff and it’s spacious with good natural light and ventilation and a bright attractive finish – although the finish is down to Greg Fulton from Dairy Wall Coatings. Greg works with

G.Singh & Sons

High water table

The high water table is a problem in this area, but one Warren and Jay were well used to dealing with. Warren’s been building dairies since he started in business 31 years ago, so he’s learnt a thing or two. “We do a lot of dairies, feed pads and farm buildings, as well as any domestic work and commercial that comes up,” says Warren. “The smaller farms around the Waikato mean

Naginder Singh (right), with his sons/workers Sunni and Ravi.

and an equally attractive protective sealing coat of the distinctively-flecked, uity. n e g n i iwi K f hardwearing Acraflex o e c pie gler – a around all the block work. n a r W verley Acraflex is especially formulated to o & Wa c l i W e meet the dairy industry’s hygiene standards by Th providing an effective and easily cleaned seal against dirt and bacteria. Warren a lot – in fact he paints all the dairies WD Davenport builds. Versatile engineering The amount of paint varies considerably from Out in the yards Jay laid all the concrete and dairy to dairy – on this job Greg did more than mounted the posts for Neville Johnson and his the average with a coat of paint and sealer on son Brad from Rural Engineering to fit all the upper surfaces to create the clean, bright finish pipe rails.

Rural Engineering Ltd

Warren and Neville have been working together for about 25 years so they’re efﬁcient together. Warren designs the yards and buildings, Jay mounts the posts and Brad – with Neville just about retired – comes through and connects it all up. And Rural Engineering is versatile – when the job involves a herringbone they design, manufacture and ﬁt all the bails and steelwork. On Naginder’s rotary they designed and installed a backing gate that incorporates a washdown system to clean the yards as the gate goes around. But a gate like that needs power to move it and pumps for the washdown.

PH 07 578 0030

G SINGH & SONS

Page 25

Calling on experience and availability in Morrinsville “Naginder’s got our new iFLOW rotary, which we call ‘Generation 2’ because of the new bail design that allows us to put all the electronics underneath where no water can get on anything,” says Paul. “This includes our new iCORE, which is basically a brain for each bail that controls everything, like the ICRs (cup A lot of ‘fruit’ removers) and By ‘fruit’ Graham means the Milfos plant supplied by cow restraints GEA Farm Technologies’ area sales manager Paul Convery, that run off the and installed by GEA’s Morrinsville agents, McLaren’s ICRs and come Rural Services. down to keep the cow on if she’s still Like milking, and the t h Dave on-platform teat npor e rest of t room t dairy, th he WD spray with a crossis ver e over design included y spa machine cious in a leg spreader unit. . “This unit gives a very effective udder cover when the cups come off, wherever she is on the platform. The iCORE has the advantage that it can be easily added to without having to take anything out.” Actually that was Naginder’s decider when he chose GEA. “I went with GEA because it seemed to be the easiest to upgrade later on. Paul says the Milfos brand also has a dropdown feature “that takes the clusters below the bridge where they’re out of the WD Davenport owner/director way when the cow exits”. Warren Davenport, and his site “When they leave the cows go through foreman Jay Hawkins. our Identity drafting gate where they can be drafted from a touchscreen at cups-on Enter Graham Silvester from Morrinsville company Silvester Electrical, which took care of all the dairy’s electrics – both inside and out. “We did everything here. Brought the power from the transformer outside, wired the 240 in the dairy, powered the meal feed system and put a 25hp pump and a 1hp stirrer into the efﬂuent system,” says Graham. “We’ve included variable speed pumps for the whole operation including the washdown. Apart from that it’s a straightforward shed, but with a lot of ‘fruit’ in it.”

or cups-off,” says Paul. GEA installer, McLaren’s Rural Services, has been GEA agents for more than 20 years, so they’ve got the experience to handle any of GEA’s work without any problem. And with a team of eight fitters they work very quickly and efficiently. But it isn’t just the milking plant they install, they also do all water reticulation and effluent systems – in fact about the only thing they didn’t have a hand in on Naginder’s project was the in-shed feed system that Bustercover supplied and installed. “I liked the simplicity of the Bustercover system, it works perfectly without all the electronics of other systems,” says Naginder. Bustercover do pretty much any farm feed system for any stock at all – chicken sheds, duck sheds, you name it – but dairies are their speciality. “We pride ourselves that 90 per cent-plus of our work comes through referrals,” says Bill King from Bustercover. “And last year we installed feed systems into 87 dairies throughout the country.”

Feeding simplicity

Bustercover’s systems are made up of a mix of imported American components and locally manufactured item, such as their custom-made stainless steel feed bins for both herringbone and rotary dairies. Naginder wanted to feed palm kernel in the dairy, but most feed systems are designed for grain and molasses and palm kernel tends to clog the system so Bustercover developed an air valve and compressor/reservoir set-up that sends a jet of air into the bottom of the silo every four minutes to clear the blockages and ensure clean delivery. That’s an excellent example of good Kiwi ingenuity. Out in the yard there’s another system that works without electronics, a Wilco & Waverley Wrangler hoof trimming press. The Wrangler is another example of Kiwi inventiveness, an ingenious device that uses a system of slings and ropes to easily raise and restrain each leg so the hoof can be worked on accurately and safely. Come to think of it, Bustercover and the Wrangler epitomise By Graeme Dobson this dairy – not ﬂashy but very efﬁcient.

LOCKETT

Page 26 The DeLaval Double Up Parallel Parlour P2100 rapid exit system offers a compact design that combines rotary level throughput with the ‘hands on’ advantages of a herringbone. Paddy Lockett has installed the ﬁrst DeLaval Double Up Parallel Parlour P2100 rapid exit system in New Zealand on her 125-hectare Cambridge property. “It’s a new concept based on an old idea,” says Paddy. “There used to be parallel parlours years ago.” But DeLaval’s modern version is light years from those old sheds. It includes every bit of the computer power and technology that DeLaval can provide – but the operation is simplicity itself. Each cow’s ear tag is read as she enters the dairy, then she walks beside the pit and turns into the ﬁrst available bail and stands perpendicular to the pit. A gate swings to beside her, creating an individual bail that prevents crowding and bullying. Once in place the cows are gently pushed back until they’re in the best milking position. Bins for individually-blended feed form the front of the bail. These are hydraulically raised together so the cows exit the dairy via DeLaval weigh scales and a DeLaval drafting gate. The 18-aside – or 36-cluster – pit is just more than 15 metres long and three metres wide, a compact design that combines rotary level throughput with the hands on advantages of a herringbone. Corohawk Feed Systems from Ohaupo removed the silos and feed system from the old shed, prior to installing the two 16 tonne silos in the new shed.

Coast & Country

New concept – old idea Paddy Lockett’s new Cambridge dairy from yard. The pit controls.

One-person milking

“The set-up is good for one-person milking – you’re not running from one end to the other like in a 36-aside herringbone,” says Paddy. The whole operation is very compact, very efﬁcient, relaxed – and very hygienic, especially with the WETiT QD0 automatic teat spray installed in the exit race. This is a technologically advanced unit that uses a lengthy detection zone, enabling it to calculate the

DeLaval’s Waikato district sales manager Peter Cartmell, sharemilkers Catherine and Derek Hayward and Professional Farm Services’ Dave McMillan.

The pit in the new parlour.

cow’s movement and speed, ensuring the udder is accurately targeted by the unit’s four jets to cover the teats every time, regardless of udder size and position. Other features that enhance overall hygiene, as well as worker’s health and safety, are a low wall along the rear of the bail that makes it virtually impossible for the milker to be kicked, and a ‘butt pan’ – it looks remarkably like a urinal – that runs along just under tail height. This collects most of the waste, which is ﬂushed along with the bail ﬂoor every time the bails are opened. At the moment sharemilkers Derek and Catherine Hayward are milking about 320 cows, but they calve twice-a-year and numbers vary, so the dairy is set up to milk about 400 – it’ll do that as fast as a rotary. “The dairy handles them easily. There’s no pushing or crowding like we had in the herringbone, and it eliminates bullying in the bails,” says Derek. “It only took the girls a couple of milkings to get used to it and relax, and that shows in improved yields.”

Lockett

Old and new

The P2100 comes in a modular form that was assembled on-site by local DeLaval agents, Professional Farm Services. “It was all pretty simple,” says Professional Farm Services’ dairycare technician Sam Ryan. Although, I think he understated the job. The new dairy was incorporating some of the old shed, including part of the pit, but Derek needed to keep milking in the old herringbone throughout so work could only be done between milkings. They demolished one side of the herringbone and installed half the new plant while the other half was still working; then Derek switched to the new side while the rest was demolished. As well as the milking plant Professional Farm Services also installed all the electrics and plumbing in the dairy, but they’ve been installing dairies for about 30 years so their crew have the experience to take anything in their stride.

Sick of how hard it is to get straight and accurate gudgeon holes? The time it takes? The amount of tools? Use the Gudgeon Pro to drill straight holes first time, everytime.But that’s not all it can do. Gudgeon Pro is also a multi tool and makes gate hanging easy. Go to the website to find out more about this excellent product and learn about Patrick the 14 year old inventor.

Congratulations Paddy Lockett, alongside Derrick & Catherine Hayward, on the installation of the first DeLaval P2100 Parallel Parlour in New Zealand.

delaval.co.nz

0800 222 228

DeLaval NZ

@DeLaval_NZ

PH 07 578 0030 But before any installation could occur the dairy had to be built. First, John Brewer, owner of Cambridge company, Camex Earthworks and Drainage, took care of the groundwork. John had done a lot of work for Paddy over the years so it was logical the was called upon for this job. But with Derek still milking this one was far from straightforward. They had to widen part of the pit and prepare the ground on one side while ensuring the other side stayed functional, then Derek switched sides before they could start on the other. “We came and went four or ﬁve times – sometimes just for a day or two – because we could only work outside milking times and then only do bits at a time,” says John. To say the job presented challenges for one of Camex’s most experienced operators, Ivor Walker, is an understatement but it worked because of the patient cooperation of all concerned. “It was a good job, and as a result we’re now doing quite a bit of work for the builders, Don Chapman Waikato,” says John.

LOCKETT

A parallel parlour first at Cambridge

Page 27 was designed, fabricated and erected by Cambridge Steel Fabricators. Cambridge Steel Fabricators’ manager Hayden Burke says they have 40 years’ experience in steel fabrication and erection, so Paddy’s job presented no problems despite the new building having to be erected over the old. They’ve done a couple of goat dairies lately, but dairies are a little new for them – their normal work includes design and fabrication of commercial and industrial buildings and house beams.

Deadening noise

With the portals in place, Don Chapman Waikato could complete the building itself using Poly Panelling from Insulation Panel & Doors for the walls. Poly Panelling is an insulating modular panel made up of foam sandwiched between steel. It’s very effective at deadening noise and makes working areas much quieter, Sharemilker Catherine Hayward, farm owner Paddy Lockett, sharemilker even when they’re right next to machine rooms. Out in the exit yards Don Chapman Waikato left the Derek Hayward, Leask Engineering’s Rom Stellingwerf and Shanan White pipework in the capable hands of Rom Stellingwerf from Don Chapman Waikato Ltd. from Leask Engineering. Normally Rom travels the country manufacturing and installing steel and Simple efficiency pipework for dairies and other buildings, Like many other farmers throughout the country, many of them in Chapman Dairies – but this Paddy opted for a Chapman Dairy because of their one was a little different from his normal. attention to detail and reputation for simple efficiency “We didn’t do any of the work we usually – and, as a Chapman Dairy, the build was done by do in the bail area, just connected the Chapman licensee Shanan White from Don Chapman existing yard to it then made and installed all Waikato Ltd. the pipework for the new yards, AI and vet One of the big advantages of the P2100 is it has races and the Camlock head bail,” says Rom. a much smaller footprint than either a rotary or “Derek’s got pretty much everything he herringbone of comparative capacity, therefore it needs out there.” requires much less concrete, a much smaller building The Corohawk feed Systems silos Finally, Don Chapman Waikato brought in and a much lower outlay. at the start of the DeLaval feed Bruce Cameron from Specialised Coatings These savings enabled Paddy to include vet, Artificial system. to apply his distinctively flecked Acraflex Insemination and holding yards and The DeLaval Double Up Parallel protective coating. extended the roof over them. Parlour P2100 rapid exit system. Acraflex is a long-lasting, hard-wearing and After Camex prepared the foundations, attractive finish that’s specifically designed Don Chapman Waikato laid the concrete to meet the high hygiene standards demanded by the and bases for the pipework in the exit dairy industry with a hardwearing and very easily yards and the portal pile caps for the Paddy Lockett’s new cleaned surface. dairy. herringbone dairy from Like all the rest of the build, it’s just right for a dairy All the steelwork, including the portals, the track. of this calibre. By Graeme Dobson

For a more efficient farm dairy Specialising in farm dairy design and construction

Authorised licensee 021 780 477 e shanan@donchapmanwaikato.co.nz

www.chapmandairy.com

Page 28

ELLIP TRUST

Coast & Country

Simple shed for a remote location Philip and Ella Paul are keeping the 21st Century pioneering spirit alive and well in Te Puke’s high country. Necessity is the mother of innovation on Philip and Ella’s newly converted dairy. As the crow ﬂies they’re probably not more than about 10km from the Bay of Plenty town of Te Puke. But it’s so remote that even basic services are thin on the ground. To get there you leave State Highway 2 and climb gently through Te Puke’s suburbs, then kiwifruit orchards, lifestyle blocks and dairy units. As the road gets steeper tarseal gives way to winding, steep gravel as it passes through sheep country then dense bush; and, just when you’re sure you’re lost, a Fonterra dairy number pokes out of the bush pointing down a steep gully. Around the corner and suddenly you’re in the Pauls’ lush green pasture, so high in the hills they sometimes get snow. In this situation converting to dairy wasn’t a hasty decision, Philip visited Fieldays for ﬁve years to plan it and they’re starting slowly and carefully. “We’ve got 158 hectares, with 61ha effective, and just 83 Leask Engineering’s cows,” says Ella. design and “We’ll build to 200 construction cows during the next manager Rom couple of years.” Stellingwerf. Initial delays with

permits meant they started the season in a sixbail ‘house cow’ unit, which was far from ideal.

Whitty’s experience

and contoured the 30m by 30m by 4m efﬂuent pond and sorted out the tracks. With the site prepared it was time for a builder, and drawing on Philip’s experience and the many dairies they’d looked at, they knew exactly what they wanted – a Chapman Dairy 20-aside herringbone – and where to ﬁnd it. Chapman designed dairies are found all around the country, so inspecting one or two and talking to the farmers who’d built them wasn’t a problem.

So to get the project moving as fast as possible retired farmer ‘Whitty’ Whitmore, volunteered to take over its management and co-ordinate the contractors. His experience paid off – from the day they got the permit to the day they started milking was only 36 working days. Whitty’s first task was to prepare somewhere to put their new dairy. The property is not over-endowed with No brainer suitable flat land, so And the feedback left Philip once they’d decided in no doubt, so they went to on a building and Chapman Dairy’s Waikato yard design they went franchise, Shanan White from to local contractors Don Chapman Waikato Ltd. Readfields Ltd to Don Chapman Waikato prepare the site. Ltd started by preparing the Philip says Readfields building and 9m radius yard was an easy choice. for the concrete, including the “They’d done work on blockwork in the pit and setting the place before and the stubs for the steelwork. always did a good job. Once they were prepared “They’ve got all the Tatuanui-based Leask FIL’s innovation team leader Tracy Engineering fabricated and machinery for the job, Peterson, with the products he so it was logical to use fitted all the steelwork and supplies to the dairy. them,” says Philip. pipework, including The site they the bails, gates, backing chose required gate, head-lock gate and a reasonable structural steel for the amount of earth building. to be moved Leask Engineering’s down a slope design and construction and levelled off, manager Rom Stellingwerf then Readfields says it was a pretty brought in pumice straightforward job – once and sand for the they got on-site. foundation. “The first time we came Don Fowler from Don Chapman Waikato They also dug Ltd built the small but very functional dairy. on-site; we came up

Ellip Trust

A no-frills Milfos system from GEA Farm Technologies was installed by Think Water BOP. that road, I was convinced we were lost. But with the long load it was impossible to turn around. We just had to keep going, which was fortunate,” he laughs.

High hygiene standards

Once all the steel was in place Don Chapman Waikato Ltd built the actual dairy and the whole operation went with a precision that results from Leask Enginerring working with Chapman Dairy since they ﬁrst started out a relationship well over 20 years ago that’s continued with Don Chapman Waikato. Finally, it was the turn of another contractor who’s also been working with Chapman Dairy for many years, painter Bruce Cameron from Specialised Coatings.

PH 07 578 0030

ELLIP TRUST

Page 29

Unique site calls for skilled contractors Bruce applied a finish of easily-toclean, hard-wearing and durable Acraflex to the pit walls. Acraflex seals surfaces against bacterial build up and is designed specifically to maintain the high standards of hygiene demanded by the dairy industry. As a bonus Acraflex leaves an attractive and distinctive flecked finish that brightens any dairy. The overall result is a compact, highly functional and attractive building the Pauls say is a pleasure to work in, and four-year-old Johnathon reckons Leask’s pipework doubles as a pretty good jungle gym.

from the solar panels is stored in 16 volt x 6 volt batteries and the system works through an inverter that controls the power ﬂow by signalling the generator to start when it’s needed. “The solar panels provide about 2400 watts, that’s enough for ongoing power for the stirrer and to maintain refrigeration in the vat. “The milking plant and primary refrigeration work directly off the generator, but if more power is needed on the vat or the solar is not maintaining the batteries the generator kicks in automatically,” says Craig.

Efﬁcient hot water

The hot water supply is also off grid. But it would be very inefficient turning on the generator just to heat water, so Bryce Then came the truly innovative part. “This Armstrong from Armstrong Plumbing installed dairy is unique,” says Whitty. “It’s completely off the grid, powered by an array of solar panels an innovative Longveld gas califont system. “The farmer sets the thermostat to the and a diesel generator.” required temperature and 40 minutes later he Isolation made alternative power generation has all the water he needs at the temperature he a necessity, says Ella. “The power in is one wants,” says Bryce. wire and it comes across that gorge,” she says, The system can be pre-set to while pointing to a very long have hot water available at specific sagging wire disappearing times – milkings and tanker into the bush. pick-up – or turned on manually “My husband would start to give hot water on demand. the welder and it would Longveld’s territory manager blow a fuse on the road, and Richard Keesing this offers an that’s just a welder. That one average cost saving of 46 per cent line already supplies seven over electricity. houses, so even at home we “And it’s even cheaper if it’s use a little generator and a linked to a heat recovery system. wood stove.” Depending on herd size, the So Craig Wilson from payback is as short as two-and-aR Corfield Refrigeration half years,” says Richard. & Electrical Ltd installed “The saving comes from the a generator and wired in heating being so quick and an array of solar panels to supply all the dairy’s needs, Craig Wilson from R Corfield efficient that there’s no need to Refrigeration & Electrical Ltd maintain hot water on-site 24/7.” and then some. with his inverter controls. Craig says the power

Off the grid

Above: GEA’s area sales manager Austin Heffernan, Think Water’s Peter Wheeler, farmer Philip Paul and Thomas Garwood from Think Water.

Standard Milfos clusters.

Bryce Armstrong, from Armstrong Plumbing, with the gas hot water system.

Builder Don Fowler from Don Chapman Waikato Ltd.

ELLIP TRUST

Page 30

Coast & Country

Overcoming a high country hurdle Pondco’s efﬂuent pond liner.

Think Water’s Thomas Garwood, project manager ‘Whitty’ Whitmore and farmer Philip Paul. Not surprisingly, Longveld is beginning to get a lot of interest from farmers across the country. Now it was the turn of GEA Farm Technologies and Think Water, GEA’s Te Puke agent, to put in the Milfos milking plant. Think Water’s dairy technician and milking machine tester Peter Wheeler says the plant installation took them just two days. They were eight days on-site by the time they’d plumbed all the water as well. GEA’s area sales manager Austin Heffernan says the Pauls have a “straightforward 20-aside plant”. “But the situation here means that it needs to be different to most other operations. The plant that Philip and Ella wanted had to be simple, reliable and straightforward with the key being energy efﬁciency. “The only things we supplied them outside the norm are the swing-out jetters and variable speed drives on the vacuum and milk lift pumps to minimise power spikes and maximise

efﬁciency – things you wouldn’t normally ﬁnd on a plant this size.” Another major requirement was to be sure of reliable ongoing service – and the Pauls knew Think Water would provide them with just that well into the future. They can also rely on FIL, another member of the GEA Farm Technologies group, to continue supplying the all-important chemicals and detergents needed to maintain dairy hygiene. “We supply them with their detergents, teat sprays and concrete cleaner as well as trough blocks to treat the water in the troughs that have zinc and copper to reduce algal growth,” says FIL’s innovation team leader Tracy Peterson.

Efﬂuent for future

Another thing the Pauls needed to be sure will continue to meet their demands well into the future is their efﬂuent pond. It must not just meet all the local regulations now, but continue to handle conditions and increasing loads as they expand the herd.

A Chapman Dairy. So they called in Hamish Forbes, owner and director of Pondco Ltd, to install one of his award winning 1.14mm EPDM rubber liners. Hamish says his Paeroa-based installation team assembled the liner panels on-site with vulcanised joints. Then they secondary-sealed the joins by overlaying them with a rubber strip for extra strength and protection.

What they wanted

The result is a very strong and durable pond liner that’s designed to stretch 300 per cent, enabling it to withstand soil subsidence and earthquakes – always dangers in any NZ hill country. When Pondco installed the liner they included gas venting and a geomembrane underlay for one-way water drainage. Hamish says that his liners have a 50-year life expectancy and carry a 20-year warranty, so the Pauls can be conﬁdent their efﬂuent will be safely managed well into the future. And their pond will probably still be doing

GEA’s swing-down jetters. good service for young Johnathon, when he takes over the family farm. Although for now he seems much more interested in explaining a four-year-old’s view of the intricacies of dairies to passing tradesmen and photographers. Ella and Philip got exactly what they wanted – in Ella’s words a “good, simple shed” – that serves their needs exactly. And it is thanks to the organisation skills of Whitty, built in short order once the permits were sorted. But if anyone’s looking for a skilled project manager for their new dairy, leave Whitty out of it – at 90 he just helps out the odd friend in need. By Graeme Dobson

Milking Specialists GEA Milfos milking equipment is manufactured in New Zealand and designed to suit your farming requirements. From standard to fully automated rotaries or herringbones, GEA Milfos have a solution for you.

To speak with your local milking equipment specialist call 0800 GEA FARM (0800 432 327)

www.gea.com

engineering for a better world

ELLIP TRUST

PH 07 578 0030

Page 31

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RENNIE

Page 32

Coast & Country

The Rennies go to a rotary Rennie

The view of the dairy shed from the yard.

It was 112 hectares and already converted to dairy with a 28-aside herringbone dairy shed. “Coming down to Southland gave us the opportunity to grow at a reasonable cost, as buying land in the Waikato was too expensive and did not give as good a return,” says Graeme. They were able to increase their farm by buying an adjoining piece of land with a house on it. Now they could increase the size of their herd, winter the cows on the farm and bring young stock home instead of grazing them off-farm. In 2008 the neighbouring deer farm became available to lease, which meant they could increase the herd from 380 to 500 cows and increase the existing herringbone shed to a

50-aside. This worked for awhile but it was taking two milkers three-and-a-half hours to milk. “It just didn’t make economic sense, the cows were standing too long in the yard and it wasn’t ideal for the staff either,” says Graeme. In May 2014 the old dairy shed was pulled down and a new 60-bail rotary dairy shed started to take shape. “We were able to use some of the components from the old dairy shed, such as the vacuum system, plate cooler, reconﬁgured the automatic cup removers and a couple of pumps. It all helps with the budget,” says Graeme.

Reliable Read

Graeme and Trish had a Read milking machine in the old herringbone. It had been reliable and simple to use so they decided to install the same in the new rotary.

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Read Industrial clusters.

easy to operate with attached wind in handle. They have a longer operating life than a threaded system, which must be replaced when it wears out. The Read Industrial three-port wash gland allows the plant to be washed while the platform is still turning. The pipes in the milking system and the vacuum tank are all made from stainless steel for better hygiene and longer life and there are no plastic unions.

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“Read Industrial is the oldest milking machine company in New Zealand. The majority of the components are made in New Zealand at Rangiora,” says Read Industrial’s Southland area sales manager Stuart Pegg. “They’ve been developed for the New Zealand dairy farmer and farming conditions,” says Stuart. Read Industrial use a mechanical slide pulsator, which is very low maintenance and very reliable with a gentle pulsation which reduces teat damage. “The Read system is more mechanical rather than electronic as we find electronics have more problems,” says Stuart. The circuit wash system is very simple to use with a long contact time, no electronics and no failures to broken flushing pulsators. The large capacity milk filters are safe and

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Graeme and Trish Rennie arrived at their new farm at Dacre in Southland from Tokoroa on June 4, 2000.

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RENNIE

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Page 33

New Dacre dairy makes economic sense Farm owner Graeme Rennie, Jordan Engineering owner Mike Jordan and staff member Tamati Paki.

“Read Industrial can supply the components separately so they can be retroﬁtted into any other type of milking systems,” says Stuart. “Up to one-third of New Zealand cows are milked with Read slide pulsators. A number of farmers replace electronic pulsators with slides every year.”

Easy Milk

Donald Engineering at Edendale manufactured the ‘Easy Milk’ platform. It has a double I beam and nylon rollers that will not wear out and has no bearings to fail. There are two rollers for every bail so the platform load is spread evenly and has sufﬁcient support. The Donald platform has a concrete deck, which the industry in general has proven to be the best way to go, being quiet, ridged and the same surface as the cow steps off. More than 95 per cent of new platforms are concrete with 99 per cent of Donald platforms being concrete. They still do the odd steel deck. “We are happy to work in with the farmer as they all have speciﬁc requirements,”

says Stuart Pegg, who represents Donald Engineering as well. Donald Engineering also manufacture backing gates, wintering pads, herringbone dairies, big bale feeders and do any other general engineering work. Read Industrial is a family-owned business and work in conjunction with Donald Engineering to provide the farmer with an easy to operate, reliable milking system. “We all sat down together and put a ‘turnkey’ package together for Graeme and Trish and once they accepted it I project-managed the construction, saving them a lot of time and stress,” says Mike Jordan, who owns Jordan Engineering from Invercargill. They installed the Read Industrial milking machine and incorporated the reusable components from the old herringbone.

Gas heating

“As soon as the old dairy shed was demolished we started digging the holes for the portals. We had a few problems as a lot of ﬁll had to be

The cows are a bit suspicious of the new matting.

brought in to stabilise the base,” says Mike. As well as installing the milking machines they did all the plumbing and installed the pumps. The hot water for plant washing is heated by gas. “There is warm water at cups-on and cupsoff, so the cows have their teats washed with warm water. The basin near cups-off has electronic taps so the milker can wash their hands without touching the taps,” says Mike. He’s been installing and servicing milking machines around the Southland area for more than 20 years and likes to make sure the farmer is always happy with the end result. “I chose Ultra Gas and Plumbing from Invercargill for the gas heating. They were cost-competitive and efficient. Using gas means I only need one water heater instead of two,” says Graeme. The new rotary dairy shed has been fitted with a Hecton Products feed system. Manufactured in Invercargill these are individualised for each type of dairy shed and to meet the farmer’s specific requirements. “Each bail has a stainless steel tray fitted with

‘robbing’ bars to ensure that Clarkes Seed each cow & Feed consultant gets the Brian McDonagh with amount the molasses tank. of feed allocated to her. The amounts are allocated from a PLC controller which dispenses the correct quantity of feed or molasses, which is stored in a silo outside the dairy shed,” says Aaron Bremner, who owns Hecton Products.

Leader in feed

Hecton Products feed systems can be installed in herringbones as well as rotaries. They’ve been a familiar part of the Southland and Otago scene for more than 40 years and also manufacture trailers, sheep handlers and weigh systems. Hecton Products will install the silos and also supply components around New Zealand. “We are the market leader for feed systems in Southland and whatever a farmer wants in the way of a feed system, we can supply it,” says Aaron.

RENNIE

Page 34

Coast & Country

A staff attraction in Southland

Farm owner Graeme Rennie in the yard of his Southland dairy. Invercargill company Clarkes Seed & Feed Ltd supply the Rennie’s with molasses and hard feed. “The molasses is stored in a tank and distributed to the cows through the feed system. It is a byproduct from the raw sugar industry and helps stimulate the cow’s appetite,” says Clarkes Seed & Feed consultant Brian McDonagh. The molasses also gives cows extra energy during and after calving. It helps them maintain good condition after calving. And it improves conception rates during mating. The cows are also allocated about 400grams to 450grams of hard feed per day via the feed system on-platform. This encourages them on to the platform for milking. “The Rennies buy calf feed from us and in the past have won the Wyndham A & P Society’s dairy heifer competition four times,”

says Brian. Clarkes Seed & Feed also supply all other stock feeds, grass seed and on-farm seed dressing and treating. “The manual Tru-Test drafting system is working really well for the moment and I may upgrade it at a later date,” says Graeme.

Reuse pump

“It’s invaluable for drafting cows out for mating or if any have the first sign of mastitis. They can be held in a pen and attended to after milking. “We were able to reutilise the Yardmaster pump, made by Reid and Harrison at Matamata. It transfers the separated effluent to the new effluent tank,” says Graeme. The Rennies also use the expertise of Veehof Dairy Services, which provide an on-farm hoof trimming service.

“They bring a mobile crush sanitation, structures and trim the cow’s hooves. and facilities. They are very professional and it means less stress for the cows More efﬁcient and me,” says Graeme. Graeme says they’ve Veehof Dairy Services increased the herd to 570 The Tru-Test provide hoof care for the cows and the new rotary is drafting system. South Canterbury, Otago and much more efﬁcient. Southland areas. “We’ve had one season in The new dairy is monitored by AsureQuality it and look forward to next season. The Read to make sure it’s kept up the high standards the Industrial milking machine is so simple to use export market requires. and easy to maintain, which makes it ideal AsureQuality came and checked the dairy when employing staff. shed halfway through construction, then signed “We have two full-time staff and Trish feeds it off at completion. the calves and relief milks. Now it’s taking two AsureQuality work alongside farmers to milkers one-hour-and-20-minutes to milk – an make sure their milking machines are working exceptional improvement on the herringbone,” properly and ensure minimum standards in says Graeme. By Helen Wilson

RENNIE

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Page 35

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DOBSON

Page 36

Coast & Country

New dairy for Rodney’s beloved Jerseys

A view of the rotary dairy shed from the yard.

The LIC Protrack drafting system.

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two milking and one getting the cows in,” says Mark. “The cow ﬂow was not good in the old herringbone so we decided on a rotary dairy shed.”

Excellent results

system allows a cow’s udder to be sprayed while the teat oriﬁce is still open, giving good coverage, assuring good udder health and eliminating mastitis. The Dobson’s shed is running Waikato Milking Systems SmartWASH systems. One runs the milking plant and the other runs the milk silo. The automatic plant wash system ensures that the plant is consistently cleaned to the required hygiene standard. The SmartWASH system for the milk silo allows the tanker driver to push a button once milk pick-up has been completed. This then activates a fully automated silo wash instead of just a rinse – all time saving systems for the farmer. The plant was installed by Progressive Engineering, which is the Southland and Otago installer for Waikato Milking Systems. Rodney used the same company for the old dairy shed. They provide a complete back up service if needed.

Dobson

The Dobsons have had expeHe married Jocelyn in 1974 and they rience with Waikato Milking bought their first herd of Jersey cows and Systems plants from their days started the Ashvale Jersey stud, then went farming on the Hauraki Plains 50/50 sharemilking. and had put in a Waikato In 1980 they were successful in winning a Milking System in the original ballot farm, so progressed to farm owners. dairy shed on the Riverton farm. “We wanted to expand our farm but were “We’ve had excellent results unable to do so on the Hauraki Plains so with the Waikato Milking Systems we looked at moving to the South Island, machine. It’s been reliable and hard wearing where land was cheaper and the return on so we decided to install the same brand with investment was better,” says Rodney. this new rotary,” says Rodney. They looked at the Canterbury area first, “We’ve even been able to re-use some of but found “too many stones” then went the old plant in the new dairy.” further south to Southland and decided The Waikato Milking Systems 60-bail on a 150 hectare sheep and beef farm near Orbit Concrete platform, with 2.7m overRiverton. hang helps protects the milking machine “We were among the second wave of and electronic equipment, makes this an farmers to come to Southland and convert easy dairy shed to operate. existing sheep and beef farms to dairy,” The system includes SmartECR automatic says Rodney. cup removers, a SmartD-TECT early mastiThe Dobsons have been dairy farming at tis identification system and a SmartSPRAY Riverton for 23 years and originally built a automatic teat spray system. 40-aside herringbone dairy to milk the 500 The SmartD-TECT pedigree Jerseys. system alerts the Their son Mark operator if mastitis is Dobson and his wife detected and the cow Ashleigh are equity can be drafted out and partners in the farm attended to. SmartDas well as 50/50 TECT can identify the sharemilkers. onset of mastitis up to “The old herringbone four days before visual dairy shed was becoming or clinical signs are obsolete. It was taking Hecton Products owner Aaron evident. far too long to milk and Bremner by the feed storage silos. The SmartSPRAY we needed three people;

Informed decisions

The LIC Protrack system through electronic ear tags records each cow’s health status from weight to mastitis detection. This allows the farmer to make informed decisions about feed quantities and health matters. The affected cows can be automatically drafted out during milking. Hecton Products from Invercargill put in the feed system on the platform. Through the Protrack system each cow is automatically fed the correct quantity to maintain a healthy weight.

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Rodney Dobson started dairy farming on the Hauraki Plains in 1968. He was on wages for three years, and a lower order sharemilker for the next three years.

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DOBSON

Page 37

Rotary at Riverton replaces obsolete herringbone Hecton Products owner Aaron Bremner says they have installed a crusher here so the barley is crushed on the farm “and the quantity can be controlled so there is no waste”. “It’s also fresher,” says Aaron. Hecton Products is the New Zealand distributor for the crusher which is manufactured in Victoria, Australia. Hecton Products also installed the silos and colour co-ordinated them to match the colour of the dairy shed. “We are happy to comply with the farmer’s requirements and provide a full back-up service. After 40 years in the business we can be relied on to provide the best product for each farmer,” says Aaron.

Saving Mark’s back

The Kliptank can be assembled on the farm in two or three days. And there is no added expense of fencing the efﬂuent pond as the Kliptank is above the ground.

Rotating backing gates

The pipework and backing gate in the yard was done by Doug’s Engineering from Woodlands. “The Dobson’s pretty much knew how they wanted the yards laid out,” says Doug McDonald, owner of Doug’s Engineering. “They have been in the dairy industry for a while and knew what suited them best and we were happy to go along with their requirements,” says Doug. The continually rotating backing gates have an electric gland and were also manufactured and installed by Doug’s Engineering. “We had a tight timeframe to complete the job, as the cows were starting to calf, but we got everything ﬁnished and the yards are working well,” says Doug. On the southern side of the circular yard there is a solid concrete wall to protect the cows from the cold southerly winds.

A Wrangler manufactured in Whakatane has been fitted at the dairy shed, which keeps the cow comfortably restrained while the farmer can attend to any lameness problems. It’s both safe for the operator and the cow and allows quick and easy assessment of any health problems. “It really saves on your back and allows me to get any hoof problems sorted out quickly,” says Mark. The effluent storage pond has been supplied by Tauranga company Kliptank, which specialise in above the ground effluent storage. The effluent pond we used for the old herringbone leaked so we decided to go with Kliptank this time. The tank sits nicely Farm owners Jocelyn and Rodney Dobson with their son in the side of a small hill Mark and Waikato Milking Systems’ South Island sales and blends in with its territory manager Diego Brandao. surrounding,” says Rodney.

In the unlikely event of power cuts the Dobsons have invested in a Cowpower generator. “I haven’t had to use it yet but it’s reassuring to The Kliptank efﬂuent pond. know we have an alternative power generator supplier to the dairy industry in source if need be,” says Mark. New Zealand from herringbone dairy sheds to “More farmers are realising the value of robotics. having a back-up power source as there The new rotary has reduced the milking time is always a risk of power cuts or famers by half and instead of three people milking don’t have enough power to run their milk there’s now two – and it’s possible to manage cooling systems,” says Barry Hayes, owner of with just one milker. Cowpower Generators at Invercargill. Rodney, Jocelyn, Mark and Ashleigh have only ever had Jersey cows and the last word Power to the cows has to be from Rodney: “As long as I am Cowpower Generators design their generators alive there will never be a Friesian cow on the from scratch and each one has a user-friendly farm. I believe Jerseys are more international socket for the change-over switch. efﬁcient and better suited to They supply generators to vineyards, Southland conditions”. nurseries, back-up for computer By Helen systems, supermarkets and Wilson anywhere that a power supply can be a problem. The company is also the largest

Milker Jeremy Hill putting the cups on.

An inquisitive cow.

DAIRY PRYDE TRUST

Page 38

Coast & Country

Two sheds – too easy!

The new Dairy Pryde Ltd shed sits neatly in the landscape near Gore in Southland.

Phil Gerritson and his son Jimmy milk 1200 cows on 440 hectares in the gently rolling hills of Maitland near Gore in Southland. “We came here from Morrinsville in 1996 and bought a 270ha farm which we employed sharemilkers on. “Jimmy moved down in 2010 and began sharemilking with 650 cows,” says Phil. In 2012 Jimmy and Phil bought the neighbouring sheep farm and converted it to dairy. They were milking the 1200 cows through the one rotary shed before building the new dairy to reduce milking times.

The Waikato Milking Systems dairy shed.

This season they plan to milk 550 cows through the new rotary dairy shed and 680 through the older rotary dairy shed. Paul Warren, the builder, from Winton had been recommended to the Gerritsons by Dairy & Pumps, the milking system installers from Gore, who had worked with Paul on several other dairy sheds.

Turn-key offering

“We work in together with Paul to offer the farmer a ‘turn-key’ dairy shed. Between us we organise all the sub-contractors so the farmer can concentrate on running his farm,” says Dairy & Pumps managing director Ken Humphries. Having experienced milking in the original

Dairy Pryde Trust

Background: Looking in the Gerritson’s new dairy shed from the yard.

dairy shed meant Jimmy had a good idea of what he wanted in the new dairy. “Paul was happy to adapt the original plan to allow for the changes I required. The result is a well-built, tidy, easy-to-use practical dairy shed,” says Jimmy. The walls have been made from refrigeration panels, which have an easy to keep clean surface and there is a comfortable ofﬁce with windows to observe the cows being milked. There are two entrances into the large round yard, which saves the cows turning around. “We have had experience with Waikato Milking Systems machines before and found them easy to use, so we decided to go with what we knew and have installed a 54-bail

A Waikato Milking Systems cluster.

Waikato Milking System, complete with SmartECR automatic cup removers and auto start in this dairy shed,” says Jimmy. The Gerritsons also installed SmartSPRAY, an automatic in-bail teat spray system which is automatically triggered by the SmartECRs once the cow has ﬁnished milking.

Manual wash

The system sprays the cow’s udder while the teat oriﬁce is still open. This ensures complete coverage, while maintaining good udder health and helping to prevent mastitis. “We decided on the manual wash system as I think sometimes we are too reliant on automation,” says Jimmy.

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DAIRY PRYDE TRUST

Page 39

Background: The efﬂuent bunkers.

The three-port wash gland means the plant can be washed while the platform is still moving, so the washdown can actually start prior to the ﬁnish of milking. Dairy & Pumps Ltd of Gore and Balclutha is the Waikato Milking Systems authorised dealers for the area. “We worked through the process with Phil and Jimmy from beginning to end to make sure they were happy with the milking system,” says Ken, who is managing director of Dairy & Pumps Ltd. “Organising the subcontractors ourselves meant everything was completed on time,” says Ken.

As this was a full turnkey project, Dairy & Pumps Ltd not only installed the plant componentry but also the water system for the shed. They promised the Gerritsons they’d be milking in their new dairy shed by Christmas and even with the wettest October in years they still met the target.

Working perfectly

“I was here at the ﬁrst milking to make sure everything was working perfectly. The cows ﬂowed in and on to the platform without any bother and the Waikato Milking Systems milking machine performed equally perfectly,” says Ken. Dairy & Pumps Ltd provides a full 24-hour, seven days a week, back-up service with a full ongoing maintenance programme for all customers. “We have installed a Protrack Vantage system, which works in well with Waikato Milking Systems,” says Jimmy. “As the cow steps on to the platform Simon Van Tongeren, who is 2IC, farm partners she is instantly recognised and Phil and Jimmy Gerritson, and Dairy & Pumps the milker can see on the monitor managing director Ken Humphries discuss the which cow they are dealing with qualities of Waikato Milking Systems. instead of having to climb up on the

platform to see the tag. “If the cow’s Somatic Cell Count is too high it can send an alert and the cow can be automatically drafted out into a pen to be attended to after milking,” says Jimmy

Monitoring progress

The dairy shed is monitored by AsureQuality to make sure it’s kept up to the high standards that the export market requires. They work alongside farmers to make sure their milking machines are working properly and ensure minimum standards in sanitation, structures and facilities are adhered to. The effluent bunkers were built by Crooks Contracting from Invercargill. “We had used John Crooks in the past and were always pleased with the work he did, so decided he would be the best for the job,” says Jimmy. “We built the effluent bunkers, dug the effluent pond and formed the lane ways to the

Waikato Milking Systems sales territory manager Diego Brandao, farm partners Jimmy and Phil Gerritson, Simon Van Tongeren, who is 2IC, and Dairy & Pumps managing director Ken Humphries. new dairy shed,” says John. Ninety per cent of their work is rural, around Southland, and they also build underpasses, lay effluent ponds and alkathene pipes. The green wash from the effluent is re-used to wash down the yard, saving on water. “We are committed to staying in Southland and enjoy the drought-free summers. Now we have two efficient rotary dairy sheds it has made life a lot easier,” says Paul. “We’re milking 550 cows through the new dairy shed and it only takes one milker less than two hours to milk. It means staff can work a five-days-on and two-days-off roster.” This is a vast improvement on four hours’ milking time when there was just one dairy shed. By Helen Wilson

TITIPUA

Page 40

Coast & Country

In dairy for the long haul Southland is renowned for being a drought-free province and on the day New Farm Dairies visited Titipua Ltd Partnership farm, at Hedgehope near Winton, there was steady rain. “You should have come last week, it was bright and sunny,” says Blake Korteweg. The new 44-aside herringbone dairy on the 184 hectare farm stood proudly among the long, lush green, late summer grass – a sight some North Island dairy farmers would have liked to see. Blake and wife and Sara are 50/50 sharemilkers for Blake’s parents Stephen and Rhonda Korteweg and James and Niki Hall. The couple milk 500 cows on ﬂat to gentle rolling farmland. The farm is a combination of 175ha surveyed off the back of a large, rectangular-shape dairy farm and a neighbouring block with a house on it.

Born and bred

The new farm needed a dairy shed so being new to the area they sought the advice of builder Richard Stodart, owner of Richard Stodart Building Ltd in Invercargill. “I was born and bred on a dairy farm at Balclutha and was originally a builder so had a reasonable idea of what was

required,” says Blake. “The number of cows we were milking didn’t justify the expense of building a large rotary dairy shed. “We wanted a dairy that was simple to use with low-cost maintenance and I think that between all of us that’s what we’ve achieved,” says Blake. Richard works in conjunction with Southland Farm Services to provide the farmer with a turnkey dairy shed. “It saves a lot of stress for the farmer and once the design and price has been agreed on, we get started. “It saves the farmer dealing with lots of different contractors and we know how each other works, so it’s an uncomplicated process with a good result at completion,” says Richard, who has been building dairy sheds for the last 18 years. Blake took his building plan to Richard and explained what he wanted and Richard suggested a few changes. Between them came up with a plan that suited them both. The dairy shed is well constructed, easy to keep clean with clean simple lines and incorporates an ofﬁce and utility room. Richard has a selection of dairy shed plans and is happy to alter them to suit each farmer’s

Titipua

requirements. He also builds rotaries, wintering barns, feed pads, houses and any home renovations. “I built the implement shed here for Titipua Ltd Partnership as well.”

Total package

Southland Farm Services is the DeLaval dealership for Southland and has been installing milking machines for 18 years. When Blake was milking on his parents’ farm at Balclutha, the dairy shed there had a DeLaval milking machine which he found was efﬁcient and easy to use so between them all decided to use a brand they were familiar and happy with. Southland Farm Services manager Mark McMillan says in conjunction with Richard Stodart Building Ltd they put together a total package for the whole dairy shed. “This included the building, milking machine, electrics, plumbing and water supply. The Halls and Kortewegs accepted the price and the project got underway. And it came in within the price quoted,” says Mark. The new dairy shed has a 44-aside DeLaval ML2100 Midiline milking system with MPC 150B automatic cup removers with swing-down jetters.

Above: Doug McDonald, from Doug’s Engineering standing next to The DeLaval milking system. Right: Southland Farm Services electrical division manager Nigel Brown and manager Mark McMillan. Below: Builder Richard Stodart, owner of Richard Stodart Building Ltd.

TITIPUA

PH 07 578 0030 The Tru-test drafting system.

Page 41

The large square yard with backing gate.

The team: Builder Richard Stodart, Southland Farm Services’ Mark McMillan and Nigel Brown, sharemilkers Sara and Blake Korteweg and Doug McDonald, from Doug’s Engineering.

Success in simplicity in Southland These swing down for easy cleaning after milking and then swing back up out of the way of the milking staff. There is a DeLaval LVP 3000 variable speed vacuum pump, which doesn’t require oil or water to operate efﬁciently. “Not requiring water or oil means that it needs no maintenance and saves on power and increases the lifetime of the pump,” says Mark.

Power supply

Southland Farm Services electrical division took care of all the electrics starting with the power supply to the builder’s pole, to the end result of ensuring everything turned on when required. Another reason Southland

Farm Services was chosen was their efﬁcient 24-hour callout service. The earthworks were carried out by Cameron Contractors based at Woodlands just north of Invercargill. When bought, the farm consisted of 30 large paddocks which were impractical, so some of the larger paddocks have now been split up and several laneways were put in to connect the paddocks and allow easy access to and from the new dairy. Jack Cameron of Cameron Contractors also prepared the groundwork for the dairy, making sure it was a well-compacted, ﬁrm surface to sustain a large building. He also constructed the weeping wall

as part of the efﬂuent system. The zig zag pipe work, which traditionally is a feature of a herringbone dairy, was designed and constructed by Doug McDonald, owner of Doug’s Engineering at Woodlands.

Own ﬂavour

“I have a good working relationship with Blake and Sara,” says Doug. “They added their own ‘ﬂavour’ to the yard layout and we were happy to oblige. The yard is oblong instead of round, which suited the cows and the lay of the land,” says Doug. Doug’s Engineering manufactured and installed the backing gate, constructed the yard rails and

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installed the exit gates. Not limited to herringbones, they’re happy to do the pipework for rotary dairies as well. Blake and Sara ﬁnd the Tru-Test drafting system invaluable during mating season. “I can programme in the cows I want kept back for mating and through their electronic ear tag they can be drafted out into a pen ready for the Artiﬁcial Breeding technician,” says Blake. It can also be applied at other times of the year for suspect mastitis cows or cows with other health problems. As the cows exit through the drafting system the WETiT automatic teat spraying system makes sure each quarter of the cow’s udder is totally

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covered with spray to ensure good udder health and reduce the risk of mastitis. “Since putting in place the WETiT spray system we have had very little mastitis,” says Blake. The Kortewegs started milking in the new dairy shed on July 25, 2015. They had a full herd of rotary cows but by the end of October they’d all adjusted well to the herringbone. A few cows were too early and were milked in a friend’s shed at the start. “The farm and the dairy shed are simple and easy to run with the help of two other staff. We hope to increase to 550 cows in time and intend being in the dairy industry for the long haul,” says Blake. By Helen Wilson

Page 42

NORTHOPE DAIRIES

Automated cow barn makes a big difference

The heavy clay soil in the Northope area near Winton in Southland was reason enough for Ian Smith with partner Kath Taylor and Ian’s parents, farm owners Kerry and Delwyn Smith, to consider a wintering barn for their 500 cows. The Smith Family Trust bought the 230 hectare property 15 years ago and it had already been converted to dairy from a sheep and beef farm. “We decided it would be more economical to house the cows under cover as opposed to growing crops for winter feed,” says Ian.

Coast & Country “We started construction in October 2013 and last winter we had continuous rain for days on end and with the barn we managed to extend the cow’s lactation, avoid pugging the paddocks and we didn’t have to transition the cows on and off the crops. “The barn is close to the dairy shed so it’s only a short walk for them to the dairy shed. There is less wastage and our Somatic Cell Count was under 100,000 all season,” says Ian. The wintering barn easily accommodates the 500 cows. During the dairy season, if supplements are being fed the gates on the paddocks open automatically with timers to allow the cows to wander into the wintering barn in the early hours of the morning, about an hour before milking. They are fed mainly silage and sometimes other hard feed and then walk the short distance to the dairy shed to be milked.

Bad weather

The brushes for scratching.

This is repeated again for the afternoon milking. “The cows are not normally kept in the barn all the time during the milking season, only if the weather is extremely bad,” says Ian. The wintering barn was built by Comfort Cow Barns, which is a joint venture between Richard Stodart of Richard Stodart Building Ltd and Mark McMillan of Southland Farm Services, who both have years of experience within the dairy industry. “We wanted to build wintering barns that cater for the comfort of the cow and cater for the farmer’s requirements,” says Richard. The Comfort Cow Barns are made from hot-dipped galvanised steel and will not rust. They have a high pitched roof with a vent for good ventilation and there are no solid walls – again for good airﬂow and to help reduce the ammonia fumes from the cows.

Cow mattresses

The DeLaval ‘Juno’ programmed to move down the alleyway.

Resting on the comfortable mattress.

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LYNDON HARROWS AND ENGINEERING LIMITED

Each barn is ﬁtted out with the latest DeLaval systems. DeLaval has just started to diversify into wintering barn equipment in New Zealand but has vast experience with wintering barns in other parts of the world. The barns have plenty of space for the cows to move around, the bails are extra wide and have ‘cow mattresses’.

NORTHOPE DAIRIES

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An economical and cosy option for cows thicker steel so they can withstand any high winds. “Having the automatic Dominator Doors allows me to shut out the bad weather and keep the cows and staff warm and comfortable,” says Ian. The earthworks were carried out by Dean Shearing Contractors at Makarewa, north of Invercargill. The whole site was excavated then gravel was carted in, compacted and levelled out to make a solid foundation for the building. Richard Stodart “We sometimes put a bit and Mark of a fall on the sites to help McMillan, with efﬂuent drainage but partners in didn’t have to here,” says Dean Comfort Cow Shearing. Barns, beside a “We also dug the efﬂuent model of the bails. pond. I have done farm maintenance for Ian in the past so we have built up a good relationship,” says Dean. Dean does mainly rural work around Southland area and works in with a small group of builders on any projects.

These are foam mattresses covered with a protective vinyl covering where the cows can rest and sleep if need be. “We ﬁnd that the same cows head for the same bail when they come in,” says Ian. The barn has ﬁve ‘cross-over’ areas on each line of beds, which allow the cows to access the feed lane. There are large rotating brushes on every second cross-over, which starts up when the cow touches it. These are well used as a back and neck scratcher for the cows. There are easily accessible troughs for fresh water.

Northope

Meet ‘Juno’

Comfort Cow Barns offer a full ‘turn-key’ service from the building, lighting, the fit-out and the effluent disposal. The effluent in the barn is cleaned out by automatic scrapers, which take it directly to the effluent storage ponds designed by Southland Farm Services and DeLaval. A tractor and mixer wagon feeds the cows silage along the wide alleyways. To stop any waste Ian has invested in a ‘Juno’ feed pusher robot, made by Lely and looks a bit like a miniature ‘Dalek’. “It is run on batteries and can be programmed with the layout of any wintering barn. It can sense where the doors are, how far it needs to travel and then turn around and go in the opposite direction on the other side,” says Ian. “As it goes along it scoops up any silage that the cows have flicked out into the centre of the laneway and pushes the silage back within the cow’s reach,” says Ian. Once the ‘Juno’ has done its job it is programmed to travel back to its docking point to recharge until the next time. “It is really useful as it saves me time and it’s not tying up another vehicle – and it’s also fun to watch,” says Ian. There is a door at each end of the cow barn, of industrial strength so they can take “a hammering from

Standing outside the wintering barn: Dominator Garage Door Centre sales and operations manager Bob Frazer, Southland Farm Services’ milking machine foreman Jeremy Dawson and electrical manager Nigel Brown, Dean Shearing of Dean Shearing Contractors, Richard Stodart from Comfort Cow Barns and sharemilker Ian Smith. the weather”. The doors come from Dominator Garage Door Centre at Invercargill. “We are starting to diversify and have started manufacturing automatic doors

speciﬁcally for wintering barns,” says Dominator Garage Door Centre sales and operations manager Bob Frazer. The doors are made from individual slats rather than a solid panel and

Options

He has been operating his diggers and trucks for more than 20 years and can take on any sort of earthworks if required. “Milk production has increased since we have started using the Comfort Cow Barn. It just gives me a few options when the weather gets nasty. We don’t calve the cows in the barn but we could if we had too,” says Ian. With Comfort Cow Barns’ design and DeLaval’s automation, Ian and Kath and their cows can look forward to much more comfortable and less stressful farming practices. By Helen Wilson

ROAM DAIRIES

Page 44

Coast & Country

Roam dairy was built in three weeks The view of the dairy shed from the yard.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Five years ago we built a rotary dairy shed to increase the efďŹ ciency of the farm. Since then the herd has increased to 1500 cows and the rotary became At the new dairy shed Hecton Products owner Aaron Bremner, farm too small,â&#x20AC;? says Robert. owner Robert Bruin, contract milker Nick Tomsett, farm manager â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was also Gurwinder Singh, manager for Roam Dairiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; other farm situated at the Kerry Evans and Waikato Milking Systemsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; South Island sales other end of the territory manager Diego Brandao. farm, which meant the Robert and Anne Marie Bruin farm a cows had a long way to walksometimes for milking.â&#x20AC;? total of 556 hectares, which includes In 2014 Robert and Anne Marie decided to split the farm in half and build another rotary a lease block, at Pukemaori near dairy shed at the other end of the farm.

Otautau in Southland.

They started out sharemilking in 1992 and in 1995 they bought their original 80ha at Pukemaori, which was a sheep and beef farm and converted it to a dairy farm naming their farming enterprise Roam Dairies. As other neighbouring sheep and beef farms became available to purchase they added to their land holding and increased the size of the dairy herd.

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Split the farm

The herd was divided into two herds of about 750 cows and there is also a small penicillin herd at times. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The ďŹ rst requirement was to ďŹ nd a builder and Baz Janssen from Winton was recommended to us. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He came up with a basic plan that we were happy with and it has a good ďŹ nish and is

perfect for the job we want it to do,â&#x20AC;? says Robert. The dairy shed was built large enough to house a 70-bail rotary platform but a 64-bail rotary was installed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Robert wanted extra space inside and to keep the platform away from the walls,â&#x20AC;? says Baz. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It means there is more room for staff to manoeuvre around the platform and helps keep the walls clean.â&#x20AC;?

More room to move

The walls are made of refrigeration panels, which are easy to keep clean, and it has timber purlins that span between the rafters, for the roof, making the dairy shed bird-proof. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Robert and Anne Marieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shed was slightly different to our standard shed design,â&#x20AC;? says Baz. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They wanted the rooms at one end of the building. The new dairy shed has nice clean lines that blend in with the landscape. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are happy to custom build for each individual farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s requirements as each situation is different,â&#x20AC;? says Baz. He also employs his own engineers, who design and build steel-work for the yard and backing gates. Since building Robert and Anne Marieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dairy shed Baz has purchased his own digger and gravel trucks so he can do all the on-site preparation including efďŹ&#x201A;uent ponds.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It just means I can give the farmer a total building package,â&#x20AC;? says Baz. The construction of the dairy shed took three weeks from start to ďŹ nish. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We found Baz very efďŹ cient,â&#x20AC;? says Robert. Baz has been building for the last ďŹ ve years and is happy to build anything such as feed pads, wintering sheds and new homes. Baz enjoyed working with Robert and Anne Marie during the build and wishes them all the best in the future. The earthworks for the new dairy shed was carried out by D T King Transport, which has its depot located right next door to the farm at Pukemaori. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Although the site was virtually ďŹ&#x201A;at we made sure it was level and brought in some extra ďŹ ll to ensure it was a solid base to support the dairy shed,â&#x20AC;? says D T King Transport managing director Grant Loader. Grantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team also formed ďŹ ve kilometres of new farm laneways across the paddocks, graded them and then trucked in the metal to go on top.

Good to deal with

So what milking plant did the Bruins go with? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had experience with Waikato Milking Systems machines in the past and found them reliable and competitively priced,â&#x20AC;? says Robert. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The people involved were also really good to deal with.â&#x20AC;?

ROAM DAIRIES

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More land plus split herd equals new shed Hecton Products owner Aaron Bremner beside the silos he installed.

Roam Dairies

Waikato Milking Systems cluster and in-bail teat sprayer.

The efﬂuent system by Clean Green Efﬂuent Company.

The system Robert had installed is a Waikato Milking Systems 64-bail Orbit Concrete Rotary platform, complete with SmartECR automatic cup removers, a SmartD-TECT early mastitis identification system and a SmartSPRAY automatic teat spray system. The SmartD-TECT system alerts the operator if mastitis is detected and the cow can be drafted out and attended to. SmartD-TECT can identify the onset of mastitis up to four days before visual or clinical signs are evident. “The SmartSPRAY system allows the cow’s udder to be sprayed while the teat orifice is still open, giving good coverage, assuring good udder health and eliminating mastitis,” says for Waikato Milking Systems’ South Island sales territory manager Diego Brandao. Robert chose the Orbit concrete platform for his new dairy for a number of reasons. The platform has a variable speed function, it has an extra 2.7metre wide deck to help protect the milking and electronic equipment and the cow flow on and off platform is excellent. Operational costs of milking machines can be considerable. Robert chose to add a SmartDRIVE variable speed vacuum pump

which helps deliver signiﬁcant power savings. The milking plant was installed by Progressive Engineering, the Waikato Milking Systems installers for Southland and Otago.

Effluent cost-saver

Nonslip matting has been supplied and installed by Numat Industries. The rubber matting assures the cows make a smooth entry and exit without slipping and causing injury. Plus, it’s easy on their hooves and helps to eliminate lameness. The effluent system has been designed and installed by the Clean Green Effluent Company based in Invercargill. Clean Green Effluent Company owner/ operator Lindsay Lewis says due to the herd numbers he had to increase the length of the weeping wall and the effluent dispersal area “to make sure the rain water and effluent were still under quarter of a millilitre of application depth per day”. Two hectares per 100 cows is allowed for the dispersal area and this means the dairy farmer is getting the equivalent of 150kg nitrogen per hectare. Lindsay says this is a cost saving from conventional sources of fertiliser. “The farmer gets 100 per cent of the nutrients from the

effluent as there is no leaching. “The system has been developed for about eight years, and is now a proven alternative to large storage ponds. The Clean Green System is suitable for large or smaller herds. It’s such a simple design that requires virtually no work to operate and maintain,” says Lindsay. The new rotary dairy shed has been fitted with a Hecton Products feed system. Manufactured in Invercargill, Hecton Products owner Aaron Bremner says these are individualised for each type of dairy shed and to meet the farmer’s specific requirements. “Each bail has a stainless steel tray fitted with ‘robbing’ bars to ensure that each cow gets the amount of feed allocated to her. “The amounts are allocated from a PLC controller which dispenses the correct quantity of feed or molasses which is stored in a silo outside the dairy shed,” says Aaron. The feed is augered from the storage silo into the bins in the dairy shed. Hecton Products feed systems can be installed in herringbone dairy sheds as well as rotaries. Hecton Products has been a familiar part of the Southland and Otago scene for more than 40 years and also manufacture trailers, sheep handlers and weigh systems. They’ll install the silos and also supply components around New

Zealand. “We are the market-leader for feed systems in Southland and whatever a farmer wants in the way of a feed system we can supply it,” says Aaron. The dairy shed is monitored by AssureQuality to make sure it’s kept up to the high standards that the export market requires. They work alongside farmers to make sure their milking machines are working properly and ensure minimum standards in sanitation, structures and facilities are adhered to. The new rotary dairy shed has had its ﬁrst full season and farm manager Gurwinder Singh is very pleased with the way it has performed. He’s been working on the Bruin’s farm for four years and is now manager for the new part of the dairy farm.

One milker

“In the spring we had two milkers in the dairy shed and employed a person to rear the calves. As the cows settled down we reduced that to one milker,” says Gurwinder. “It has reduced the milking time, it’s easier on the cows and staff. By splitting the original 1500-cow herd into two of 750 it’s increased the efﬁciency of the farm. “We are all looking forward to next season,” says Gurwinder. By Helen Wilson

AB LIME

Page 46

Coast & Country

A-plus dairy for AB Lime The new dairy sits nicely below the hills just out of Winton in Southland.

Steve has brought his high safety standards from the lime works to the farm and all visitors to the dairy shed must sign in and out. AB Lime started in the early 1900s and is the biggest agricultural lime works in the South Island. The lime is used as a soil conditioner and they supply 230,000 tonnes annually to farmers in Southland and Otago.

A landďŹ ll too?

Along with the lime works, the farm caters for Southlandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste with a class A landďŹ ll facility. This is situated in the middle of the farm, well out of sight of the main road. The farm totals 500 hectares with 73ha in native bush and a 335ha milking platform, the lime quarry making up the rest. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Previously, the 335ha was used as a beef and dairy support unit. In the middle of 2012 the AB Lime board decided that a better return from the land would be to turn it into a dairy

The 80-bail GEA Farm Technologies Milfos milking system is ďŹ tted with iCR Intelligent Cluster Removers. This offers key features previously only accessible with high-end automation systems. And with the integration of iCRS Bail Restraint System the arrangement provides total piece of mind to the operator and delivers a complete cup remover system. Special software will retain cows on the platform if they are still milking or fail to meet certain parameters, which can be set entirely by a handheld remote. This includes low milk, kick off and time out. The cluster removal ram and the restraint ram work independently from each other. The introduction of Dairy Automation Limitedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iNTELSENSE removes the speculation of knowing the Somatic Cell Count of the herd. A management system that uses both iNTELSENSE and iNTELLAB records SCC, milk yield, fat, protein, lactose and the conductivity proďŹ le of each cow. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All this information assists the farmer to make important decisions around feeding and animal health that maximises milk production,â&#x20AC;? says Nind Dairy Servicesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sales and technical support person Callum Hoy.

unit,â&#x20AC;? says Steve. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At the December 2013 board meeting the decision was made to go ahead and set up a dairy farm. It was my job to do the budgets, get quotes and apply for a resource consent for change of land use,â&#x20AC;? says Steve. Resource consent for discharging efďŹ&#x201A;uent and ground water use was a straightforward process and consent was issued in late June 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and with contractors standing by it was â&#x20AC;&#x153;all hands on deckâ&#x20AC;? and the new dairy shed was operating in the ďŹ rst week of August 2014.

Best for us

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We looked at a lot of dairy sheds, talked to farmers and asked lots of questions â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and, knowing we were in the dairy business for the long haul, we wanted an easily managed dairy that was a pleasant place to work in and I think we have achieved that,â&#x20AC;? says Steve. The dairy farm has a consent to milk up to 1200 cows and started the ďŹ rst season with 950 cows, reducing to 930 through the season. Four staff are employed including lower order sharemilker Martin Axtens and stockman Josiah Schouten. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When it came to choosing a milking plant we decided to go with Nind Dairy Services from Invercargill. They have the dealership for GEA Farm Technologiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Milfos brand â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and we decided that would be the best milking plant for us,â&#x20AC;? says Steve.

Free hot water

The AB Lime Dairy Farm is using an Aquatess glycol refrigeration system thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

currently maintaining two milk silos and one calf milk silo at the required milk temperature, providing efďŹ cient cooling, free hot water and snap-chilling milk to four degrees Celsius on route to the milk silo. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more efďŹ cient, reduces electricity costs en-farm by up to 40 per cent, provides hot water up to 65 degrees Celsius and milk quality is preserved with great beneďŹ ts,â&#x20AC;? says Callum. For good cow udder condition AB Lime decided the iPUD platform universal device would be a great advantage, with a stripping panel, leg separator and each bail on the rotary platform having its own teat sprayer. Once the cow has ďŹ nished milking the teat canal is still open, so the solution is sprayed accurately on to each quarter ensuring good udder health. The GEA Farm Technologiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Milfos GEN 2 Bail together with iCONVEYER rotary platform runs on a series of nylon rollers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is great â&#x20AC;&#x201C; there is no electrical interference noise, the nylon rollers are positioned 600mm apart for greater load rating. [They are] Hydraulic driven, automatically greased and require little maintenance,â&#x20AC;? says Callum.

Effective efďŹ&#x201A;uent

Tristan Whitaker is an electrician and the plumbing and efďŹ&#x201A;uent foreman for Nind Dairy Service. He made sure all the plumbing and efďŹ&#x201A;uent work was completed to the required standards.

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AB LIME

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Project manager creates rotary “The effluent system has an EYS screw press separator, which separates the dry matter from the liquid. The green wash or liquid effluent is pumped back to the dairy shed and used as yard wash and the solids are stored and spread on paddocks about every six weeks or when weather allows. “The effluent system includes three sets of unisprinklers to allow effluent to be automatically pulsed to each direction to ensure a low application rate is achieved while optimising the required timeframe,” says Tristan. This cost-saving effluent system saves on precious water and provides fertiliser for pasture growth. FIL area manager Graham Beggs says his company, which is part of the group, works in with Nind Dairy Services and GEA FT to ensure good hygiene standards and provide an individual wash programme for each dairy shed. “We make sure the farmer gets the best use of the product for effective cleaning,” says Graham. The milking plant uses a Quantum Blue acid wash, ideal for automation and the FIL teat spray has Manuka honey as an additive to promote udder health. It also helps the spray adhere to the teats. “We make time to train the staff on the correct handling and mixing rates for the chemicals and check back every six weeks to see if the programme needs adjusting,” says Graham. “It’s always a pleasure to come to this dairy and consult with Josiah and Martin as they always keep it clean and tidy,” says Graham.

Moving dirt

Meanwhile, Nigel Colvin of Central Southland Excavating, based at Winton in Southland, built the efﬂuent pond.

“If it’s anything to do with moving dirt, I can do it,” says Nigel, who says to build the pond – due to the contour of the land – meant carting clay ﬁll from the dairy shed site to the efﬂuent site to ensure it was level. “We also did a bit of tidying up around the dairy shed – and, with the landscaping Steve put in, it looks a picture,” says Nigel. The new dairy is monitored by AsureQuality to make sure it’s kept up the high standards the export market requires. They work alongside farmers to make sure their milking machines are working properly and ensure minimum standards in sanitation, structures and facilities. Central Southland Excavating can also prepare dairy shed sites, put in underpasses, prepare laneways, bridges, drain cleaning and put in water tanks.

Tough liner

Allowances have been made so a roof can be put on in future, to provide a wintering barn. “We design and build feeding pads to suit the site and within the size restrictions the farmer wants. “We also design and build efﬂuent systems, drying bunkers, concrete tanks and stone traps,” says Peter.

Smart irrigation

AB Lime’s stockman Josiah Schouten and daughter, AB Lime’s general manager Steve Smith, Nind Dairy Services’ sales and technical support person Callum Hoy, FIL area manager Graham Beggs and Nind Dairy Services’ electrician Tristan Whitaker.

The coloursteel roof on the new dairy shed was provided by Queenstown Rooﬁng Limited. A Smart Farm System called a TIM or Travelling Irrigator Monitor has been installed at AB Lime to monitor the over-application of efﬂuent on the farm.

The efﬂuent pond has been lined by Aspect Environmental Lining from Hamilton. The liner is durable, tough and UV resistant. It’s also cost The rotary dairy shed from the circular yard. effective, long lasting and prevents seepage into the “This is operating as it should and if overground. application occurs it switches off the main The concrete feed pad adjacent to the dairy pump and alerts me or my staff by text if there shed allows easy access for the cows at milking is a problem,” says Steve time – and was built by Peter Excell from The TIM utilises low frequency radio for Invercargill. sending signals and data about the farm, “The feed pad was dug into the hillside and data logging to a PC. In 2012, SFS became then ﬁlled. Its 140 metres long and 60 metres the benchmark for fail-safe monitoring, wide and big enough to accommodate 900 beating 14 other companies, securing a much cows. sought-after contract. Currently, SFS is “Standing the cows on a feed pad stops the working on a fully managed data service now paddocks from pugging and keeps the pasture commercially available. in good condition,” says Peter.

At the entry and exit areas of the platform nonslip matting has been installed supplied by Numat Industries. This assures the cows make a smooth entry and exit without slipping and causing injury. A Wrangler manufactured in Whakatane has been ﬁtted, which keeps the cow comfortably restrained while the farmer can attend to any lameness problems. It’s both safe for the operator and the cow and allows quick and easy assessment of any health problems. This is a large, airy rotary dairy shed with a high roof and clear areas in the roof for good airﬂow and light with shelter for the milkers on cold wet days.

Few hiccups

“There were few hiccups with the project,” says Steve. “We selected experienced contractors and we concluded with a well-designed dairy shed which the staff are happy to work in. “This dairy shed will last the distance.” Although Steve oversees the whole AB Lime operation, he’s yet to put the cups on a cow. “I leave that to the experts.” It’s the ﬁrst time this writer has encountered a farm ofﬁce with carpet and had to take her By Helen Wilson shoes off before entering.

PERRIN ESTATE

Page 48

Coast & Country

The Perrin family’s new 30-aside herringbone shed.

Perrin Estate

The ultimate Northland farm lifestyle

On a Monday morning New Farm Dairies approached the Perrin family trust farm snuggly tucked off State Highway 10 Waipapa in Northland.

But something was amiss. With three rows of a 330 Jersey-cross herd still in the bails the reporter looked at her watch. It was 8.45am. The cows were happy and so was the reliefmilker – with a once-a-day milking schedule and a brand new 30-aside herringbone offering the ultimate lifestyle for both man and animal. The Perrin family has owned the 130 hectares for more than 40 years. Family and trust member Ken Perrin says the old 22-aside

herringbone was in the wrong place – right next to SH10. “We decided to move it to the farm’s middle – and increasing issues with compliance made it a good opportunity to build to a compliant and future-proofed farm operation.”

Building quality

Dairy Build constructed the new shed. “We spent a lot of time looking at Dairy Build’s previous work and talking to farmers who’ve used them – signing with them is the best decision we could have made,” says Ken. “We wanted value for money, a quality job delivered on time and to budget. Dairy Build was competitive on price, the build quality

The team: Dairy Build owner Matthew Sidford, Adams Air Con & Refrigeration owner Daniel Adams, Northern Dairy Specialists owner Kevin Waterman with his team, and sharemilker Marrin Urlich.

is universally high and the cost was what we agreed.” Servicing Northland, the family company specialise in farm buildings, sheds and feed pads. “The beauty is clients deal with me, I provide quality service and I’m on-site most of the time,” says owner Matthew Sidford. Dairy Build started the build July 1, 2014. “It took 29 days from start to ﬁnish.” “We proﬁled the site, dug the pit, erected pit panels, concreted it and set up all posts, then concreted the thing all in one go in one day.” Then came the roof and railing. Ken says the build happened amid nasty weather. “But we got the

Dairy Build also designed the water-driven gates, which have rubber ﬁxed to the bottom, to scrape muck off the yard.

www.

benefit of Matthew’s years of experience, his conscientious team; and suggestions on overall design were incorporated without any fuss.” Matthew says the shed is easy to clean, has good cow flow and effective effluent control. Dairy Build also designed the water-driven backing gate. “The yard is self-cleaning using a water-driven backing gate with scrapers which saves time at the end of the day.”

Trusty installation

Mention ‘Kevin Waterman’ in the North and farmers say: ‘Yeah, he’s a good bugger’. Kevin’s company Northern Dairy Specialists supplied and fitted the DeLaval milking plant and machinery. With NDS being specialists in milking shed installations, machine and pump repairs and servicing and stainless steel welding, they got stuck in. “It only took us four weeks to fit-out. “We did the water side of the project too and ended up fitting the effluent,” says Kevin, who is known for his skill in transforming dairy renovations and new builds. “It’s pretty basic shed, not flashy, but very effective,” says Kevin, who is Northland’s DeLaval agent. Northern Dairy Specialists With more than 20 years’ experience in owner Kevin Waterman the field, Kevin with wife Jenny operate with the DeLaval swing a 24-hour seven days a week service from Cape Reinga to Kawakawa. arm jetters.

Dairy Build.co.nz

PERRIN ESTATE

PH 07 578 0030

Page 49

A new herringbone for a new era

Adams Air Con & Refrigeration owner Daniel Adams with the 12 horsepower Patton Pak unit. As the DeLaval agent, Kevin knows the brand is trusted worldwide – and it seems so is he! Ken says Kevin offers great service and everything went very smoothly. “It really was a standard installation but allowances were made for if we wanted to add automatic cup removers or automatic drafting at a later stage.”

Future-prooﬁng

When they went looking for a milking plant, Ken says they wanted functionality, price and service – “this was critical”. “And we had a good relationship with Kevin, the DeLaval agent.” But what also made DeLaval stand out is its futureprooﬁng ability. “The old shed had a mix of milking plants but they’d been always serviced by Kevin and his team. “So we ended up purchasing a complete 30-aside DeLaval system.” DeLaval milking plants have a huge European history – they’re sold worldwide – and are well proven. The shed has DeLaval swing arms and swingdown jetters, which are popular with farmers because instead of conventional droppers they

Dairy Build owner Matthew Sidford in the new Waipapa shed he built for the Perrin family. give the pit a roomy feel and aid cow line-up. The jetters, on a swing arm, come down to a more manageable height to apply the cups and swing out of the way during milking. The DeLaval vacuum pump and milk pump both have Variable Speed Drives, which stabilise the vacuum level required in the plant while reducing energy costs by up to 70 per cent. And the pumps are quiet performers, whether you’re milking or in the milk room. Plus, the DeLaval pulsators are individual to each cow, helping milk cows out cleanly and eliminate mastitis risk.

Cool new operator

Adams Air Con & Refrigeration installed the 12 hp Patton Pak unit speciﬁcally sized for the 9000 litre vat. “That’s as much horsepower as we could

Clear effluent pond. Without machines. Before you buy expensive machines to manage your new pond, go to www.slurrybugs.co.nz to see how the Browns of Pirongia have kept their pond clear without machines – saving $1000s. Or call 0800 SLURRYBUGS (0800 4 758779).

Happy cows in the shed at Perrin Estate’s family farm at Waipapa. squeeze in for that size,” says owner Daniel Adams. He’s been in the dairy refrigeration game for 13 years but recently started his business. He’s been a big fan of Patton Pak “because you don’t need a unit house, they don’t overheat – and you can plonk them wherever you want”. Ken says Adam was quick, cost-competitive, efﬁcient “and the cooling system has worked extremely well”. Plus, there’s options allowed for in design if and when cooling regulations change. Keriland Earthworks done the road entrances, new laneways and tanker track. They also built up the shed site with a

large quantity of bought-in material and laid culverts, which required some blasting due to a signiﬁcant amount of volcanic rock in one area. “They’re good operators and done a very good quality job that’s performed well,” says Ken.

Farm expansion

Sharemilker Marrin Urlich says the shed offers a simple milking method and opportunity for future farm expansion. “Milking once-a-day offers ﬂexibility in undertaking the farm’s workload. Contract milker Jeremy Mounter can get out in the afternoons and pick up more work he wouldn’t be able to do if he had to milk then.” Jeremy says the shed’s cow ﬂow “is the best I’ve experienced in 15 years of dairy farming”. “I don’t have to go onto the yard at all during milking.” And Ken “highly recommends” the contractors he used. By Merle Foster

Page 50

DEMETER FARM

Coast & Country

Demeter Farm Looking into Rob and Louise Lyons’ new dairy from the yard. Williams Engineering’s Brook Evans, Precast Concrete Supplies owner Trevor Christensen, Jesse Richardson, Rob Lyons, Don Chapman Waikato Ltd director Shanan White, Leask Engineering’s design and construction manager Rom Stellingwerf and Louise Lyons, plus farm dogs Chops and Mack.

From UK retail job to Kiwi milking dream As a young man, Rob Lyons set off to the United Kingdom for his overseas experience and worked mainly in retail. He soon met his wife-to-be Louise in Bristol, and they decided to return to New Zealand and take over running the family farm at Mangatawhiri in North Waikato. Louise was a city girl but with Rob working at Paerata Dairy Factory she was left to run the farm.

Crash course

“I had a crash course in the day-to-day running of the farm and there were a few incidents, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed it and could not think of doing anything else,” says Louise. After two years Rob was made redundant at Paerata and decided the right time was right to fully commit to being a farmer. “My grandfather came here in 1929 and

milked off 90 acres, it then became a drystock farm with 80 Angus cows and 600 sheep. “When Louise and I first came home on the farm we leased some extra land and did winter grazing of dairy cows and reared calves,” says Rob. In 2002 they bought an adjoining farm with 70 Jersey cows and a 12-aside herringbone dairy shed and started converting completely to dairy farming. In the process they amalgamated other smaller blocks and leased land out for growing onions and contended with winter lambing. “We would finish milking the cows and then start crutching lambs,” says Rob. The 12-aside herringbone was extended into an 18-aside, with a second-hand milking plant installed. This addition eased the pressure for a while and when the herd increased to 360 they took out the herringbone rail so 20 cows could be fitted along each side.

“It was taking ﬁve-and-a-half hours to milk in the morning and four-and-a-half hours at night,” says Rob. “We had the cows in two herds and two milkers in two shifts.”

Not disappointed Something had to give and the decision was made to build a new 50-bail rotary dairy shed. “We looked at a lot of dairies and the quality and reputation of a Chapman Dairy really stood out. We got three quotes, two were very close and we then decided on a Chapman Dairy and haven’t been disappointed,” says Rob. Don Chapman Waikato Ltd director Shanan White is the licensee for Chapman Dairy Ltd in the Waikato area and is based at Morrinsville. He’s a qualiﬁed builder and had been doing contract work for Chapman Builders since 2006, mainly dairies. “Don Chapman approached me in mid-2013

to see if I was interested in the licence to build Chapman dairies in the Waikato,” says Shanan. “It was too good an opportunity to pass up so I went all out and bought the plant etc and kept all the staff on.” The new dairy was already in the pipeline and Shanan completed the contract. Building started in April 2014 and was completed in September 2014. It is a standard Chapman Dairy design with a few changes such as an extra portal over the bridge to allow more cover at the cups-on area and provides better airﬂow and light. The walls are insulated panels provided by Insulation Panel & Door for easy cleaning and helping to lower noise levels. A pit runs around the milking platform so any visitors are kept up out of the ‘danger zone’ and the efﬂuent doesn’t splash up the walls. An underpass to the milking pit makes it easier to access if anything needs tending to.

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DEMETER FARM

Page 51

Milking pleasure instead of a chore

The 50-bail DeLaval platform.

Inside the milking platform. Williams Engineering’s Brook Evans and Precast Concrete Supplies owner Trevor Christensen.

The dairy has a special paint coating applied by Bruce Cameron of Specialised Coatings, which ensures a bright, smooth, easy-tocare-for coating which is both hygienic and enhances the new dairy. At the entry and exit areas of the platform non-slip matting has been installed, supplied by Numat Industries. This ensures cows make a smooth entry and exit without slipping and causing injury.

Upsize in future

The DeLaval PR1500 rotary milking system was installed by Ngatea Milking Machines and Pump Services on the Hauraki Plains. “Rob and Louise wanted to harvest milk from 500 dairy cows so we talked over with them which was the best solution for upgrading from a 20-aside dairy,” says Wayne Barker, who with

wife Rachel owns Ngatea Milking Machines and Pump Services. “This system allows them to upsize in the future,” says Wayne. The DeLaval PR1500 system has automatic cluster removal and milk metering, which records milk volume and weight. It’s interlinked with the Alpro Windows computer programme that provides a total herd management package. Through cow identiﬁcation it can check the weight of each cow and from that information provide the correct feed requirements. There is a DeLaval automatic drafting system and Onfarm teat spray system. Ngatea Milking and Pump Services is a family business and they’ve been installing milking machines since 1984. Rob and Louise have reduced the total milking time from nine-and-a-half hours a day

to three hours a day with two milkers. “Having an efﬁcient, reliable and easy-to-use dairy has made a signiﬁcant difference to our lives,” says Rob. Ngatea Milking Machines and Pumps provide a 24-hours seven-days back-up service and stock all dairy consumables at their shop in Ngatea.

Best effluent plan

Williams Engineering near Thames has been designing effluent systems for about 25 years and Rob decided they were the best to design his effluent system. Engineer Brook Evans visited the property several times and decided on the best plan of action for effluent disposal. “We were able to utilise ponds from the old

piggery, which is no longer in use,” says Brook. “The ponds were refurbished and made into an effective two pond system. They hold up to three million litres of effluent,” says Brook. The effluent from the dairy shed is irrigated onto pasture by a Williams Spider travelling irrigator, when soil conditions permit. If the ground is too wet the effluent is pumped to the storage ponds, then pumped back to the dairy shed to be recycled as green wash. “We design effluent systems that suit each farmer’s requirements,” says Brook. “We take into account land contour, soil type, cow numbers and work within the regional council’s rules to provide a costeffective solution that is compliant 365 days of the year.”

For a more efficient farm dairy Specialising in farm dairy design and construction

Authorised licensee 021 780 477 e shanan@donchapmanwaikato.co.nz

www.chapmandairy.com

Page 52

DEMETER FARM

Coast & Country

Calves enjoy the lush grass in the paddock.

Silos supplied by Corohawk.

Leask Engineering’s design and construction manager Rom Stellingwerf.

Mangatawhiri dairy 12 years in the making Williams Engineering is Dairy NZ and Irrigation New Zealand accredited and qualified to design and install irrigation systems that look after the environment and work within the rules. The concrete effluent storage tanks were provided by Precast Effluent Tanks Ltd at Paeroa. Precast Effluent Tanks Ltd owner Trevor Christensen works in closely with Brook, of Williams Engineering, to ensure the best result for each farmer. There is a stone trap attached to the precast effluent tank to ensure only liquid is stored in the tanks. “The beauty of the tank/pumping point is that effluent can be irrigated straight to pasture or pumped to a holding pond when conditions don’t allow,” says Trevor. “Effluent is best spread

when fresh, when nutrients are strongest. With a good system like this there are savings on fertiliser on the efﬂuent block,” says Trevor. Efﬂuent storage is the main part of the business and Precast Concrete Products also supply weeping walls, feed and water troughs and feed pads. All products are made on-site at the Paeroa depot.

No-clogs effluent

The liquid efﬂuent is kept stirred by a non-clogging Yardmaster efﬂuent pump. The earthworks and ground preparation was completed by Fitzgerald Earthworks from Mangatangi. The design and construction manager for Leask Engineering at Tatanui, near

Morrinsville, is Rom Stellingwerf. He designed the layout of the yards and supervised the welding. “This yard was a bit different than normal as Rob had his own idea on how he wanted the yards designed,” says Rom. “There were are few changes along the way but in the end the yards work well. “We are always happy to go along with the farmer’s ideas and only too happy to offer advice,” says Rom. Leask Engineering has been in business since 1958, mostly within the dairy industry but they also do general engineering work. A Wrangler has been ﬁtted, which keeps the cow comfortably restrained while the farmer can attend to any lameness problems. It is both safe for the operator and the cow

and allows quick and easy assessment of any health problems.

Integrated silos Corohawk installed the silos attached to an integrated DeLaval system, which delivers the right amount of feed required for each cow. Corohawk visited the farm and set the right feed system for each farmer. They also supplied the two large silos for meal storage. Rob reckons this dairy has been in the making for 12 years – from the time he dreamed of having a larger herd and better milking facilities. It shows, because Rob and Louise now have a dairy to be proud off which makes milking a By Helen Wilson pleasure instead of a chore.

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DEMETER FARM

Page 53

WILLBERG TRUST

Page 54

Coast & Country

It was time to upgrade Willberg Trust Jon Sullivan likes to have a few sheep around on-farm.

The 54-bail Donald platform, installed by Donald Engineering. The Sullivan family’s 54-bail rotary dairy amid the West Coast’s wild weather.

It was a wet day when New Farm Dairies arrived in Harihari on the South Island’s West Coast. But the locals are used to rain and nearly all contractors turned up to show their involvement in building Jon and Alison Sullivan’s new dairy. The farm has been in the family 60-plus years, since Jon’s father Doug Sullivan bought it. “When my father was in his last year of school, granddad said to him: ‘If you come back to help on the farm, we’ll buy the block next to it’,” says Esther. Jon began working in partnership with Doug and the family has since acquired nearby land, to total 450 hectares. Today, Esther and partner Pierre Jonker manage the farm, milking 630 cows. Esther works full-time during calving and mating and for the rest of the season helps with relief duties between raising their own two children. Esther says the new dairy, heading into its

Esther Sullivan with two-year-old daughter Scarlett, Read Industrial’s Phil Read, Westland Dairy Sheds’ Steve Mahuika.

third season, was a natural progression. “We had an old 40-aside herringbone but it was time to upgrade. It’s just about looking after the cows and moving forward with the times really.”

Good bastards

Arnold Contracting cleared the site and completed earthworks from the paddock to the shed’s foundation work. Co-owner Jimmy Arnold says all shed and yard work was passed by the engineers; then they moved onto the herd home. “A massive of bulk ﬁll was needed for both. We used a dumper to cart ﬁll out of Jon’s paddocks.” Based in Harihari, Arnold Contracting, run by Jimmy with brother Tommy a co-owner, does all aspects of contracting, with the dairy industry their focus. “We’ve done about 18-20 new conversions,” says Jimmy, who reckons they’re “generally good bastards”. Westland Dairy Sheds owner Steve Mahuika

built the 18m by 20m steel portal 54-bail rotary dairy shed. “Well ‘Keep it simple’ is my philosophy”, says Steve, who is Read Industrial’s sole West Coast agent. The dairy shed is constructed to a high quality and built to withstand West Coast conditions. The building has a milk room, corner ofﬁce and skylights to let light in. “We’ve done the shed, milking plant, plumbing, drainage and water supply, yard pipework and backing gates, meal feed and efﬂuent installation,” says Steve. Westland Dairy Sheds cover the whole coast “for anything associated with dairy sheds”. Read Industrial sales manager Phil Read says the 54-bail Read plant has a reasonable level of automation, including automatic cup removers and a teat-spray system and Read’s trademark mechanical slide pulsators. Read Industrial Ltd was created in 1922 by Phil’s great grandfather Jack. “Operating 93 years our main difference is we manufacture our milking machine and sell it directly to the farmer. And Phil says no West Coaster has

to travel with a Read Industrial plant to sort anything out. “We’ve got Steve right here, who covers all installations and servicing on the coast and does it well.” “The Read system I like because the pulsation is nice and even and doesn’t change – it’s nice simple system,” says John.

Platform perfection

Donald Engineering installed a 54-bail Donald Platform in the dairy. All Donald bails are made from galvanised pipe, ﬁtted with purpose-built bracketing with an option to hot dip galvanise for maximum protection, durability and longer life. Milk hoses can be ﬁtted through alignment slots or deck port on top of the platform – or made to individual requirements. Donald Engineering also has one heavy duty, high tensile roller for every 1.5 bail, guaranteeing the load is spread evenly and platform is well supported – or their double beam and tworoller-per-bail nylon roller system.

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WILLBERG TRUST

Page 55

Tough new dairy for wild West Coast

The camera-shy farm owner Jon Sullivan, hiding out in his self-built herd barn. The Sullivan’s shed is cleaned using Tasman Agriculture Rural Ltd products. Esther says they use the Aakland acid and alkaline from Tasman Ag. “We’ve been using these products for one season and we are happy with them.” Sales representative Ken Forman says the locally owned rural supply company at Ikamatua services the West Coast and Tasman region. “With farm supplies, support and expertise from a wide range of supply companies, both on-farm and in-store, we provide much-needed competition.”

Vital chilling

With the rain and the chill factor it’s hard to imagine why milk refrigeration is important on the West Coast. But come summer the reporter is sure it’s vital. With the Sullivans supplying their milk to Westland Milk Products, all refrigeration systems – for this shed two Patton Pak refrigeration units – are installed by Tru-Test

On the road – Heartland’s West Coast and Nelson/Marlborough region feed specialist Bill Baxter.

Dairy Technology Services. Tru-Test DTS offers a complete range of refrigeration units designed and built to highest industry standards for demanding rural Kiwi applications. All units are pre-wired with isolation switches, contactors and overloads, and can be supplied with a heat exchanger for hot water recovery. And the Sullivans have 24/7 refrigeration support service – so if there are any mishaps, they’re covered. Esther’s favourite system on the farm is the Tru-Test MilkHub Dairy Automation system. The Sullivans have the MilkHub system and MilkHub Online herd management system, which has EID herd tracking, Walk Over Weighing, Three-Way Drafting, Milk Sensors, Heat Detection, In-bail Feed Control and Identiﬁcation for the rotary bails. MilkHub allows Esther to individually monitor the health of each cow, and draft and feed each accordingly. The information is fast, accurate and available 24/7 online. Esther says the system is “really, really good”.

“For tracking individual cows it’s just fantastic. Online once a week I check individual mastitis [ratios] and weight change – this way if there’s an issue we can draft a cow to have a look at her, change her feeding ration or group etc.

Cow care

“This information also shows on screen at cups-on and cups-off so whoever is milking can keep an eye on indicators and treat as the issue arises – it’s fantastic for immediate mastitis detection. “It just makes individual cow care possible when you’re dealing with large numbers.” Through MilkHub, cows are fed individually with Heartlands Feeds and Nutrition products. “The mineral concentrate pellets have been wonderful,” says Esther. “There are two types – the 200gsm pellet is fed early lactation and the 100gsm pellet is fed mid-late lactation. They’ve deﬁnitely helped with cow health.” In conjunction with regular blood tests and liver biopsies, Esther says she can work

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The MilkHub screen in the dairy shows all herd management information.

with Heartland Feeds to have mineral pellets formulated especially for her cows’ needs. “They also help to greatly reduce the risk of acidosis, because we get bovitec included in the pellets, which can be a problem – especially when feeding wheat as we do.” “We started feeding them in the new shed and deﬁnitely recommend them.” West Coast and Nelson/Marlborough feed specialist Bill Baxter says the Sullivan’s mineral concentrate pellets get metred into the feed plan on-platform. “Our products are formulated to provide all minerals the cows require, plus we can deal with any animal health issues by putting additives in the pellet.” Jon says the new rotary utilises resources better and provides a nice facility for cows and staff. “In the herringbone it was taking three people to milk – now it’s only one. It’s not like milking cows in the herringbone – here, we’ve only got somebody putting on cups and everything else is done.” By Merle Foster

CRAIG

Page 56

Coast & Country

The little farm the Craigs grew A little farm that kept growing was the reason Ray Craig, of Carterton, decided to double the size of his dairy shed. The herringbone dairy, one of two on the farm, has been extended from 24-aside to 44-aside, and includes a brand new milking plant and efﬂuent system. Ray and his wife Lyn bought the original 50 hectare farm 20 years ago. They slowly added more land, buying up small nearby farms. Five years ago, they bought the 60ha neighbouring farm, complete with farmhouse, where the family now lives. The 230ha milking platform runs 670 cows. “I now run two farms and two herds; the other farm has a 19-aside herringbone,” says Ray. His son Daniel also works full-time on the farm, along with two full-time workers and one part-timer. Pat Finn, of C & F Industries, was employed to extend the shed and build new vet yards and race. Pat, who has been in business for 40 years,

was the obvious choice for Ray. “He’s a good engineer and knows how things work,” says Ray.

Double length

The extension has doubled the length of the existing dairy shed and the steel roof has been completely replaced. The original coated concrete walls have made way for insulated Coloursteel panels. Pat says the advantage of the insulation, apart from the obvious heat-retaining properties, is that no interior framework is needed. Opaque polycarbonate panels above the wall allow more light into the shed. Pat built a new vet yard and covered race for Artiﬁcial Insemination and hoof trimming and a new race bristling with automated technology. The GEA Milfos milking plant has large diameter pipes to ensure a stable vacuum and milk delivery during milking. GEA area sales

manager Cameron Claridge says integrated controls mean a one-switch operation starts the entire plant, which is ideal for relief milkers. The plant wash is a GEA Milfos iNTELWASH system with automatic chemical dosing, removing the margin of error and giving a consistent clean. The wash system features iNTELJET accumulators with a ﬂush pulsator. The pulsator sends a slug of water through the pipes during the wash cycle which covers the whole pipe surface. “It’s really important to create turbulence to get right to the top of the pipe,” says FIL area manager Ryan Medlin. “It needs to be compliant with the no residue policy from Fonterra.”

Green water

Wayne and Michelle Cooper, and is an agent for GEA and Houle. The Craig’s new Houle effluent system is state-of-the-art. Effluent drains into a stone trap and through to a sump pump. An Agi-Pump at the bottom agitates the mix to prevent settling, before it’s pumped up to the slope screen. This giant sieve separates the liquids from the solids, with green water being collected in a 25,000 litre tank. It can then be pumped to the effluent pond or directly onto paddocks using small nozzle sprinklers. The dry matter is stored in a large pre-cast concrete bunker and can be sprayed onto ploughed fields with a muck-spreader.

Cooper Farm Services installed both the milk plant and efﬂuent system and completed all the plumbing and welding. The Carterton business is owned by

Pat Finn, of C& F Industries, designed and built the efﬂuent bunker using pre-cast concrete walls.

The contrast between the old coated concrete walls (left) in the dairy and the new insulated Coloursteel.

Farmer Ray Craig with The Wrangler cow crush and hoof trimmer in the new vet yard.

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CRAIG

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Page 57

Future-proofed and compliant at Carterton “The solids separator stops blockages occurring in the small sprinklers and allows the irrigation system to be used to spread liquid efﬂuent across the entire farm at a very low application rate, when weather allows,” says Wayne.

Power under concrete

Wairapara Electrical and Appliances did all the electrical work on the new dairy. Electrician Marty Stokes says he worked with the existing mains and updated equipment needs for the new plant. The power needed for the efﬂuent system was trenched under the concrete. The Carterton company, owned by Craig and Kim Hayes, has three main business areas – electrical contracting, whiteware retailing and whiteware servicing. Fourth generation Carterton cartage company, Grays Contracting, worked on the races for the Craigs. Owner Shane Gray says they carted in base

metal and ﬁnishing lime for the laneways, doing top-up work rather than creating new laneways. The company also does silage, baleage, hay and cropping work. Ray’s shed has a Tru-Test’s MiHub Premium Online Management System and a number of the MilkHub Dairy Automation modules installed. The MiHub system is cloud-based so cow information can be accessed from anywhere any time. The MilkHub hardware installed in Ray’s shed includes two small in-shed display screens, two keypads, three-way Autodrafter Plus, Walk Over Weigh scales and an in-race Heat Detection Scanner. The Walk Over Weighing module identiﬁes individual cows by EID and records their weight every milking. Alerts can be set so that Ray can identify animals which are losing weight before it can be noticed by eye. The Heat Detection Scanner helps to identify cows on heat when it scans a MilkHub Heat Detector patch which has been

rubbed by a mounting animal. Cows identiﬁed as on heat or losing weight can be automatically drafted out, ready for staff to assess. The Wrangler hoof-trimming crush was installed in the vet yard. An invention of Wilco Klein Ovink, it’s an immobilising system which eliminates the need for “rope, grunt and grind”. Wilco saw the need for The Wrangler when he was a farmer and now produces the product full-time in Whakatane. Double belly straps supporting the cow’s underbelly and a hoof holder allows hooftrimming to be a one-person job. The system constrains the cow so the farmer can do a proper job with no danger of the cow falling down and compromising the safety of the cow or the farmer.

able to monitor the cows, switching the spray on and off at different positions depending on individual cow requirements. A sensor picks up the speed of the cow as it comes down the race. The sprayer uses an anti-bacterial wash and teat conditioner made by FIL. The conditioner has manuka honey in it, with healing properties to repair damage to teats. It has a high level of iodine in it, and the iodine levels increase in spring, when it is most needed. Karen Crisp of WETiT says the sprayers are all made in their North Waikato factory. Milking is now more pleasant, easier and quicker, says Ray, and the cows ﬂow well through the process. He’s pleased the farm is future-proofed and compliant for the next 10-15 years. By Sonja Matla

Specialised sprayer

WETiT Teat Sprayers installed a QDO in-race teat sprayer. It uses an array of sensors and four ﬂoor nozzles to ensure full coverage of the teats. The QDO took 10 years to develop and is

The majority of the cows on the Craig farm are Jerseys and cross-breeds. GEA area sales manager Cameron Claridge shows Cooper Farm Services’ Wayne Cooper how dry the efﬂuent solid is once it has passed over the slope screen

Ryan Medlin of FIL with the barrels of chemical for the wash system and teat treatment.

Daniel Craig in the pit beside the new receiving cans.

GEA Houle Effluent Separation Solutions Solid separation using a GEA Houle slope screen combined with flush valves can reduce fresh dairy water use significantly, by reusing green water for flood washing of yards, barns and feedpads.

To speak with your local Houle efﬂuent specialist call 0800 GEA FARM (0800 432 327)

www.gea.com

engineering for a better world

GUNSHOT FARMS

Page 58

Coast & Country

New dairy streamlines operation Hayden and Janelle Hazlitt’s new Manawatu dairy shed is designed to cut milking hours and allow more family time.

The Linton farm was bought in two blocks, with 69 hectares originally leased in 2007. Hayden was contract milking 180 cows for Fonterra until 2013, when they bought a 54ha neighbouring farm, complete with milking shed. They negotiated with the owner of the original farm to buy 36ha and lease the remainder. So 320 cows were being milked in the original 1950s 12-aside shed, which took ﬁve hours twice-a-day. “We had to decide whether to run two sheds or build a new one,” says Hayden.

Build new

They decided to build new because the efﬂuent pond for the newest farm was decommissioned, and running one shed was easier than two for stafﬁng. The new 36-aside herringbone makes milking much more streamlined, it halves the milking time and gives Hayden more time with his young family. The Hazlitts have three children, all aged under three-and-a-half.

Fonterra shares were going to cost the Hazlitts nearly $1million for 160,000kg of milk solids. They approached Open Country Dairy and now sell all their milk to its Wanganui powder plant. Previously, Hayden was a contract fencer, but dairy farming is on both sides of his family. Both his father and brother are dairy farmers in the area.

Faster chilling

Rongotea-based company Farm Supplies Central installed the milk plant. As a GEA dealer, Farm Supplies Central general manager Grant Ebert says the installation was fairly standard except for the head clearance in the pit, which needed to accommodate Hayden’s 6ft 7inch height. The company installed a double bank Plate Heat Exchanger which chills the milk, using ground water, from 33 degrees Celsius to 18 degrees Celsius before going into the vat. In future, the second side can use chilled water or glycol for even faster chilling. GEA Farm Technologies supplied a 36 Point Milfos iXPRESS Milking Machine. GEA area sales manager Cameron Claridge says integrated controls mean a multi-place one-switch operation starts the entire plant.

Hayden Hazlitt likes the cost savings offered by the Longveld gas hot water system.

Gunshot Farms

Two 16 tonne silos from Central Silo Systems give Hayden Hazlitt options for different types of feed.

Some of the Hazlitt’s 320-strong herd.

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Farm Supplies Central general manager Grant Ebert in the pit with Hayden Hazlitt.

GUNSHOT FARMS

PH 07 578 0030

Farm Supplies Central general manager Grant Ebert discusses the milk plant with GEA area sales manager Cameron Claridge.

The Wrangler enables hoof-trimming to be a one-person job.

GEA area sales manager Cameron Claridge says the build was low-cost but efﬁcient with built-in future-prooﬁng.

Page 59

Hayden Hazlitt’s new feed system makes it easier to drive production.

Swapping milking time for family The plant configuration in the pit features GEA Milfos iNTELARMs which ensures optimal alignment for udder health and frees up space for the operators. Swing-down jetters were chosen to give Hayden more head-room but can be lowered for Janelle to use. Cameron says the build was designed to be low-cost but efficient, and can be upgraded with automation as finances allow.

Thorough wash

The chemical dispensing system, from GEA FIL, in conjunction with a Milfos iNTELJET ﬂushing pulsator on the 100mm milk line, provides a thorough wash cycle. The FIL dispenser is an automated dosing system, which provides accurate and safe handling of all chemicals. The teat spray is administered through an automated pressurised

system with droppers and hand guns spaced evenly throughout the pit. Hayden is very pleased with a costeffective gas water heating system that saves him nearly half the previous cost of his hot water bill. The Longveld gas system consists of a Bosch boiler and a Longveld stainless steel cylinder over a stainless steel frame and dump tank. It provides instant 55 degree Celsius hot water on tap and the tank can be reﬁlled and heated to 85 degrees Celsius in 45 minutes. Northern regional sales manager Rick Keesing says a timer system ensures the water is only heated when needed, providing a 46 per cent cost saving each day during the entire season.

Fleck ﬁnish

Acraﬂex Dairy Wall Coating was chosen for the walls of the plant room, pit walls and back wall of the dairy.

Palmerston North company Surfatex installed the product, which is a combination of epoxy base coat, acrylic and a solvent top layer. A colourful fleck finish flattens the surface, covering imperfections and hiding dirt.

System longevity

Acraﬂex spokesman Frits van Echten says the product has a 10-year guarantee for new sheds. Surfatex is the only licensed operator in the lower North Island. Central Silo Systems designed, supplied and installed the Robust in-shed feed system. “We have designed our systems to last with heavy duty feed dispensers, which are plastic moulded in New Zealand and have extra UV protection added so they can stand up to the conditions,” says Central Silo Systems operator Sean Curry. Central Silo Systems only uses gal-

Leaders In Pump Technology

vanised steel drop pipes to dispense the meal, allowing it to be delivered right in front of the cows, and to increase longevity of all components. Two 16 tonne high quality Valco silos from North America gives Hayden the option of storing different feeds and reduce delivery costs. The meal is then augered using 90mm PVC feed lines which can handle palm kernel, meal or pellets, including the larger pellets available. Central Silo Systems manufactures and assembles its own motor mounts and drive units, providing the customer with a reliable back-up service.

Wiring it all up

Webb Electrical, based in Glen Oroua, undertook all the electrical work for the shed. Owner Carol Webb says as well as wiring the milk plant, pumps and feed system, the company installed ﬂood lighting in the yard and audio

speakers for the pit. A generator change-over plug was also ﬁtted to the meter board. The Wrangler hoof-trimming crush is a great investment, says Hayden. The immobilising system has double belly straps that support the cow’s underbelly, and a hoof holder allows a one-person operation. There is no danger of the cow falling and endangering itself or the farmer. The Wrangler was invented by former dairy farmer Wilco Klien Ovink, who now produces the product full-time in Whakatane. “Everything is easier to sort out and there’s less chance of getting hurt when working on the cow,” says Hayden. The farm has been a lot of hard work for Hayden and Janelle during the last few years, but he says it’s been worth it. “My friends think I’m mad but I’m By Sonja Matla loving it.”

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NEW FARM DAIRIES

Coast & Country

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NEW FARM DAIRIES

Page 61

RUAVIEW FARM

Page 62

Coast & Country

Hammonds hammer up a hassle-free shed Mike Hammond, who is fondly known as Jugz – ahem, yes I didn’t ask why – sharemilks the family farm in Ohakune. Ruaview Farm is a fourth generation family farm that’s been in Mike’s family for 100 years. Mike is justly proud to be back there carrying on the family tradition. Mike’s parents, John and Helen Hammond, own the farm. Born and bred on the farm, Mike ventured off to Telford for a couple of years upon leaving school, then moved to Rotorua and became a

truck driver for 14 years. Deciding to go back to dairying, he had to start at the bottom and work his way up with farming jobs around the Rotorua area. Mike’s great-grandfather cleared the farm from bush while milking cows and managing the local cheese factory. Both Mike’s grandfather and father milked on town supply until the mid-1980s, as there used to be a factory in Raetihi. When John and Helen were milking cows on the farm they were

supplying milk to Longburn. But after three years Longburn pulled the plug on collecting milk because the travelling distance was too far. The Friesian herd John and Helen had bred up from good stud stock then had to be sold, and the farm went back into drystock.

Two studs

John and Helen have a Simmental stud, called Ruaview Simmentals, and an Angus stud – not surprisingly, called Ruaview Angus. In October 2013 the Hammonds decided to convert back to dairying and build a new shed. Mike says the aim is to increase herd numbers to about 250-260 without requiring any more land. “The next ﬁve years we want to focus on an intensive regrassing programme, as we’re

Ruaview Farm

after high cow production,” says Mike. “We’re hoping to get close to 500-530 kilograms of milksolids per cow.” GF Dixon Engineering was the business chosen to undertake the site preparation and some race work for the Hammonds. Graham Dixon originally went there to prepare the shed site, but ended up preparing the raceway though to the underpass. Graham hollowed out the part of the efﬂuent pond and used the metal from that in the shed site preparation, bringing it up to level for the concrete pour. He also demolished the old and original cowshed using the rubble as a sturdy base for the raceway to the underpass. Then the raceway received a good layer of metal. A Hynds underpass has been installed across the main road to get the cows from one side of the farm to the other.

Flexible designs

Builder Ben Wright owns Built Wright Construction and builds Chapman Dairy designed sheds. The good thing with these sheds is there is a standard design which can be modiﬁed to suit individual farmer requirements.

John, Helen and Mike Hammond, Dave Goddard, Nathan Paul, Alec Hakaraia, Matt Nash, Ben Wright and ‘Roamy’ the dog.

Authorised Dealers

Phone 07 333 7304 For further information, contact Dave Camco Dairy Services Ltd 222 Reporoa Road, Reporoa dave@camco351.co.nz www.waikatomilking.co.nz

Looking into the shed.

The new shed with feed silos to the side.

RUAVIEW FARM

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Improving a fourth generation family farm With the Hammondâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shed a contributing factor of climate added to the mix when planning. The fully enclosed shed allows easy access for vehicles with slider doors to shut out most of the prevailing wind. The shed has ample light throughout, made possible by the Clearlite on both the outer walls of the vet area, and into the roof. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On the day we arrived the existing cowshed from 50 to 60 years ago was still in place,â&#x20AC;? says Ben. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had to ďŹ t the shed in with existing infrastructure.â&#x20AC;? The shed has the usual milkroom, storage room and ofďŹ ce space down one side of the shed. Long Panel poly panel walls have been used for ease of cleaning. Modern Coatings was subcontracted by Ben to apply the AcraďŹ&#x201A;ex to the blockwork. The yard was also constructed by Ben.

This is not your normal rectangular yard, as it may ďŹ rst appear. A ďŹ&#x201A;oodwash moat has been slotted into the end of the yard rather discreetly, so the volume of water and efďŹ&#x201A;uent from the yard disappears into the moat through to the stone trap then to the efďŹ&#x201A;uent tank.

Options nutted out

Alex Hakaraia Electrical from Ohakune was enlisted to install all the electrical wiring for the shed and efďŹ&#x201A;uent system. Alex says the Hammonds were right on the border of two power companies. One power company was charging $1400 per month just for line charges and the other about $400. The choice was fairly obvious For Alex the Hammondâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shed was his ďŹ rst dairy shed in 15 years.

The Hynds underpass.

Dave and his team have installed a Waikato He sat down with John and nutted out various Milking Systems supa4 30-aside herringbone options for the wiring, and everything went system, with SmartPULS digital pulsators. ahead with ease. The shed has LED lighting SmartPULS is an exceptional digital pulsation installed, which keeps the power usage down. system that opens and closes your liners Anything under Alexâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s control he put in place consistently and dependably every single milking to keep things as ecosensitive and save as much â&#x20AC;&#x201C; providing optimum milking performance. power as he possibly could. Mike had previously had many dealings with Dave Goddard from Camco Dairy Services in Reporoa and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been so good to deal with. So this was the deciding factor for Mike to go with Waikato Milking Systems. Mike was originally aiming at creating a 20-aside herringbone, but opted for a 30-aside after doing a cost structure. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The cost of the extra 10 sets of cups wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that much more,â&#x20AC;? says Mike. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now we are set up for any future increase in herd size as well.â&#x20AC;? The pond emptying through the access hole.

The ďŹ&#x201A;at top water tank, ďŹ lling fast and operated by a Yardmaster pump.

The Enviroline NZ pond liner.

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RUAVIEW FARM

Page 64

Coast & Country

Mike’s odyssey leads him back to Ohakune

Dave Goddard and Nathan Paul from Camco Dairy Services.

Ben Wright from Builtwright Construction in front of the new shed.

It’s the only pulsation system on the market where each pulsator services two clusters. All other options require you to pay more to have one pulsator on every cluster. The system also has a variable speed drive for the milk pump, plus the Waikato GS cluster washers with the 320 cluster claw. The Waikato 320 claw offers unsurpassed milk extraction capacity, plus a modern design for simple use. This ergonomic claw is robust and lightweight. The large bore milk inlets and outlets improve milk flow and milk evacuation while promoting a stable dynamic milking environment. “It’s a standard fit,” says Dave. The vacuum pump has a new SmartDRIVE variable speed pump, which controls the blower pump BP200. The system has a 90L receiving can with a 60L sanitary trap. The receiver collects the milk from the milk-line and separates the milk and air. The sanitary trap prevents crosscontamination and is part of an effective cleaning system. The milk pump enables the flow of milk to the milk tank.

The Herdﬂow hi-lift gate. Dave wanted to reiterate how easy it’s been to deal with John Helen and Mike. “They were an absolute pleasure to deal with.”

Rapid chilling

Lawry Bidgood from Taupo Refrigeration & Air Conditioning – known as TRAC – installed the refrigeration system. The refrigeration system also refrigerates a 30,000L water tank, which takes the temperature down to six degrees Celsius, and is then pumped through the milk chiller system, rapidly chilling the milk. It is also used as a heat recovery system. Matt Nash from ARC Engineering in

The ﬂoodwash moat at the end of the yard.

Quality dairy yard fabrication Herringbone and Rotary Steel work General Engineering and repairs General alloy and stainless Repairs Certified Welding Truck deck liners Plastic Fabrication MOBILE: 027 4971020

arcengineering@xtra.co.nz

Taupo covered all the engineering aspects of the new build. Matt did all the steelwork, yard work and erected the snow loading high pitch gable in the shed. The steelwork in the Artificial Insemination area was all put in place by Matt, as well as the large sliding doors at the end of the fully enclosed shed. Matt also installed the Reporoa High Lift gate, which arrived on-site in a bolt together kitset package. The new Reporoa High Lift backing gate is the first of the significantly upgraded gate featuring the new drive system, which now operates on an ‘I’ beam.

RUAVIEW FARM

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Keeping it in the family for one century As well as each drive wheel now being supported by bearings on each side, the gate cannot be derailed because it’s clamped onto the ‘I’ beam and located by four sets of locating wheels, with one set at each corner. The Reporoa High Lift backing gate has automated the cow management and loading operation into the shed. There is less stress on the animals, as cows are moved easily and gently from the yard to the shed. This new Reporoa High Lift gate can be easily upgraded to four wheel drive, for steep yards or icy conditions, and can also have a breach sensor added to prevent the cows from being bulldozed. As a standard install the gate requires single phase power, has a siren prompt, pulse forward along with fast forward and fast reverse; and a button control from inside the shed.

In-shed feeding

Central Silo Systems installed the 30-aside herringbone in-shed feed system. The system consists of a 30 tonne meal silo, which allows for delivery of a full truck and trailer unit. This reduces delivery costs over a 16 tonne silo. Their Valco silos can be ﬁlled with product either by an auger truck or a blower truck with the addition of a pneumatic ﬁlling kit. With increasing safety concerns regarding ladders on silos, Sean Currie does recommend the addition of a safety cage. The main advantage of a Central Silo Systems’ in-shed feed system is their robust design. They’ve developed their systems to stand up to the elements, with meal dispensers that are made in New Zealand from a one-piece thicker plastic for strength. This also has added UV protection that stops them from becoming brittle in a short period of time. Central Silo Systems use galvanised drop pipes, which add strength and allow feed to be dispensed in front of the cows, for all-round hassle-free in-shed meal feeding.

An effluent system these days is paramount in a new dairy build. No matter what size the shed may be, a fully functional and efficient effluent system is a must. John Kahu from Ruapehu Civil excavated the cavity for the effluent pond, laid the liner, and installed the effluent system. The system is a hybrid based on another pond constructed by John Kahu. John Hammond wanted one adapted to suit his own requirements, so out went the pumps and in came gravity. The effluent system incorporates a three-step process from yards to pond. This makes better use of effluent flow paths, washdown options, pond cleaning efficiency and storm water run-off control. It also incorporates a pre-pond holding tank that allows for full control over the entire effluent discharge and clean-out system without any physical fuss and bother or costs associated with pumps and control mechanisms. This is achieved through gravity, pipe invert levels and pond base levels. Enviroline NZ is the supplier of the High Density Polyethylene effluent pond liner.

The Ruaview Farm family: John, Helen and Mike Hammond.

Superior liner

There are a variety of geomembranes available to line dairy efﬂuent ponds, each with varying life expectancy, cost and performance. Patrick Hayden from Enviroline NZ says the HDPE has superior performance and numerous beneﬁts that far outweigh other geomembranes. The liners are maintenance-free, extremely costeffective and come with a supported 20-year manufacturer warranty. By Lois Natta

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Page 66

LANDCORP PLATEAU FARM

Coast & Country

New shed + farm revamp – no problem the 105-aside herringbone being demolished to make room for the more modern and staff friendly 54-bail rotary. Landcorp operate the farm on The workers behalf of Pengxin, providing accommodation is all operational services being upgraded, and and advice, including the entire farm has budgeting and had a revamp. “It’s a financials. work in progress, but we Farm manager Phil are getting there,” says Phil. says the farm was Phil employs four full-time well overstocked workers, and he likes to ensure prior to Pengxin they are kept happy acquiring ownership and have suffice time Landcorp Plateau Farm and with good sound As with all off so they stay fresh management practices Chapman Dairy within their jobs. the farm has lowered stock designs the walls are The 50/50 numbers, ensuring a healthy made from the ever Looking mix of 850 herd and a gradual increase durable Long Panel polypanel. Friesian and Jersey up to the in production. Long Panel is a versatile insulated cows are milked vet area. What was once rank building panel made from an Expanded on 310 effective pasture is slowly being Polystyrene Sheet (EPS), with a tongue and hectares of flat regenerated with pastures being groove joining system that has a roll formed farm. resown and still much more to do. along the edge. There are At the time of my visit in March ongoing repairs and there was still 100 hectares of the farm Detailed design maintenance being to be re-pastured before the start of the Insulated panel comprises of an outer skin of done to the Plateau 2015/2016 season. pre-painted Colorsteel with a core of CFC-free Road farm as part of the expanded polystyrene foam. improvements the Chinese Ben Wright Getting balance right Long Panel skins are bonded to the are making for the area. from Built “We are trying to get the balance polystyrene core using a two-part thermosetting Built Wright Construction from Wright right by de-stocking and re-sowing CFC-free polyurethane. Construction. Taupo was contracted to do the build pasture, to ensure healthy stock and Long Panels are joined by a high integrity for the new shed. Director Ben Wright good production,” says Phil. 12mm roll formed tongue and groove joining is the local building partner for Chapman “We work in with the other farms and if they system. Dairies, which are famous for their vented need to de-stock and we have the pasture we The shed is a standard Chapman design with roofing channels. will take them on until the other farm can take a standalone chemical room that’s plumbed The channel is constructed with clearlite them back on board, and vice versa – it works through the wall to a tub. roofing which allows for as much natural light really well.” It has a triple vat stand to allow for the as possible to enter the shed. The farm has had a major overhaul with controlled chill calf milk. There is a large office

Shanghai Pengxin Group Co Ltd in partner with Landcorp Farming Limited acquired the ownership of the Plateau Road Farm back in 2012.

ENGINEERING & DAIRY SYSTEMS Ofﬁce / After hours 07 377 2941 E ofﬁce@mainlandeng.co.nz A 16 Miro Street Taupo

• Dairy shed milking plant and water systems • General engineering for the agricultural sector • Feeding systems for herringbone and rotary sheds DEALERS OF:

Gary Liddington from Ag First Engineering. in the back corner by the cups-on area, which is also set up as a viewing room. Next to the ofﬁce is the ablutions area and a lovely roomy staff room. Across the entryway is a lockable store room, moving further around the shed is the pump room and then at cups-off is a raised vet area with level entry to the vet platform. This is a well set-up area, and it also has an exit door to the outer area where there is an animal handling and holding yards area. This has a covered Artiﬁcial Insemination area with a Race Wrangler for hoof treatment. The difference with this shed compared to others is that they retained the front of the shed to better work with the site, saving on a certain amount of earthworks.

LANDCORP PLATEAU FARM

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Ensuring a healthy herd and increased production cows will not get a second feed if going round on a second rotation and it will not feed empty bails.

Throughout the shed there are numerous Fibre Reinforced Plastic gratings inlaid into the concrete for ample drainage. The blockwork has all been coated with an Acraﬂex coating by Roger Farley from Modern Coatings. The Acraﬂex coating is excellent for ease of cleaning and making the shed look smart and clean throughout it’s lifetime.

Engineer and more

Easy maintenance

The TRAC refrigeration system.

Adam Franklin, Capital Equipment National manager, in conjunction with Mainland engineering and GEA oversaw the install. The shed is an iFLOW 54 Bail Rotary double iBEAM concrete platform with hydraulic drive units and iPUD leg spreaders. The iFLOW is built onto a raised plinth which means the milking

machine is mounted under the platform. This provides physical protection as well as making maintenance of the milking machine easy. The GEA Milfos milking plant was ﬁtted with iPULSE pulsators. With iPULSE being a new generation of pulsator, it’s engineered for long life even in the harshest of working conditions. A single pulsator is designed to handle either one or two cluster assemblies – and iPULSE is sealed from water and moisture The contamination, vet area with and the electrics WETiT teat are housed away spraying from the pulsator canister. chamber. The system is also ﬁtted with an iROTAVAC vacuum pump with Intelvac variable speed controller. The iROTAVAC features a unique twin exhaust system.

The 15 metre radius that hold the cow in Promax round yard had all the place, immobilising Plastics pipework done by ARC and relaxing her, Engineering from Taupo. preventing her from water tank. ARC Engineering owner ‘going down’ and Matt Nash says this was breaking a hip during a standard fit-out with the treatment. yard, new holding yards and The back hoof is then winched animal handling area. to a supporting bar, leaving the The GEA The vet platform is operator with both hands Milfos cups on a raised concrete free and out of the way and platform. platform and lowers of the knife. to the rotary platform The front hoof is level, which makes access for vets winched onto a wooden much easier. cradle and held securely The LIC The backing gate has a scraper No noise with a second rope, drafter in the system which scrapes muck away The primary muffler making animal handling exit race. allowing easier clean up and also cost has insulating material a breeze. effectiveness. and internal baffles to diffuse Mainland Engineering Matt also installed the Protrack the soundwaves coming from the from Taupo had a big part pump which effectively cancels drafting system with LIC, doing the to play in this project. Not out any noise that’s generated. wiring up of this. The drafting system Daniel Gorton only did they do the install from Mainland of the GEA Milfos plant This is a basic shed fitout, has been installed in the exit race Engineering. and has been futureallowing for accurate drafting of cows and machinery, but they proofed to allow for as they leave the shed. erected the portals in Milfos iCR intelligent With a lot of the animal handling and hoof the shed, and the feed silos – one cluster removers and trimming now being done by the farmers existing silo and a new one. cow restrains to be themselves it’s vital it can be done with the least Both silos are 16 tonne with fitted in future. amount of stress on both animal and farmer. a single feed head. The feed The Race Wrangler has double belly straps system has added functions so The covered animal handling area with the Race Wrangler.

For a more efficient farm dairy Specialising in farm dairy design and construction

arcengineering@xtra.co.nz

High cow flow efficiency Herringbone or rotary design Permanent & low maintenance All surfaces are easy to clean

Call us today for an on-site design consultation

027 565 9421 e bwc01@xtra.co.nz

Authorised licensee www.chapmandairy.com

Page 68

LANDCORP PLATEAU FARM

Coast & Country

Revamping the whole farm at Reporoa As well as establishing all the water reticulation, Mainland Engineering’s Daniel Gorton and his team also installed three 30,000 litre Promax water tanks outside the shed. One is for chilled water while the other two are for shed water.

Teat spraying magic

The shed has been fitted out with a teat spraying system from WETiT Teat Sprayers, which is now owned by Effluent & Irrigation design from Hamilton. WETiT’s Platform Magic identifies when to spray the teats by using electronic eyes Looking towards that see the bail position and cow. the loading ramp Once the target is identified, it sprays with one of the a measured dose immediately after Promax Tanks the cups are off, just prior to the cow to the right. backing off. It also has pre-spraying and postspraying options and skips empty bails automatically. With the in-shed design, the spray is unaffected by wind. Taupo Refrigeration and Air Conditioning – known as TRAC – installed a chilled water system, where the ore chills the milk to below 10 degrees Celsius, with heat recovery for plant and vat cleaning as a by-product. They also installed a separate vat chiller unit that run the Tru-Test DTS vats. AgFirst Engineering was engaged Mainland by Landcorp Plateau for the design, Engineering’s supply and build of the new dairy feed system effluent system. control. AgFirst Engineering looked after the entire project from where the

effluent leaves the dairy shed to when it hits the pasture. The farm contour is flat with low risk soils with a medium to high infiltration rate. Given this, a low-rate effluent application system was required to remove preferential flow past the root zone, thus maximising nutrient uptake and reducing environmental impact. The system includes a stone trap and solids bunker for abrasive solids removal, a 3000m3 lined storage pond, a 15kW irrigation pump with a 4kW pond stirring system and a new 80ha effluent area

with a low-rate Williams travelling irrigator. Contracted by Agfirst Engineering Waikato for the effluent pond construction was Paul Steiner Contracting from Morrisville. Paul was the contractor that dug out and constructed the effluent pond. Gary Liddington from Ag First Engineering says the system has a double safety shutdown in case of problems. The pond liner is fitted with gas vents around the edge, which prevents gas build-up between the liner and the ground, ensuring the liner can breath rather than lifting. Gary recommends these gas vents are installed when putting in a new pond. All in all, another lovely Pengxin shed. A nice and tidy farm with lots of work still in the pipeline. By Lois Natta

The dairy shed built by Built Wright Construction.

The efﬂuent pond.

The GEA Milfos cups and platform.

PH 07 578 0030

LANDCORP PLATEAU ROAD

Page 69

GRUNDFOS 速

HiFLO PUMPS HiFLO PUMPS & IRRIGATION LTD

WAIPUPUMAHANA A1B2 TRUST

Page 70

Coast & Country

Conversion comes in $400K under budget

The Waipupumahana Trust’s dairy and yard.

It takes discipline to constantly limit daily water use in a dairy to less than 15 cubic metres per day. But that’s what the Waikato District Council’s stringent Variation 6 demands of this new conversion. Nestled below the imposing cliffs of the Horohoro range about 20 minutes southwest of Rotorua, the new Waipupumahana A1B2 Trust has been Wally Lee’s whanau’s land for generations. In that time it’s seen many changes. It reached a low point when the old people grew too old and it was taken over by Maori Affairs, who promptly “ran it into the ground”, as Wally, the trust chairman, put it. After it was taken back under family control the block became a dairy support unit, then last year the decision was made to convert it into a 200 hectare effective dairy unit with 550 cows.

“We sorted the trust out then brought in Joel Hensman from AgFirst Central as our farm advisor to manage the place on our behalf and Jono McCullum as our contract milker,” says Wally. “Joel was in charge of managing the entire farm conversion to dairy. The site preparation for a 44-aside herringbone and the tracks needed for the new operation were all done by Jim Marshall Earthmovers. They did everything, including excavating and contouring the 30m x 40m x 4m deep efﬂuent pond.

Paul has more than 25 years’ experience building dairies, 10 of those with his own company, so he has know-how to get the job done right ﬁrst time – something Jono appreciated. “It’s a good shed for two people. There’s not a lot of computers in the actual pit, but there’s a lot in the dairy to monitor all our water use,” says Jono. Actually, the whole dairy is designed around water because water allocations for new conversions is limited – in this case only 15,000L a day. “Every drop used in the dairy is monitored. Once we’ve used our daily amount the pumps kick out,” says Jono.

Water monitoring.

Monitoring every drop

GEA Milfos milking plant.

Water design

Once Jim ﬁnished the preparatory work, Paul Lowe from Matamata-based Lowe Builders started on the dairy, the associated yards and efﬂuent wash-down and treatment sumps. “There weren’t any problems with this job, they knew what they wanted and we could just get on with it,” says Paul. “The only hassles we had were from the weather.”

Conway & Carpenter Electrical’s ConCar water monitoring and management system.

It takes discipline to constantly limit water use, but Jono had the help of Conway & Carpenter Electrical Ltd. Apart from doing all the wiring for the dairy and effluent system, Conway & Carpenter also installed their unique innovative water monitoring system to keep track of water consumption. Owner/managers of Conway & Carpenter, Russell and Karen Parton and son Jonathon, began their forays into automated monitoring 20 years ago in the kiwifruit industry, but they soon saw scope for expansion into dairy and related industries. “We saw a surprisingly large hole in the dairy industry so we developed our ConCar Remote Monitoring System to fill it,” says Russell. The system they installed monitors and records the farm’s water use, including the floodwash and effluent systems, and automatically shuts off supply to the dairy if the limit is reached. Water consumption across the farm can be monitored at the touch of a screen from anywhere in the world and the system records the data for compliance reporting. It’s a great system, but Conway & Carpenter employ a software developer, web designer and graphic artist in their Te Puke workshops to make it better.

CONTRACTORS JIM MARSHALL EARTHMOVING Ph: 0274 315 450 / (07) 3332657 E: jmearthmoving@xtra.co.nz www.jmearthmoving.co.nz Sites - Roading - Driveways - Landscaping 'UDLQDJH (IÀXHQW 3RQGV 7UHH )HOOLQJ

ENGINEERING & DAIRY SYSTEMS Ofﬁce / After hours 07 377 2941 E ofﬁce@mainlandeng.co.nz A 16 Miro Street Taupo

• Dairy shed milking plant and water systems • General engineering for the agricultural sector • Feeding systems for herringbone and rotary sheds

DEALERS OF:

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WAIPUPUMAHANA A1B2 TRUST

Page 71

Maori trust turns to dairying

Mainland Engineering & Dairy Systems’ managing director Daniel Gorton, contract milker Jono McCullum and GEA Farm Technologies’ area sales manager Austin Heffernan discussing the efﬂuent system. The milking plant and efﬂuent systems ConCar monitors were supplied by GEA Milfos and installed by their agents Mainland Engineering & Dairy Systems.

Snap chilling

“We supplied the milking plant – which is relatively basic – the flush valves, flush system and the snap chiller,” says GEA Farm Technologies’ area sales manager Austin Heffernan. “Their first requirement was limiting water usage, so our most significant input was the recycled wash water for the yard. Also the milk cooling. “There’s a couple of clever aspects to that – the ground water is cold so we use it for the plate cooler, then the GEA LD300 Aquachill glycol unit brings the milk down to four-five degrees Celsius for storage.” Once the milk is in the vat the temperature is maintained by a direct expansion 404A refrigeration unit

supplied and installed by Taupo Refrigeration & Air Conditioning. To ensure milk would be cooled to the required temperatures even if the snap chiller breaks down the refrigeration was upsized above what was required at little extra cost. Outside, GEA designed the effluent sumps for Paul Lowe to build. Effluent washes first into a stone trap then into a reception pit where Mainland Engineering & Dairy installed a GEA Houle stirrer and pump to deliver 6000L-7000L of green water a minute to the GEA Houle flush valves in the yard. It’s a recirculation floodwash system that operates on a timer that can be manually reset and the only fresh water needed is that used in the dairy itself. “The fresh water used in the dairy displaces some of the green water in the reception pit which goes to the paddocks,” says Mainland Engineering & Dairy’s managing director Daniel Gorton.

The LIC Protrack drafting gate.

Efficient water use requires an Waipupumahana A1B2 efficient cleaning Trust system and GEA affiliate, FIL’s area manager, Bede Murphy worked closely with Daniel and Joel to achieve this with a GEA iNTELWASH. “Next season FIL will introduce their new Quantum clear acid to this system here. It’s the only BioGroapproved acid on the market and will require only 2L per cluster to rinse after the Quantum Clear hot wash – that’s a 20 per cent saving in water,” says Bede. “Introducing innovations are a lot easier when you’re working with a motivated group who understand the requirements,” he adds.

Stress-free drafting

Waipupumahana A1B2 Trust chairman Wally Lee. “The whole system of water conservation works so well they’re only using about 12,000L per day.”

Effluent detour

Eventually all the effluent ends up on the paddocks – it just makes a bit of a detour at the flood-wash – and that’s where AgFirst Engineering come in. After the floodwash the effluent is pumped to a 3000m3 holding pond designed to meet consent conditions. AgFirst Engineering designed the pond, supervised Jim Marshall Earthmovers digging it, then they organised a liner, a pump station and the distribution system to the paddocks.

Apart from the water and effluent monitoring, the LIC Automation Protrack drafting and herd management system is pretty much the only computerdriven equipment in the dairy. “The LIC Automation’s Minda Herd Management system makes drafting stress free,” says Jono. “I just put the data in with the desktop computer in the office, and the cows get drafted out without any hassles.” In the end Joel from AgFirst Central had done such an efficient job of project managing the whole conversion, it came in $400,000 under budget, which allowed the trust to build a brand new house on the property. By Graeme Dobson

The Waipupumahana A1B2 Trust sign.

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High calibre conversion near Taupo Tau Ke The Taupo volcanic region sports many high temperature geothermal ﬁelds. Geothermal ﬁelds are associated with young and active rhyolitic volcanism. When magma intrudes into the stretched and fractured crust of the zone it results in temperatures of at least 350 degrees Celsius at depths of less than 5km. This has provided a huge heat source from which geothermal systems have developed and been sustained for periods of up to hundreds of thousands of years. (Sourced from NZ geothermal association website). Tau Ke is nestled in amongst this area in Taupo and the farm itself also has some geothermal activity. It adjoins the Poihipi Rd geothermal station, which is a dry steam condensing plant. Tau Ke runs both sides of the road and is rolling to steep farmland. The higher areas to the back of the farm have pristine views out over Lake Taupo and Mount Ruapehu. Tau Ke is one of four dairy farms owned by Gerard and Vanessa Donald of

Gardon Limited in Taupo. Tau Ke is their most recent conversion project. Previously a sheep, beef and deer operation, the 600 hectare property has become a vista on the landscape. Land reshaping and re-pasturing has taken place, along with a massive amount of replanting.

Farm plantings

Gerard – known as Ged – and Vanessa are strong believers in sustaining the environment, hence the farm plantings and landscaping around the new shed. Huge raceways have been constructed, and the entire farm has been re-fenced. The farm looks amazing. Everything has been done to such a high calibre – and it shows. The entrance way in front of the new shed has a nice expanse of lawn with some plantings in place and a beautiful solid timber sign depicting that you’re at Tau Ke. The area

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It starts here. surrounding the shed is neat and tidy with ‘a place for everything – and everything in its place’. Once the decision was made to convert this property, it was a matter of selecting competent contractors who would get the job done in a quick and efﬁcient manner. Bluegrass Contracting from Matamata supplied copious truckloads of chicken manure to Tau Ke for fertilising pasture prior to fully converting. They also cart maize from run-offs to all of

The submersible pump. the Gardon farms, so are kept fairly busy with a variety of work for the Donalds.

Tonnes of wire

The entire farm was re-fenced by Blue Tarrant from Fencing Town & Country, and Mike Pol, who are both independent contractors in Taupo. “Some of the existing fences were kept in place but the bulk was all put into two-wire fencing,” says Blue. “We would have used a couple of tonne of wire for this farm.”

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A faultless fourth conversion John Frew from John Frew Water Specialists Ltd.

Blue has his own Kanga machine, which came in handy for digging the holes for some of the pipework. Blue and Mike also erected the wooden signs on the farm; one large sign in the paddock at the tanker track entry and a smaller but equally effective one at the shed.

One-stop farm shop

The Aquatuff efﬂuent liner.

The Promax Plastics water tanks.

Farmlands Taupo is the main port of call for Gardon Ltd. This is where they purchase all their farm supplies. A huge amount of supplies were acquired for the conversion project – from culvert pipes to fencing materials, calf rearing equipment, consumables for the new cowshed, Plus, farm fuel is also procured through Farmlands Taupo. It’s their one-stop farm shop. John Frew Farm Water Specialists Ltd in Taupo was the company chosen to do the water reticulation and irrigation side of the job. The job commenced in March 2014 and was, at the time of my visit in lateDecember, still ongoing. John Frew says 31km of water piping was installed on the Tau Ke farm. Starting at the cowshed site a submersible pump was fed into the dairy shed, and from there another pump was installed to transfer the water all over the farm. “Luckily the soil is all pumice so the digging was really good,” says John. He has his own trenchers and excavators, and at one stage had as many as ﬁve men on the job to get things completed on time. At the time of my visit John was working on installing the efﬂuent system.

arcengineering@xtra.co.nz

Back then, the effluent held in the pond was sprayed on pasture with a tanker – but that would change once John’s effluent system is in place. He’s setting up a system of pods on the flat areas, which will be fed from the pond to hydrants in the paddocks then into the pods. Farm dairy ponds provide temporary storage of effluent when soil conditions are not suitable for irrigation. Tau Ke has a big effluent storage pond, manufactured from LANDMARK flexible polypropylene fabric. Pond liners are used primarily to prevent the loss of water from storage ponds and dams. Aquatuff, based in Napier, is the manufacturer of LANDMARK pond liners. The liners are prefabricated offsite, therefore no on-site welding is required. There was no specialist equipment required for installation, just a little extra man-power. The LANDMARK pond liners have a 10-year warranty against UV degradation.

No-maintenance tanks

Three 25,000L Promax Plastics water tanks have been installed at the dairy shed by John. The strong, one-piece corrugated tank means absolutely no maintenance required, and the corrugated design has been constructed for extra strength. Each

Blair Atkinson from Gibson Construction in front of the calf shed. tank has four overﬂow or inlet panels around the tank to make the set-up so much easier. There are a further nine water reservoirs scattered over the property. Some are existing but the extras are all Promax Plastics’ 25,000L tanks. Gibson Rural Ltd was the obvious choice for builders. Having built three of Gardons’ previous dairy sheds, Ged and Vanessa knew the team would do a great job and they’d end up with an outstanding looking and fully functional shed.

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Competent contractors craft new dairy Very happy with the previous three sheds, Ged and Vanessa wanted the Tau Ke to replicate them. “Ged pretty much knows what he wants, and we go forth and do it,” says Blair Atkinson, who owns Gibson Construction with Brent Bird. Gibson Construction has three sectors to their business; Gibson Rural, Gibson Commercial and Gibson Housing. “We have standard designs and then work in with the farmers so they get exactly what they want,” says Blair. Once the site preparation was complete, the Gibson Construction team stepped in and started work on what’s transformed into a truly spectacular looking shed. It’s very roomy, with easy to clean Trimklad walls, it has the usual array of storage rooms, plant room, a nice big ofﬁce and kitchen area and lockable drugs cabinet – all located to one side on a raised level to the pit area. Plus it has a large circular yard, and off to the side there’s a vet area. Being higher

Blair Atkinson with the wall painted by Dairy Wall Coatings.

Bailee Singh on the vet platform.

up from the pit area means less mess on the walls as well. The shed provides an abundance of natural light and has good air flow. Outfitted with a large vented door stops wind gusts, plus a larger vented door on the far side of the platform can be opened up during summer months to allow for a more cooler airflow throughout the shed. There’s also extensive concrete work with the shed and feed pad area.

Lockable storage

The enormous feed pad was constructed by Gibson Rural as well as the calf shed. The calf shed has a wash-bay to one end so calf feeders can be washed out, plus it has a roller door in the back so calves can be easily moved to outside areas as required. The shed also has a lockable storage room. The boys spent about three months down in Taupo, working six to seven days a week to get the job done on time. The feed pad, constructed by Gibson

Cows feeding in the feed pad.

Construction, is laid out with rows of feed troughs from Hynds in Taupo. At the end of the feed pad is a large stone trap set-up, which sifts the sandy and grit particles from the effluent run-off into the stone trap so only liquids are sent through to the effluent pond. Cow feed is distributed into the troughs with the aid of a Keenan mixer wagon. Palm kernel, soya, maize, silage and dunder is all loaded into the Keenan mixer wagon, and mixed well inside the wagon. As the wagon is driven alongside the feed troughs, feed exits via a shoot into the troughs, making what could be a timeconsuming job an easy task. Pace feeding technology manages and controls the mixing and feeding process. The Mech-fiber sets new standards in ration mixing, combining Keenan’s unique Mechfiber technology with high capacity. The wagon has a higher auger, which is perfect for feeding into high troughs or barriers.

The stone trap.

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Feeding technology for Tau Ke This latest generation Keenan mixing system uses six angled paddles rotating at just 7rpm. A new knife design and greater clearance at the ends of the paddlearms allows material to move freely, to further improve mixing.

No holes

Working in around Gibson Construction was Greg Fulton from Dairy Wall Coatings Ltd. He’s coated all the blockwork in an Acraﬂex coating that keeps the dairy easy to clean and up to food safety standards. The process Greg uses to get such a smooth and top quality ﬁnish is quite labour-intensive. He starts by cleaning the concrete so he has a smooth and stable surface to work with. Then a thin coat of adhesion paint is applied, which needs to soak into all the holes of the brickwork. Following that multiple coats of paint applied until there are no remaining holes.

“Newer brickwork takes less paint than the older ones, as they soak up more of the paint,” says Greg. “Doing an upgrade takes a lot more work than a new shed build.” Once all the coats of paint have been applied the fleck coat is applied. The importance of the fleck coat is basically to camouflage the joins, but it also to show the Acraflex branding which is easily recognisable by the fleck. Once all of this is done it is followed up by a clear acrylic glaze, which is acid-resistant and alkali-resistant. “It also has UV protection against the paint and doesn’t yellow like some other brands of acrylic,” says Greg. ARC Engineering is sub-contracted by Gibson Construction, and was on hand to do the steelwork for the ample yards, holding yards, backing gates and the vet platform. Matt Nash from ARC Engineering says the new design for the vet platform is now being constructed mostly of plaztuf rather than

The Keenan mixer wagon. ﬁberglass. It’s fairly new on the pump, cooler pumps and also the market, and understandably he’s quite chilled water pipes, plumbing and proud of it. pump. The underground pipes The plaztuf vet platform is made of a plastic polymer hytread sheet. It’s light, easy to clean and durable, with a higher rating than most platforms for grip. The platform is fully chemicalresistant, UV-resistant, and comes with a 25-year guarantee. “Pretty much what you can make out of steel you can make out of plaztuf,” says Matt. “There is no rot, no rust, and it’s about one-eighth the weight of steel too.” Tau Ke is the second biggest platform Matt’s installed so far.

were all PE fusion welded, which means they’re heated and the joins welded together.

Slick and speedy

Qubik Putaruru installed the Waikato Milking Systems’ 60 bail rotary shed, the auto plant and vat wash, as well as installing the full water works for the cowshed. This included all of the pipework, hot water cylinders, washdown

MILK TEMPERATURE PROBLEMS?

Waikato Milking Systems’ North Island sales manager Paul McGill and Qubik Putaruru’s branch manager/director Mark Craig. A ﬁne example of the excellent paintwork by Dairy Wall Coatings.

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Ged replicates a recipe for success “This is more reliable than galvanised [pipes], and the chance of rusting is nil,” says Qubik Putaruru’s branch manager/director Mark Craig. “We have found it more durable and reliable than PVC.” All of the underground pipeline is pressuretested before concrete is laid.

Hose pressure

Qubik Putaruru has installed quality DAB and Grundfos water pumps. And a 10hp Grundfos variable speed washdown pump was set up in the shed, which allows workers to use a number of hoses. The pump will run at a constant speed to maintain pressure. Plus, there’s a power saving advantage in this set-up. The cooler pump is a DAB pressure system, which supplies low pressure water on demand. Qubik has used these pumps for the last 20 years and found them to be very reliable. An air operated bail blast was set up to make cows back off the platform. This is something Qubik has developed and view it as being more effective. Plus, using no water helps with the Waikato Regional Council’s Variation 6 water allocation rule. The milking machine installation took the Qubik team eight days, with three men on the job for the majority. There was quite a tight timeframe for the job so Qubik Putaruru wanted to ensure it was all done within the deadline set and still maintain their high standard of workmanship. When it came to building another dairy shed on his Central Plateau farm, Ged wanted to replicate a recipe proven in two earlier sheds on his farms – a highly specialised, easy to operate dairy which futureproofed his business. Waikato Milking Systems designed and manufactured the sheds on the Gardon Ltd’s farms, and North Island sales manager Paul McGill says the machinery specs are common to all three sheds. The 60-bail Orbit rotary platform and milking plant were installed with Ultimate cup removers and bail restraints. A Waikato 320 claw was used, which has a ﬁve-year warranty on the claw bowl.

The set-up includes a milk recovery system which purges milk from the lines to the vat after milking, plus a smartPULS 2+2 pulsation system and a BP 400 blower vacuum pump with variable speed drive which saves up to 50 per cent in electricity usage over other systems. Triple top loading maxi ﬁlters are used with a double-bank plate cooler and a Fristam 2.2 kw milk pump, with a variable speed SmartDRIVE milk pump controller, was also installed. An Orbiter 12 track rotary power gland, the main centre swivel, was installed to transport milk, vacuum and power in a single unit. Its unique design allows milk and air ﬂow to pass through in a straight line, minimising restrictions and back pressure. Available with eight, 12, 16 or 20 electrical circuits, each rated to carry 20amps, the Orbiter Rotary Gland allows virtually any combination of milking technology to be run on the rotary platform.

The Moa milking platform.

Faster milking

Having a 12 track rotary power gland provides Ged with reassurance there will always be ample power supply to cope with any future technology innovations he chooses to add to the shed. Stainless steel 650L wash tanks and G2 cluster washers have also been installed for ease of cleaning up. The G2 cluster washers have a strong one-piece base moulding, combining strength with flexibility to form an integral part of an efficient cleaning system. Designed to maintain excellent plant hygiene, the G2 cluster washers are strong and robust. Moa Milking from Taranaki manufactured and installed the Orbit concrete platform. Servicing the dairy industry for more than 20 years, concrete rotary platforms have a well-earned reputation. Designed specifically to integrate seamlessly with Waikato Milking Systems and accessories, Orbit platforms are well featured and known for strength and engineering integrity.

Waikato Milking Systems’ North Island sales manager Paul McGill.

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TAU KE

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Laser Electrical Putaruru’s Chris McKillop, Qubik Putaruru’s Mark Craig and Waikato Milking Systems’ Paul McGill.

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Qubik Putaruru’s branch manager/director Mark Craig.

Monitoring offers accountability Equipment installation is quicker and maintenance is made easier with SmartFit mounting systems. With 2.7m wide decks, Orbit platforms offer the most protection for milking and electronic equipment. The Orbit rotary platform design provides milkers with a clean and fast milking environment, easily accessible milking equipment and excellent cow ﬂow on and off-platform.

Adequate cooling

The importance of having milk chilled to the correct temperature before entering the vat is vital. Incorrectly chilled milk will affect the quality of milk; and when the temperature of raw milk is above seven degrees Celsius it rapidly grows bacteria. Therefore, adequate milk cooling is essential for providing top quality milk. The Dairy NZ website states the July 2009 version of NZCP1 speciﬁes milk should be

cooled to 18 degrees Celsius by the end of the ﬁrst milking and should not exceed 13 degrees Celsius for subsequent milkings. My understanding is there has been talk of changing this to 10 degrees Celsius and seven degrees Celsius. The system installed by Taupo Refrigeration & Air Conditioning is a primary chilled water refrigeration system with a direct expansion vat chiller. This has the milk going into the vat at between seven degrees Celsius and nine degrees Celsius. Laser Electrical Putaruru has been part of Gardon Farming Developments for several years, and to date have done three new sheds for them – Tau Ke the most recent. They were requested to undertake the entire automation of the cowshed, including automatic plant and vat wash systems. By using a panel view touchscreen linked to the Programmable Logic Controller – known as a PLC – with analogue cards, the workers

have the ability to set up a weekly wash programme complete with history, water heater temperatures, alarms and start and ﬁnish times.

Remote control

Other pages set up on the touchscreen indicate where the platform has stopped from, water pump low level and bypass, feeder controls, as well as refrigeration temperature and recording. They will also be adding the efﬂuent system to this so it can be controlled remotely using wireless technology. This allows workers to start the main pump and stirrer from the shed with easily adjustable run times and report back to the shed if any problems occur. Compliance and regulations on farms is getting strict so monitoring and recording milk temperatures, water usage and efﬂuent pumping is mandatory and offers history for accountability.

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The Bustercover feed silo.

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TAU KE

Coast & Country

Making two herds of cows happy Laser Electrical Putaruru also installed a rodent control unit in the shed. This is a plug unit which runs ultra sonic electro magnetic and ionic frequency to repel rodents. This works by sending a high frequency down all electrical wiring that only rodents can pick up on, keeping the pests at bay.

Dairy automation

Dairy automation and technology has come a long way since being introduced into the dairy sheds of New Zealand. The Protrack systems of today even have a mobile app. The Tau Ke farm has had a Protrack Vantage system installed. This enables cows to be identiﬁed as they step onto the platform and allocated to the correct bail. This system allows you to identify not only a particular cow’s information, but it can let you know if she has cups on or off, advises you of an antibiotic cow so you don’t accidentally milk her into the vat, plus it will advise you with a voice sound so

you don’t have to continually view the screen. Bailee Singh manages the Tau Ke farm and employs six farm workers to assist with the day to day operations of the farm. There is extra staff for calf rearing. Milking 1200 mainly Friesian cows through two herds, the plan is to progress into winter milking next season. Standing majestically to the side of the yard, in the tanker track area is a BCL grain silo. BCL Feed Systems from Matamata supplied and installed the meal feeding system, which consists of two 16 tonne silos, an auger feed line into the cowshed and a continuous stainless steel trough. Each cow gets the same ration of feed. This is the third new shed BCL Feed Systems has installed their system in for Ged. A Race Wrangler is located to the side of the shed within the holding yard. If a cow needs medical attention or her hooves need attention then the Wrangler is an essential piece of equipment. It comes equipped with a geared belly

winch, front foot supports, rump chain, back leg winch, vet rope and guide bar. The double belly straps hold the cow, immobilising and relaxing her, and preventing her from ‘going down’ and breaking a hip during treatment. The back hoof is then winched to a supporting bar, leaving the operator with both hands free and out of the way of the knife. The front hoof is winched onto a wooden cradle and held securely with a second rope.

The Protrack drafter.

Tackling hard jobs

The Donald’s purchased a state-of-theart JCB 526-56 telehandler from Claas Harvest Centre in Rotorua for the farm to assist with the numerous jobs required. Vaughn Carson from Claas Harvest Centre says the Donald’s have purchased numerous JCB units from them for their various farms. “The JCB telehandler is a high capacity and versatile machine,” says Vaughn. “Tau Ke uses it largely for loading their mixer wagon, and mobile feed troughs.”

The Race Wrangler had just been utilised.

The cows coming in for feeding.

Looking into the shed from the side yards.

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Fencing Town & Country’s Blue Tarrant & Kelsey Tarrant have just put the sign in place.

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Waikato Milking Systems cluster.

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Farm Service Manager Allan Natta with sharemilker Bailee Singh and worker Girjit Singh.

Tau Ke takes care of land and people The JCB telehandler epitomises the very highest levels of performance and productivity that’s required on the Tau Ke block. The JCB 526-56 is 100hp and can lift 2.6 tonne up to a 5.6m height, is very maneuverable being four-wheel steer and has a hydraulic front hitch that makes it possible to change from bucket to forks without getting out of the cab. “The JCB 526-56 is a great model for us as it represents great value for money for a machine that really increases a farm’s productivity,” says Vaughn.

Pasture spraying

The Tau Ke farm looks immaculate, which is partly due to Plateau Sprayers from Taupo. Owner Trevor Hutchinson had his team

of qualiﬁed men spray paddocks prior to re-pasturing and continues to keep the farm free from weeds. An important part of any dairy conversion is appropriate housing for the farm workers. The days of old, for the most part, seem to be disappearing and modern and suitable housing is now becoming an integral part of dairy conversion planning. The Donald’s realise the importance of suitable housing for their farm workers. Five years ago they had a Penny Homes’ house built on one of their other farms and were so pleased with it they asked Penny Homes from Taupo to build two more for the Tau Ke farm. There was already an older house on one part of the farm that’s been fully rebuilt into two good-sized houses – one part for single farm workers, the other part for a married couple.

The two Penny homes have been erected on the lower part of the Tau Ke farm, with one housing the farm manager and the other another married couple.

Two homes

This has been designed with farmers in mind, giving them a practical area to remove wet weather gear and plenty of storage to accommodate wet weather gear and boots. Penny Homes has designed these simple-but-workable homes for numerous farm conversions taking place in and around the Taupo region. New dairy sheds are a huge investment, and in my opinion it’s so important these assets are looked after properly and kept clean and tidy. This farm and the Tau Ke shed are certainly being well cared for, which is not only a credit to the farm owners and overseers but also the hardworking employees. It’s easy to see, even to the untrained eye, that people care about this farm. By Lois Natta

Tau Ke

Craig Wyllie from Penny Homes says they constructed two houses, which have been built for low maintenance with brick cladding. They’ve also been built for functionality and ease of maintenance. Both homes have three bedrooms, and two bathrooms, with the master bedroom having an ensuite. The houses both have wood ﬁres with wetbacks to the water cylinders. They have a covered-in back porch, located out the back of the garage.

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Taranaki farmer gets out of the shed Long-term sustainability and a greater business focus was the catalyst for a new dairy shed on the Oke’s Taranaki farm. Situated in the shadow of Mount Taranaki, inland from Opunake, the farm has a 650-cow split herd on a 215 hectare milking platform. Thirty-year-old Matthew Oke is a 50/50 sharemilker on the farm and a shareholder of the farm company with his parents, John and Fiona. He was born on the original 121ha farm and moved to Okato as a teenager where John Oke still runs the young stock. After a year at Taratahi Agricultural Training Centre in Masterton, Matthew milked for 12 months on another Taranaki dairy farm before managing the family farm at 21. He and his partner Sarah have sharemilked for four seasons, although Sarah has a full-time job as a school teacher and helps with milking and rearing calves in the weekends. The new 54-bail rotary dairy replaced a 30-aside herringbone shed when neighbouring farms were merged in 2014. The family company bought the extra land as an investment. “I needed long-term sustainability for myself,” says Matthew. “I had to get out of everyday milking and focus on the business.”

Centralised milking

Centralised milking between the two farms and a larger shed for the increased herd were the main reasons for building new. The climate is challenging with two metres rainfall a year. While the land has fertile volcanic soil, there is an underlying hard iron pan, so drainage can be a problem in winter, says Matthew. His dairy design allows for a feed pad in the future. Matthew did a lot of research before the shed was built. He read New Farm Dairies and other

publications and visited local farms with new dairies. “I knew what I needed to achieve and just had to get the design right. This site was different from other sites, so it took some time to work it out,” says Matthew. “But I haven’t made many mistakes at all.”

Panel walls

Matthew has known the builder of his dairy shed, Brian Hill, for many years, as he used to go to school with Matthew’s father. Brian Hill Builders specialises in steel-framed dairies with freezer panel walls. The Okato company built the Oke’s shed in just five months; and Brian designed, built and project-managed the build. Using freezer panels adds lightness and insulation to the walls, as well as longevity. “This type of construction is durable and costeffective,” says Brian. To cope with the high rainfall, the frame went up with the Coloursteel roof on first, then the rest could be completed undercover. There is no wasted space in the 20m by 24m dairy, which includes an office, vet room with folddown AB platform, pump room and toilet. Interior light is important to Matthew and this has been achieved by Perspex panels in the roof, light coloured cladding, and ventilation holes in the yard roller doors that also lets in light. The yard doors allow the shed to be completely closed up. “I wanted to avoid feeding the birds,” says Matthew. “With the door closed, it is fairly well bird sealed.” Acraflex Dairy Wall Coating was used for all the concrete panelling in the shed and offices and in the centre of the platform. Surfatex applied the coating, which is a combination of an epoxy base coat, acrylic and a solvent top layer.

Vats and silos of the Oke’s farm.

Giant boulders were excavated during the efﬂuent pond construction.

Matthew Oke and builder Brian Hill on the bridge.

Matthew Oke with Nigel Robinson from Elite Farm Solutions and Waikato Milking Systems’ Brian Luff.

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PROFORM FARMS

Larger shed for increased herd

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Proform Farms Two metre annual rainfall means clouds are common on Matthew Oke’s farm.

A fleck finish hides dirt and covers any concrete imperfections. Acraflex has a 10-year guarantee but Surfatex spokesman Frits van Echten has seen it last 30 years in some dairy sheds.

Record Orbit

The extensive yards include holding pens for 140 cows.

Matthew Oke chose a Waikato Milking Systems 54-bail Orbit rotary.

The Orbit Rotary milking platform by Waikato Milking Systems was installed in record time. It took three people nine days, a total of 320 hours, according to Moa Milking and Pumping managing director Nathan Hitchcock. “It went really smoothly, says Nathan. “I have a good bunch of guys that do it – a great team.” Matthew was really impressed with their work. “They were really on to it.” Moa Milking and Pumping has 15 staff in two branches and is contracted to install all Waikato Milking Systems rotary platforms in the North Island. The 54-bail rotary is ﬁtted with SmartECR, SmartPULS and SmartDRIVE. Blank bullets assist with cow placement and can be upgraded with automatic teat spray if required. The Orbit platform is Waikato Milking Systems’ most popular design and the wider 2.7m deck features a drench walkway on the inside of the circle. SmartECR is an automatic cup remover that reduces labour costs and improves udder health. SmartPULS is a digital pulsation system that can be customised for each herd. And the system is designed to limit congestion and oedema in teat tissues during milking, reducing discomfort for the cows and minimising new mastitis infections. Elite Farm Solutions installed the milking and feed systems as well as the glycol refrigeration unit. Two 18 tonne silos supplying the in-shed feed system gives Matthew more storage and cheaper delivery.

An in-line mineral dispenser adds lime, magnesium, zinc or salt to the feed and is cheaper than buying mineraladded feed. There is also a separate line for molasses. The feed system runs off the Protrack automation system to provide individual cow feeding. “I use palm kernel blend throughout the year, adjusting it according to the season,” says Matthew. “We don’t push the cows through too quickly so they get plenty of feed.” Matthew believes in-shed feeding is vital and has the proof. In his previous shed, he achieved 360 kilograms of milk solids per cow per year but after installing a feed system this increased to 450-480kg/ms. Sinclair Electrical was in charge of all the wiring needed for the shed, yard and efﬂuent system.

Power pole

Spokesman Thys van de Poel says the team brought power from the existing nearby power pole. They wired the milking plant and platform, all the lights, including a yard floodlight, draft system and underground cabling to the effluent pond. The job was straightforward and everything went smoothly, says Thys. Sinclair Electrical specialises in farm work but also undertakes domestic and commercial electrical work. The company, owned by Brian Sinclair, has three branches – in Opunake, Okato and Kaponga. The yard was designed around the Protrack Vantage Automation system, supplied by LIC Automation and installed by Elite Farm Solutions. It provides automated drafting and simplifies herd testing, animal health and Artificial Breeding.

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PROFORM FARMS

Coast & Country

Oke’s answer to long-term sustainability LIC’s national solutions manager Jason Szabo says the system gives individual cow management with full in-bail identiﬁcation. “Vantage records events or data while in the milking shed, for example, a lame cow, and is instantly linked to MINDA.” The Vantage system has the potential to grow as requirements change, a feature that suits Matthew. “We went with what we thought we needed and we can always add to it in the future.” Matthew sat down with Andrew Wood from Coastal Welders and builder Brian Hill to work out a design for the yard. “It was important that I had plenty of yard space for cow management, including a loading ramp,” says Matthew. He wanted enough room to put 70 cows on each side of the yard. “Stock handling is great; the cow ﬂow works really well.” The two herds from the original two farms are kept separate and milked one after another. A circular yard suited the site and was a cheaper option for Matthew.

Extensive welding

He’d previously used Coastal Welders and Brian recommended the company. Andrew says the job was a fairly big one, with extensive welding needed for the various pens and yard. The Wrangler immobilising system was an important part of the yard for Matthew, and he transferred his existing one from his previous shed. The Wrangler was invented by former dairy farmer Wilco Klein-Ovink to make hoof trimming and inspection a fast, one-person job. It restrains the cow so there’s little chance of injuries to the animal or the farmer or vet.

It has double belly straps that support the cow’s underbelly and a hoof holder. “It’s great; I wouldn’t be without it,” says Matthew.

Efﬂuent to each farm

The construction started with the effluent pond and worked back to the shed, ensuring all of the natural fall in the site was utilised for extra storage depth. The 1.6 million litre ‘ProSump’ effluent pond was designed and installed by Presco Group’s Environmental Infrastructure division. Presco also designed and installed a large sand trap wedge. The ProSump is designed with extreme durability and efficiency in mind, says Presco’s Environmental Design Specialist Arnie Judd. ‘It can withstand large earthquakes, and any flooding in the site.” The pond has 3m high, 150mm thick walls, and the floor is dished to gain another metre depth in the centre. “The extra high vertical wall and dished floor results in a much smaller footprint and rainfall catchment area than a traditional lined pond, and provide an extra 25% of available storage volume,” Arnie says. Piles of large volcanic rocks near the pond are testament to the difficult job of excavating the pit, which required a 25 tonne digger. A Nevada EL710 pond stirrer was installed and Matthew re-used the original pumps from the previous two farms’ effluent systems. The pumps work side-by-side sending the effluent to each farms’ irrigation system. Presco Environmental Infrastructure’s

The 1.6 million litre ProSump pond by Presco Products.

The yards are designed around the Protrack Drafting System.

Presco’s Environmental design specialist Arnie Judd and Presco Environmental Infrastructure’s managing director Oliver Prestidge with Matthew Oke at the 1.6 million litre efﬂuent pond.

managing director, Oliver Prestidge, says the ProSump comes with a 50 year minimum buildlife guarantee, backed by a registered engineer.

Presco Environmental Infrastructure are New Zealand leaders in sustainable dairy farm infrastructure, and are based in Hawera, Taranaki.

By Sonja Matla

PROFORM FARMS

PH 07 578 0030

Page 83

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Page 84

DB & JH ROPER FAMILY TRUST

Coast & Country

Farm ownership is still achievable Dairy workers usually move up through the ranks from workers to sharemilkers to farm owners. Damian and Jane Roper have done all that and now own a farm – but they’re still sharemilkers on another farm.

Ten years after buying their ﬁrst farm near Patea in Taranaki, the Ropers have invested in a new dairy shed. The shed centralises milking and replaces two dairy sheds on neighbouring farms that were run separately. Damian says they want the sharemilking income to build up the farm assets, with the intention of running the 150 hectare farm themselves from next year.

Farm ownership

“We have been extremely grateful to Graham and Diane Lance to allow us to be their business partners for the last 16 years,” says Damian. “We wanted to showcase to young aspiring dairy workers and sharemilkers that with hard work, a positive ‘can do’ attitude, some brains and leaving the word ‘can’t’ out of our vocabulary, farm ownership can still be achieved, even in today’s economic climate.” Damian spent much of his early career as a shearer in Australia, where he met Jane. Returning to New Zealand in 1992, the Ropers worked their way up to 50/50 sharemilking. They are indebted to Waverley farmers Peter and the late Jan Campbell, John and Bev Hickey and Brian Train, who taught them astute farming and business practices. They used those skills to win the NZ Dairy Industry Awards’ Taranaki Sharemilkers of the Year regional title in 2001, and become runners-up in the national competition. Damian often refers to “best practice”. He

The Roper’s new dairy with its large windows built by DML Construction from Wanganui.

DB & JH Roper A view down the yard

The verandah is important for weather protection. demolished the old dairy sheds, rather than let them deteriorate. He’s in the process of transferring most of a man-made lake into a QE2 covenant as well as establishing a key ecosystem of two hectares of native bush. The farm, which runs 480 cows, is managed by lower order sharemilkers, Daniel and Michelle Peyton, with help from Matt Wills. DML Construction Ltd was sub-contracted to build the dairy and the feed pad. The walls are constructed from precast concrete panels for ease of maintenance and cleaning. Freezer panels on the ceiling ensure a light interior and noise-deadening. The shed features large, automatically opening windows for ventilation. The steel frame extends to a verandah over the bridge and part of the yard. “I wanted weather protection and comfort for the staff and cows,” says Damian. A 12m x 50m yard, three holding pens, loading ramp, drafting gate and races add up to plenty of concrete. Aerial mapping showed .4ha of the farm was now covered in concrete. The feed pad, which measures 96m x 22m, can hold 500 cows and uses silage from nearby bunkers. DML Construction Ltd, under its previous identity DML Builders Ltd, has been around for 30 years and employs 45 staff, including

to the feed pad.

Hunts Farm Services’ Nigel Robinson and Waikato Milking Systems’ Brian Luff in the centre of the rotary. directors, managers, quantity surveyors, project managers, foremen, carpenters and labourers. The company has been involved in numerous projects from small alterations and extensions through to earthquake strengthening existing buildings and constructing multi-storey buildings.

Drench walkway

Moa Milking and Pumping built the 50-bail Waikato Milking Systems Orbit rotary platform. The 2.7m-wide platform includes a drench walkway. The Inglewood-based company’s team of agricultural engineers has the building of rotary platforms down to a ﬁne art. It takes an average ﬁve-and-a-half hours to install each bail. Moa Milking and Plumbing is contracted to install all Waikato Milking Systems platforms in the North Island. At this stage, there are no automatic cup

FA R M S E RV I C E S 2 0 1 4 LT D

Damian Roper has council consent to take lake water to ﬂood-wash the feed pad. removers, but Waikato Milking Systems Taranaki area manager Brian Luff says they can be added later if required. One of the most important factors in choosing a Waikato Milking System was the ability to add technology to the system as cashﬂow allowed, says Damian. A SmartDRIVE milk pump controller offers variable speed control which means the speed can be gentle for milk pumping and can be ramped up for wash mode. It has a SmartPULS pulsating system as well as milk recovery which uses compressed air to blow milk into the vat at the end of milking.

PH 07 578 0030

DB & JH ROPER FAMILY TRUST

Page 85

Sharemilkers build new dairy on their farm Hunts Farm Services 2014 managing director Nigel Robinson says it’s a valuable addition as there can be up to 200 litres of milk in the pipes after milking. Hunts, based in Hawera and a sister company to Elite Farm Solutions, also installed the refrigeration units and cattle crush, supplied by Waikato Milking Systems.

Robust feed

Damian’s cows get a minimum of three kilograms of palm kernel feed a day from the in-shed feeding system and 16 tonne silo. Central Silo Systems has more than 50 years’ combined experience between owners Sean and Bernie Curry in the design, supply, installation and service of in-shed feed systems and on-farm feed mills. “We believe in supplying the most reliable and robust system available to the market,” says Sean. “Our in-shed feed systems for a rotary dairy shed have a larger 115mm auger for increased longevity of the components; and with our own manufactured drive units, reliability and accuracy is achieved.” A Realcold refrigeration unit was supplied by Dairy Technology Services, a division of TruTest, and installed by Hunts Farm Services. Tru-Test DTS area sales manager Nick Callingham says the refrigeration unit chills the base of the milk vat, reducing the milk from ground temperature, after going through the heat exchanger, to four-ﬁve degrees Celsius within Fonterra’s compliance time. An existing chiller, brought over from a former dairy shed, chills the sides of the vat and the calf tank. A high-end automation system for drafting has Damian singing its praises. Protrack Vantage from LIC Automation provides individual cow management with full in-bail identiﬁcation. “It’s been marvellous,”

says Damian. “It’s a tool that’s been really amazing, great support from the company over the phone.” LIC national solutions manager Jason Szabo says the system gives easy and accurate automated drafting. It simplifies herd testing, animal health, Artificial Insemination and PD. The in-dairy touchscreen records events and data while in the dairy shed and has full alerts, so staff don’t have to remember data for Midwest Machinery’s Michael Prestidge individual cows. with the Nevada pond stirrer. D Jennings Engineering did all the welding Manutahi in the extensive yards. Donald Jennings and his Concrete Products team fitted a 12 metre wide High Lift gate at was formed by Steve the end of the rectangular yard. They did the last year following steelwork for the holding pens, drafting race 10 years as a sole and loading ramp. trader. A Dungbuster 2000 automatic yard The racecoursewashdown system has been installed on shaped effluent the backing gate. Designed and built by pond was designed Technipharm, Dungbuster can wash the yard by Midwest in a matter of minutes, reducing water usage Machinery, together and effluent waste by 40 per cent. with Fonterra, to The product uses hundreds of angled water contain the jets and twin scraper blades to clean the yard A Protrack Vantage drafting effluent and while the last cows are in the shed. On its gate from LIC Automation. provide storage return it washes the yard for a second time, during wet ready for the next milking. weather. Midwest Machinery supplied and Steve Watson of Manutahi Concrete installed a German-made Nevada EL925 stirrer. Products installed the silage bunkers, water “The electric stirrer creates good horizontal and feed troughs on the feed pad and races. flow bringing all the solids into suspension, with The bunkers, made of tilt-slab concrete, are Nevada’s 3-blade high efficiency propellers,” says conveniently close to the feed pad. Midwest Machinery’s upper North Island sales Two Hynds concrete tanks are used to floodrepresentative Michael Prestidge. wash the feed pad. The 22,700L tanks are The floating centrifugal pump is mounted to robust and durable, and can last for more than a Nevada PondBoom. The retractable shore50 years. mount boom gives a safe and simple method of The water stays cooler in a concrete tank, deploying the centrifugal pump. which reduces the growth of algae and raises PondBoom eliminates the need to enter the the pH level of the water. They are also stockpond, ensuring operator safety and servicing. proof, vandal proof and won’t burn or rust.

The lake formed by Alexander Contracting.

Damian Roper at the silage bunker constructed by Manutahi Concrete Products. The Nevada PondBoom can be used with all leading brands of ﬂoating pumps, including DODA and Yardmaster models.

Lake creation

Developing the lake, dam and wetlands required major earthworks and Alexander Contracting was up to the job. The Waitotara company took six weeks to create the lake, contouring the surrounding hills to provide the ﬁll and carefully compacting the dam wall. Damian says owner/operator Richard Alexander did an excellent job. “His crew were very astute with a ﬁne eye for detail and they made sure it was aesthetically pleasing.” One thing missing in the Roper’s new dairy is a toilet. “I don’t believe there’s any need,” says Damian. “It takes just one-and-aquarter hours to milk – with 45 minutes from cups-on to cups-off. That’s not enough time to have to go to the toilet.” By Sonja Matla

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Page 86

KEREONE FARM

Coast & Country

Waking up to dairying in Waverley Kereone Farm

The new dairy houses a 60-bail rotary platform installed by Moa Milking and Pumping.

A Waverley sheep and beef farm that’s been in one family for four generations has been converted into a large dairy farm – with the ability to enlarge it in the future. Gary and Marie Hawken planned the conversion to support the three families on the farm more comfortably, as well as formalise succession planning. The 400 hectare dairy platform, with 200ha run-off, stretches down to the sea and required major infrastructure to convert to dairy. The soil is sandy silt, but the black sand means the summer sun can burn grass roots. To avoid this, three centre pivot irrigators were installed, covering 280ha, with one used solely for efﬂuent. Wilding pines covering some of the land were removed with machinery from the Hawken’s contracting

Farm owner Gary Hawken discusses the cup clusters with Waikato Milking Systems Taranaki sales manager Brian Luff.

business, run by their son John. Keeping it in the family on the milking side is manager Daniel Aplin, who is married to Gary and Marie’s daughter Jenny. Working alongside them is Daniel’s brother Tim as well as Alana, Nick and James. In the ﬁrst season after conversion, 950 cows were milked with 1050 calves planned for the upcoming season.

Revolutionary platform

Gary originally bought Fonterra shares for the ﬁrst season but has now signed up with Open Country as it pays 50cents-$1.40 kg/ms more in certain areas for the shoulder season. “Considering I did 340,000kg/ms this year and plan for 375,000kg/ms next season, it’s well worth it ﬁnancially,” says Gary. All milk will go to the Wanganui powder plant. The new dairy shed features a 60-bail Revolution rotary platform from Waikato

Keeping it in the family is manager Daniel Aplin and farmer owners and in-laws Gary and Marie Hawken.

Milking Systems. Milking takes just more than two-and-a-half hours, and manager Daniel is happy with the design. “Cow ﬂow is very easy, we only move the backing gate once during milking; the cows are keen to come in.” In-shed feeding may be the incentive for the cows. An on-site grain mill and three silos store palm kernel with mineral blend, cracked barley and maize. A double hopper cross auger feeder is linked to the MilkHub Feed Controller and was installed by Elite Farm Systems. The Revolution platform design enables an off-the-shelf Waikato Milking System to be installed without any alterations. Moa Milking & Pumping installed the platform, which is a shorter width than the Centrus or Orbit, at 1900mm, and doesn’t have a drench walkway. Moa Milking & Pumping owner Nathan Hitchcock says the Inglewood-based company

Background: Farm owners Gary and Marie Hawken’s new dairy with the Tararua Ranges behind.

SUMMIT Electrical

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installs and services all Waikato Milking Systems platforms in the North Island. A SmartECR cup remover system was installed by Hunts Farm Services 2014, which also provided the water system for the shed. SmartECR, by Waikato Milking Systems, can be customised to suit the farmer and includes optional modules such as cups kick off alert and mastitis detection options. Users can tailor a variety of settings to suit their herd and individual preferences. A SmartDRIVE milk pump controller offers variable speed control which means the speed can be gentle for milk pumping and then the pump can be ramped up for wash mode.

Pulsation system

Hunts Farm Services’ managing director Nigel Robinson says the milk is pumped continuously at a slower speed to maximise efﬁciency of the primary plate cooler.

KEREONE FARM

PH 07 578 0030

Page 87

Shifting from four generations of sheep and beef A Tru-Test Dairy Automation drafting system with Walk-Over Weigher. The High Runner backing gate was made by Michael Bloeman Engineering.

Another feature of the milk plant is digital pulsation system SmartPULS. It’s the only pulsation system on the market where each pulsator services two clusters. All other options require you to pay more to have one pulsator on every cluster. Gary chose a GEA Farm Technologies iCONVERTER as a snap chilling and heat recovery system. The Acquatess model freezes overnight, using night rate power, to minus ﬁve degrees Celsius.

Glycol chilling

The glycol liquid then runs through a doublebank heat exchanger, reducing the milk from the ground water temperature of 15-16 degrees Celsius after going once through the heat exchanger, to four-ﬁve degrees Celsius before going into the vat. This reduces the in-vat chilling, resulting in power savings. Another great advantage of the iCONVERTER is the free excess hot water,

which goes into the hot water cylinders at 60 degrees ready for washdown, says GEA area manager Richard Stapel. The unit is big enough to chill milk and provide hot water for both daily milkings. The heat exchanger has three filters installed, each one for 500 cows, allowing room for growth. The iCONVERTER also has an alarm, to alert the farmer about power cuts or equipment failures. Gary says he has a large number of power outages on the farm, mostly because it’s situated at the end of the line, and a generator is essential. “There’s been eight-nine power cuts in the first few months of this year. “It’s cost me about 500kg/ms so far.” The Hawken’s farm has been fitted with MilkHub Dairy Automation from Tru-Test. This dairy automation system uses modular hardware and an all-in-one software solution. MilkHub modules fitted include EID Tracking, Autodrafter Plus, Feed Controller,

The manager’s house was moved on-site and renovated by Bruce Clifton Building Services.

Walk Over Weighing, In-line Sensors, two in-shed display screens and the MiHub Online Herd Management System. EID Herd Tracking in the shed records cow numbers coming into the shed and automatically identifies EID tags of new cows arriving on farm. With In-bail Identification, cow data, history and alerts can be viewed in the shed, withholds and alerts set, and treatments recorded. The 60-bail rotary has been fitted with 60 MilkHub In-line Sensors. The In-line Sensors measure mastitis ranking and milk yield for each cow at every milking. The Autodrafter Plus module, installed in the exit race, can be set to observe lameness, weight loss or high Somatic Cell Count.

Walk Over weighing

The Walk Over Weighing platform in the race automatically weighs every cow and changes can be recorded in MiHub and used as criteria for drafting and preferential feeding.

The Feed Control module reduces waste and maximises supplementary feed. Cows can be preferentially fed by Body Condition Score, age, pre-calving or post-calving or other criteria. A large rectangular yard with a dog leg drafting race was built by Michael Bloemen Engineering, who did all the welding. The company also installed the backing gate, which was the 50th High Runner model made. Michael Bloemen says the gate runs on rails, is two metres high and was designed and patented by his company eight years ago. The dimensions of the yard had to ﬁt within the restrictions of a centre pivot irrigator which passes over it. A Wrangler hoof trimming crush has won Gary’s approval. The invention, by Wilco Klein-Ovink, makes hoof trimming and inspection a fast, one-person job. It restrains the cow so there’s little chance of injuries to itself or the farmer or vet.

Background: The cows come in for milking to the new dairy.

KEREONE FARM

Page 88

Coast & Country

Supporting the farm’s three families The backing gate has a Dungbuster – saving power, water and labour.

The efﬂuent system features a Yardmaster high volume transfer pump.

A Contra-shear drum separates the solids from the liquids.

Hunts Farm Services’ Nigel Robinson and farmer Gary Hawken in the centre of the rotary platform. “It’s quite good, once the cow is in there…. they can’t move and you can do anything to them,” says Gary. A Dungbuster 2000 automatic yard washdown system saves water, time and money each milking. Water and power use is reduced by 40 per cent and the yard can be washed in less than ﬁve minutes, which saves up to 400 labour hours per year.

Money-saver

The innovative product, which is attached to the backing gate, cleans the yard while the last cows are in the shed. On its return, it washes the yard for a second time ready for the next milking. Spokesperson Christine Goldsmith says the product is now made from all aluminium extrusion which is less weight for the gate and doesn’t rust. Gary has a state-of-the-art efﬂuent system,

which he got at a bargain rate. From the shed, efﬂuent goes into a sand trap and is then is gravity fed into an Ecodish, where is it stirred to ensure solids don’t settle. A Yardmaster high volume transfer pump lifts it up to a Contra-shear, which separates the solids from the liquids. Usually costing about $100,000, Gary bought the Contra-shear from a closing down freezing works via TradeMe for $10,000. “I’ve bought a huge lot of gear off TradeMe, probably around $250,000 worth,” Gary says. “It helped reduce the overall cost of the conversion.” Liquids are held in a lined efﬂuent pond with a capacity of 1.5 million litres, enough for 30 days’ supply. Gary adds bore water to the pond to increase the volume, which is then pumped into a centre pivot irrigator solely dedicated to green water. The Yardmaster transfer pump

was designed by Reid and Harrison and has been manufactured in Matamata for more than 60 years. Reid and Harrison chief executive Keith Cooke says the pump is a reliable hardworking product solely designed for efﬂuent.

Hardworking Yardmaster

“The pump’s simple design and construction gives trouble-free non-clogging operation and it has an ability to run dry, reducing concerns for the farmer.” New workers required new houses, and Gary tendered for three former Waiouru army houses, which were transported to the farm. Bruce Clifton Building Services replaced the ﬁreplaces and tidied all three houses before being painted. The manager’s house was extended, with the builder adding a laundry, bathroom and double carport.

Bruce Clifton also built a 240 square metre calf shed. The lean-to design has Coloursteel cladding and roof with a wooden frame. He built the 10 bays, with dividing bails, gates and a drainage strip. Summit Electrical Services put in all the wiring for the new dairy, including the milk plant, pumps, water heating, backing gate, lighting, and wired the rotary platform. It was also responsible for wiring the extension of the manager’s house and the calf shed. The Waverley company is owned by Todd Cowan and was started in 2012. Moase Plumbing put in the plumbing and drainlaying for all three houses as well as the kitchen and toilet in the dairy shed. The company also installed three septic tanks. Moase Plumbing is based in Wanganui but owner Stan Moase is a Waverley local. By Sonja Matla

Background: Mount Taranaki in all its snowy splendour.

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Page 90

Coast & Country

Conversion no hassle in Hawera Holmleigh Trust

The pipework in the circular yard and double backing gate were made by Michael Bloemen Engineering.

An entry level milking system which can be added on to in the future was the goal when farmer Peter Carver converted to dairying last year. Peter and his wife Nic are in partnership with Peter’s parents, Faye and Gerald, who owned the original sheep and beef farm. The decision to convert 94 hectares of the 515ha farm to dairying was to spread the risk. “The class of land lends itself to dairying,” Peter says. “And dairy generates more income for two families.” Peter has international farming experience from a two-year university exchange to South Dakota and Montana following a farm management diploma. He considers the exchange a “valuable experience”. Back home, he worked as a drystock manager in Waikato, before bringing his family of three girls back

to the family farm in Hawera. Manager Tyler Judd runs the farm day-to-day, with Peter acting as a relief milker. Milking the 270 cows takes about two hours with the 40-bail rotary platform.

Bail control

A Milfos Gen 2 Rotary platform with iCORE was installed by GEA Farm Technologies service provider, DairyPro 2010 Ltd. DairyPro’s managing director Glen Stevens says iCORE is a bail control system which allows easy plug and play modular upgrades at any time. Peter has added automatic cup removers, cow restraints and Platform Universal Devices, called iPUDS. The iPUDS ensure the cows stand in the correct position in the bail, making it simple to put cups on. A Heads-Down Display – or HDD – unit is built into the iPUD, which makes it easier for workers to know what mode the bail is in as it’s

located right in the area the operator is working. The colour-coded alerts from the iCORE management system shows whether the cow is milking, has low milk or has kicked the cups off. Also added to iCORE and located in the iPUD is a built-in automatic teat spray. It dispenses soon after the cups come off for maximum effectiveness. Milk metering and herd management software can be added at any stage. GEA designed its GEN 2 bail to improve cowﬂow and comfort. Features include fewer protrusions, making it easier to keep the bail area clean – and the bail design means cows ﬂow in and out with less impact against the bail frame. GEA area manager Cameron Claridge says the GEN 2 design is a system which can be built upon in future and is ideal for any milking situation. When choosing what to add, Peter says payback was more important

Farmer Peter Carver.

than ﬁnances. Options had to give a ﬁnancial return rather than be just a “nice to have”. The iNTELWASH is an automatic plant wash controller which provides a customised wash programme ensuring a standard and consistent wash. It is programmable and delivers the correct wash every time, eliminating the risk of human error. The auto-wash is connected to the rotary through another GEA Milfos product, the 3C gland, which has a permanent ducted washwater connection through the gland located in the centre of the rotary platform.

Total support

Glen says the unique design of the rotary gland allows the platform to revolve during the wash, a great timesaver at the end of milking. “It means before the platform is in park position, once the cups are off, the plant wash can begin, saving the farmer 10-15 minutes.” Dairy detergents and teat spray are

supplied by FIL, a division of GEA. “All FIL area managers are trained in the functionality of iNTELWASH and can individually adjust the system for best results for the farmer,” says FIL national sales manager Colin May. Colin says GEA and FIL complement each other which ensures the two systems can be set up properly to offer total support to the farmer. The automatic drafting system – iDENTITY – has won Peter over. “It’s really good as far as cowflow goes and excellent for Artificial Breeding.” Peter’s system includes an iDENTITY herd management package which is linked to iCORE and has an electronic eartag identification reader, called EID, which can draft three ways. The system can be upgraded in the future to individually feed cows according to yield or weight through the in-shed feeding system.

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Built-in future-proofing perfection The in-shed feed system was installed by Opunake company Elite Farm Solutions. Managing director Nigel Robinson says it’s a top end system, with a simple cross auger supplying feed to the dispenser hopper. The system has an empty bail detection, which avoids a cow being fed again if it goes around twice. Nigel says feed systems are now becoming standard in rotaries and allow additives and minerals to be added to the feed before delivery. Peter chose the system to encourage cow ﬂow and provide even feeding compared to the paddock. “Every cow gets the same amount,” says Peter. The 16 tonne silo, sourced from Turkey, holds palm kernel feed. Elite Farm Solutions also installs milk plants, efﬂuent, drafting and irrigation systems. In 2014, it bought Hawera company Hunts Farm Services, which specialises in installing milking machinery.

Impressive water system

A cost-effective and efficient effluent system has been installed by Thinkwater New Plymouth. At the heart of the system is a Mono HSE 15/60 pump which offers high efficiency, low power usage and low running speed at 350rpm. The pump has trusted and proven reliability, according to Thinkwater New Plymouth director Steve Bevan. “I’ve installed previous units that have been in for several years with minimal maintenance which is very impressive,” says Steve. The effluent first goes through a stone trap, then into a prefabricated concrete pond which holds 1.3 million litres. An Environforce Ultrastir is used to ensure the solids don’t settle with no crusting on the surface. The resulting green water irrigates 12ha. Thinkwater New Plymouth also installed the water system which consists of a water bore, several tanks, a farm supply pump and stock mineral dosing pump. Peter built the hydrants and ran the lines himself

using his digger, saving labour costs. He also built the race and installed the water lines to the troughs.

Wire any shed

Chris Perrett Electrical Solutions undertook all the electrical work for the milk plant, auto-wash control plant and vat, platform controls and feed system. They also wired the water heating, lighting, washdown pumps and refrigeration. The company worked with Think Water New Plymouth to wire the efﬂuent system and water pump control. “We ﬁtted a generator inlet and changeover switch on the meter board design which, along with a generator, is a good insurance policy against loss of production and animal health problems,” says Chris. Chris Perrett Electrical, based at Hawera, can wire any dairy shed with any plant regardless of brand and provides a 24/7 service. A team of four staff from Michael Bloemen Engineering installed the backing gate and welded all the pipework in the circular yard. The Kaponga-based company has three different designs for circular yards, and Peter chose the double backing gate design. Michael Bloemen says the job was straightforward and he found Peter “brilliant to work with”.

Happy farmer

The first season since conversion has gone well for Peter, who has a technologically advanced dairy and effluent system, with built-in future-proofing. “I wanted the opportunity for it to get bigger,” he says. “The rotary is built to accommodate 500 cows.” Peter says his first foray into dairying has been enjoyable, as it’s easy to know what’s happening on the farm on a daily basis. “I just look in the vat and know exactly how the cows have fed or what the weather’s been like.” He’s happy with how his new dairy has turned out. “There are not many things I would change – the cow flow is amazing and the shed is orientated for shelter from the worst of the weather,” says Peter. By Sonja Matla

DairyPro 2010 Ltd managing director Glen Stevens shows new employee Alexis Lindsay the Heads Down Display on the iPUD.

Elite Farm Solutions managing director Nigel Robinson beside the cross auger for the in-shed feed system.

Think Water New Plymouth managing director Steve Bevan and Mono Pumps’ Mike Jackson with the Mono HSE 15/60 pump.

The efﬂuent pond is nearly twice as large as necessary to allow for farm growth.

Farmer Peter Carver with the automatic drafting system iDENTITY.

Farmer Peter Carver chose a circular yard with an iDENTITY auto drafting system.

SAM LENNOX FARMS LTD

Page 92

Coast & Country

Octagonal dairy full of opportunity A MilkHub Dairy Automation from Tru-Test has been installed in the exit race.

Sam Lennox and son Toby 15, in the circular yard. Sam loves the convenience of the Dungbuster.

Sam Lennox has employed contract milkers for his new dairy conversion in Waverley to free up more time for his existing sheep and beef farm. Dairying is all new for Sam, who is the third generation on his family’s farm, just a 15-minute drive from the dairy farm. “I was in the last intake at Flock House in Bulls before it closed, and did just one month of dairying in that year,” he says. Shearing was Sam’s career for four years in New Zealand and Australia, before returning to the 400 hectare family farm. Four years ago, his wife Natalie’s family farm was bought from her brother for sheep and dairy support. The dairy conversion was ﬁnished in 2014, resulting in a 117ha milking platform. The total land area is 280ha, with some marginal country of steep hills and river ﬂats. Contract milkers Phil and Ange Hooper are

Contract milkers Phil and Ange Hooper love the Fabish and Jackson-designed dairy. paid a set rate per kilogram of milk solids and are responsible for shed and farm transport costs. Sam knew he didn’t want the responsibility of staff so chose not to have a manager or lower order sharemilkers. He wanted to own the cows but not the day-to-day management of the farm. “I set the rate per kg/ms and Fonterra pays them. If they increase their volume, they get more money,” says Sam. The dairy has a 44-bail rotary milking platform for 320 cows. Sam plans to increase to 360 cows next season.

Brilliant design

The rolling country has great soil with plenty of topsoil, says Sam. The expansive views across the hills are a pleasant outlook for milkers. Sam is delighted with his octagonal shed from Fabish and Jackson. “I read about it in ‘New Farm Dairies’ about two years ago. It’s a brilliant design.”

The new dairy’s octagonal shape suits a rotary milking platform.

The Oct‘a’lock dairy is a standard plan with many variations, according to designer Paul Askew. The finished design depends on the milking plant, turntable selection, size and rotation. Other factors include the number of ancillary rooms, yard size and shape, holding pen layouts and cow numbers. Drafting facilities, site access for both tankers and cows, milk storage and effluent disposal are also taken into consideration. “All farmers have different ideas on how they wish their facility to meet these criteria,” says Paul. “With our experience in the design and construction of dairy sheds, we can help them arrive at a design that will suit them and their requirements.” Fabish and Jackson installed the prefabricated concrete walls first, then the roof, which allowed the concrete floor to be poured under cover. An interior feature is glue

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laminated stained pine beams attached ﬂush to the long run rooﬁng. Paul says Sam has allowed for upgrades in milking and cow management systems to be added. “We know Sam was very budget-conscious in regards to what he was investing in, but he also wanted to futureproof his asset.”

Cowshed coating

The interior walls of the main shed and ancillary rooms were covered with Acraflex Dairy Wall Coating. Surfatex applied the coating, which is a combination of epoxy base coat, acrylic and a solvent top layer. A fleck finish covers imperfections and hides dirt. Spokesman Frits van Echten says Acraflex has a 10-year guarantee but it has been proven to last a lot longer than that. Waikato Milking Systems supplied an Orbit rotary platform, which is 2.7 metres wide and includes a drench walkway on the inside. The wide deck allows the plant to be fully protected from damage.

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SAM LENNOX FARMS LTD

Page 93

Sam saves his time for sheep and beef The yard has a distant view of Mount Taranaki.

A Dungbuster 2000 automatic yard washdown system was installed in the yard. The platform was installed by Moa Milking and Pumping. Owner Nathan Hitchcock says the Inglewood-based company installs and services all Waikato Milking Systems platforms in the North Island. The UltimateECR installed is a reliable general purpose cup remover, designed for fast and efďŹ cient milking while reducing labour costs. The system is operated from a central Master Controller, with adjustable settings. The Ezy Pull-down feature reduces fatigue and works in tandem with the exhaust valve, allowing the cords to be released with ease. The UltimateECR also improves cow comfort at cluster removal. The milk plant was installed by Hawera company Hunts Farm Services 2014, which was also responsible for the water system in the shed. A SmartDRIVE milk pump controller offers variable speed control which means the speed can be gentle for milk pumping and then increased for wash mode, says Hunts Farm Servicesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; managing director Nigel Robinson.

Waikato Milking Systems supplied the 44-bail rotary and milk plant.

Sam Lennoxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farm has a 117ha milking platform.

The plant also features digital pulsation system SmartPULS. This is the only pulsation system on the market where each pulsator services two clusters. Dairy refrigeration ďŹ tting in the Lennox shed was supplied by Tru-Testâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DTS Milk Cooling and Tank Solutions.

Mixed feed An in-shed feed system uses a simple single cross-auger dispenser and is linked to EID head bails. The cows are fed a mixture of dried distillersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; grain, kibbled maize, palm kernel and tapioca, which comes mixed and is stored in a 16 tonne silo. Elite Farm Services, a sister company to Hunts, installed the feed system. The Lennox farm has been ďŹ tted with MilkHub Dairy Automation from Tru-Test. The system uses modular hardware and the speciďŹ c modules ďŹ tted on the Lennox farm include EID Herd Tracking, Autodrafter Plus, Feed Controller and the MiHub Online Herd Management System.

Waikato Milking Systems Taranaki area manager Brian Luff and Nigel Robinson from Huntâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Farm Services.

The Autodrafter Plus module has been installed in the exit race and uses a lowmaintenance three-way pneumatic drafting gate. Drafts can be set on a number of criteria such as lameness, weight loss or treatments and actioned from within the shed or online. The Walk Over Weighing platform in the race automatically weighs each cow at every milking. Waste is reduced and supplementary feed maximised with the Feed Control module. Cows can be preferentially fed by Body Condition Score, age, or pre-calving or postcalving criteria. All information for every cow can be seen on the large broadcast display in the shed.

Innovative design A Dungbuster 2000 automatic yard washdown system was installed in the circular yard, which saves water, time and money each milking. The innovative design cleans the yard while the last cows are in the shed.

On its return, it washes the yard for a second time ready for the next milking. Water and power use is reduced by 40 per cent and the yard can be washed in less than ďŹ ve minutes, which saves up to 400 labour hours per year. Spokesperson Christine Goldsmith says the product is now made from all aluminium extrusion which is less weight for the gate and doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t rust. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Dungbuster is great â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the yard never needs to be hosed,â&#x20AC;? says Sam. Summit Electrical of Waverley did all the electrical work on the conversion, including the milk plant, pumps, hot water system, refrigeration, backing gate and efďŹ&#x201A;uent system. The company was started in 2012 by Todd Cowan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just a young guy starting out so we thought weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d give him a crack,â&#x20AC;? says Sam. Alexander Contracting did the earthworks for the shed site and built all the races on the farm. Richard Alexander says the ďŹ ll came from the farm and the metal was trucked from his quarry at Wainui Beach. Alexander Contracting By Sonja Matla is based in Waitotara.

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Page 94

Coast & Country

Unconventional design space saver Malcolm Sayer chose a circular yard for its cost beneﬁts.

Malcolm Sayer’s new octagonal dairy is a world apart from the 30-year-old 28-bail original shed next door. And a dairy farm in Hawera is a world apart from Malcolm’s previous occupation, and that of his manager. The farm was previously owned by the parents of Malcolm’s wife, Moira. In 1992, Malcolm and Moira were brought in as 50/50 sharemilkers. After the death of Malcolm’s father in 2001, they purchased half of the farm, and in 2012 they bought the remaining block. They decided to upgrade the dairy shed last year. Previously, Malcolm worked in the oil industry for Shell-Todd in Taranaki but he decided he’d had enough of the corporate life. Farm manager Mick Severn has an even more unusual former life. He met the Sayer’s daughter, Jessica, in Broome, Australia, where

he was a pearl diver. She persuaded him to come to New Zealand and they were installed as farm managers. Asked about the change of lifestyle, Mick says: “It’s a hell of a lot easier drafting cows”. The ‘Oct‘a’lock’ shed was designed by Paul Askew of Fabish and Jackson and built by Trev Terry.

No wasted space “An octagonal shed is more costeffective per square metre for the same size turning platform than rectangular or square sheds, and there’s no wasted space,” says Paul. An interior feature is glue laminated stained pine beams attached flush to the long run roofing, with no gaps for bird nests. Fabish and Jackson installed the prefabricated concrete walls first, then the roof, which allowed the concrete floor to be poured under cover. “Our standard design comes with four ancillary rooms outside the octagon but more can be added,” says Paul. Malcom included a drafting office at the same level as the platform. This doubles as a vet room with a pull-down Artificial Breeding

and herd testing stand. Another option Malcolm chose was an underpass with access under the bridge and into the centre of the rotary. The 44-bail rotary platform was installed by Moa Milking & Pumping. The Waikato Milking Systems Revolution rotary is 700mm narrower than standard and doesn’t have a drench walkway. Revolution is a more cost effective alternative to the higher speciﬁed Orbit or Centrus but any of their features can be added as optional extras. Moa Milking and Pumping owner Nathan Hitchcock says Revolution is built on shallower foundations, making it ideal for a site where excavation is limited. The Inglewood-based company installs and services all Waikato Milking Systems platforms in the North Island. Waikato Milking Systems supplied a SmartECR cup remover system, which was installed by Elite Farm Solutions. SmartECR is a modular system which can be

Sayer Trust

customised to suit the individual farmer. Cups kick off alert and mastitis detection options can be added in future. Elite Farm Solutions’ managing director Nigel Robinson says the SmartDRIVE milk pump controller offers variable speed control. This ensures the milk is pumped continuously at a slower speed to maximise efﬁciency of the primary plate cooler. With the variable speed control, the speed can be gentle for milk pumping and then the pump can be ramped up for wash mode. Digital pulsation system SmartPULS is also a feature of Malcolm’s milk plant. SmartPULS is the only pulsation system on the market where each pulsator services two clusters. All other options charge extra to have one pulsator on every cluster. Waikato Milking Systems is a New Zealand-owned company which exports product to more than 20 countries.

Full alerts LIC Automation provided the Protrack Vantage Automation system, enabling easy and accurate automated drafting. It provides animal identification and history while in the milking shed and simplifies herd testing, animal health, and Artificial Breeding.

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Malcolm and Moira Sayer.

The octagonal-shaped building was designed by Fabish & Jackson to reduce wasted space around a rotary platform.

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Page 95

From pearl diving to drafting cows National solutions manager Jason Szabo says the system gives individual cow management with full in-bail identiﬁcation. “Vantage records events or data while in the milking shed, for example, a lame cow,” says Jason. “There is no need for staff to remember events for individual animals as the system gives full alerts.” The in-shed feed system runs off the Protrack Automation system to provide individual cow feeding. Nigel, from Elite Farm Solutions, which installed the system, says it ensures the cows only get what they need but reduces wasted feed. Two 16 tonne silos were installed so there was no risk of running out. Malcolm feeds a blend of palm kernel meal.

Moira and Malcolm Sayer with the Protrack Vantage draft system controls.

Old magic

The WETiT Teat Sprayers Platform Magic, originally installed in the old shed, was brought over to the new dairy. The iodine sprayer with infrared sensor sprays the udders as the cows leave the platform. Platform Magic is a simple design with no moving parts that can be damaged during milking. A recent addition to the design is a retention bar detection, which sends a ‘no spray’ signal to the controller when it detects a cow with cups on going around twice. This alleviates concerns about teat spray ending up in a cup, and eliminates wasted spray. Acraflex Dairy Wall Coating was chosen for all the interior walls. Surfatex applied the coating, which is a combination of epoxy base coat, acrylic and a solvent top layer. A fleck finish covers imperfections and hides dirt. Acraflex has a 10-year guarantee but is been proven to last a lot longer than that. Sinclair Electrical & Refrigeration wired the entire dairy, including the milk plant, platform, wash down system, water cylinders, internal and yard lighting, backing gate and refrigeration. Even though the new shed is beside the old one bigger mains were needed, so power was run from the road.

The underpass is an excellent way to get under the bridge and into the centre of the rotary platform for maintenance. A generator changeover switch was installed on the meter board for uninterrupted power supply. Sinclair Electrical & Refrigeration, owned by Brian Sinclair, has three branches in Opunake, Okato and Kaponga. It specialises in farming work but do domestic and commercial work as well.

Renewing races

Munro Contracting did all the foundation work for the shed and yard.

Builder Paul Askew stands on the pulldown herd-testing platform that was an optional extra.

Duncan Munro says they dug pit metal out of a bank on Malcolm’s farm and carted it 500 metres up the road to use for building up the yard foundations to the height of the rotary platform. The Manaia-based company graded the existing races and added pit metal on top while Malcolm renewed all the fences on the farm. Duncan’s son Tony runs most of the projects now with a team of up to seven staff at busy times.

“I usually use Munros as they are generally pretty good,” says Malcolm. “They do a bit of everything from digger work to hedge-cutting.” Also Manaia-based is D Jennings Engineering. Donald Jennings did all the steelwork for the yard, loading race, vet platform and installed a double backing gate. Malcolm decided on a circular yard because of the costs savings with the backing gate and it was the best ﬁt for the shed. By Sonja Matla

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MOUNT VUE

Page 96

Coast & Country

Dairying to keep farm in the family Mount Vue

Waikato Milking Systems regional sales representative Daniel Risi, Ashburton Milking Systems owner Paul Morrison with farm owners Lindsay and Vivienne McLachlan outside their new Rakaia 54-bail rotary.

You’ve been red meat and crop farmers all your life – so why go headﬁrst into the industry by converting your farm and building a new dairy? New Farm Dairies asked Lindsay and Vivienne McLachlan just this at their new 54-bail rotary dairy at Rakaia, Canterbury. The answer – their 10-year-old only child Amy. “We’re trying to keep the place for her,” says Lindsay. “The only option we could see – on the day if something happened health-wise to me or Viv or both – was the dairy model, because it can be run by trustees and a good sharemilker.” Lindsay is the third generation of McLachlans to farm the property his grandfather Gabriel McLachlan bought many years ago. It’s subsequently been split for Lindsay’s father Owen and his brother Leith. Lindsay, an only child, owns his father’s share and has seen a number of changes in land use from sheep and beef to cropping of various sorts.

The Waikato Milking Systems cups and Centrus platform.

Wanting it to remain in the family, Lindsay and Viv ﬁrst looked to convert to milking goats but three years ago decided on cows as there was no goat milking infrastructure in the South Island. The McLachlans set up a 173 hectare milking platform from 242ha, with the remainder support land. Last season, a sharemilker milked the McLachlan’s 580-cow Friesian-cross herd on 140ha.

Plant and platform

The build began March 2014. Lindsay and Viv looked at 12 sheds and hired a consultant for some direction, but Waikato Milking Systems made an impression. Ashburton Milking Systems owner Paul Morrison is the authorised Waikato Milking Systems dealer for Rangitata River to Dunsandel/Hororata regions. His team installed a Waikato Milking Systems 54-bail Centrus composite platform and milking machinery and had everything working on time – on July 30 – for the new season.

The Waikato Milking Systems SmartSPRAY automatic teat spray system in action.

The LIC Protrack System makes life easy for the sharemilker and staff.

Paul says the Waikato Milking Systems Centrus composite platform has much bigger benefits than its concrete counterparts. “It’s more serviceable and its maintenance long-term is a lot less.” The Centrus is a lot lighter – fully loaded with cows it weighs the same as its concrete counterparts unloaded, meaning it takes less power to drive. “If you’re looking for a long-term platform that you don’t have to spend anything on for 15 years or more, the Centrus is definitely the way to go,” says Paul. He says the plant has a fair amount of automation in it including Waikato Milking Systems’ SmartECR electronic cup removers, SmartSPRAY automatic teat spray system and SmartD-TECT early mastitis identification system – all linked to Protrack. Paul says SmartSPRAY is “the best system on the market” and SmartD-TECT early mastitis alert technology connected to Protrack is advantageous. “If a cow has high conductivity she’ll be

The McLachlan’s Westland supply number at the gate.

alerted to the operator through Protrack, they can test the cow to decide whether to treat or let her go.” Waikato Milking Systems regional sales representative Daniel Risi says the Waikato Milking Systems Bail Marshals manage connectivity and communication between all bail devices. “You can add as many devices to each bail as you like, whenever you want.” And future changes to the bail are easy to apply. Paul simply inputs changes into the central controller, SmartCONTROL, and it communicates them automatically via the Bail Marshals. Lindsay and Viv think Paul’s team’s workmanship and the Waikato Milking Systems gear is “exceptional”.

Big tool One of the big tools Lindsay had installed is the LIC Protrack Drafter System, because it essentially means a sharemilker can operate the dairy solo.

MOUNT VUE

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A conversion for the fourth generation Lindsay and Vivienne McLachlan’s new 54-bail rotary at Rakaia.

Lindsay and Vivienne McLachlan with their 10-year-old daughter Amy. The stand-alone automated drafting unit is in the yard but is run from the pit with a touchscreen. The interface allows milkers to view all cows and easily assign an instant or pre-deﬁned draft against one or many cows. Animal EIDs are pre-loaded into the touchscreen and an animal is identiﬁed at the drafting gate. Plus, the product includes a drafting app, allowing farmers to schedule drafts from around the farm.

Saving time

While New Farm Dairies was there, the sharemilker had a vet checking for empty cows – he could draft them from the pit, saving time and allowing him to get on with milking. And with Waikato Milking Systems’ Smart ECRs and SmartD-TECT linked to Protrack, it becomes even more useful by signalling cow health problems. Vivienne says the proof is in the pudding – they’ve had very low mastitis rates. With the McLachlans supplying Westland Milk Products, the cooperative supplies all refrigeration – so Tru-Test Dairy Technology

Services installed two Patton Pak refrigeration units. Vivienne says they’re happy with units and haven’t had any problems. The refrigeration units cool milk going to the 30,000 litre vat, to ensure milk gets cooled efﬁciently in Canterbury’s hot summers. Tru-Test DTS offers a complete range of refrigeration units designed and built to highest industry standards for demanding rural Kiwi applications. All units are pre-wired with isolation switches, contactors and overloads, and can be supplied with a heat exchanger for hot water recovery. The McLachlans are also building an underpass, for cows to bypass the road and under a private drive. Hynds supplied the pre-cast concrete underpass, which was still in construction phase in June. Hynds precast box culvert units are designed for use as stormwater culverts, stock underpasses for rural highway crossings, pedestrian crossings and vertical chambers. Precast concrete box units simplify the construction process, making installation of an underpass quicker. The underpass size is determined by the herd size that will pass through it and machinery that may travel over it. The McLachlans aim

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to have the underpass completed for the 2015/2016 season. Lindsay is also creating a large pond to capture water from a nearby water source for irrigation, using Hynds’ Farmboss 450mm pipes to direct water to the TechnoGrazingpond. type system offers Lindsay Hayman of Hayman Farmboss pipes, made straight fences, Fencing Ltd constructed the from polypropylene, which Lindsay likes. fences on the Rakaia farm. have proven resistance to impact, chemical attack and abrasion so they’re durable and recyclable. They’re strong but also paddocks accommodate cropping equipment,” very light, making installation easy. says Lindsay McLachlan. Lindsay Hayman spent four weeks building 20km of fences. He has 10 years’ fencing Fencing frenzy experience and a farm manager background. With a cropping farm there’s no need for “I’m on the same wavelength as farmers and fences – but dairying changed this. “We wanted rectangle paddocks so everything we can toss ideas around to ﬁnd a solution for is uniform – whether you cultivate crops or run their needs.” Lindsay and Viv would like to thank all stock in them,” says Lindsay McLachlan. involved for their approach, dedication and In July 2014 Hayman Fencing Ltd put up a workmanship. TechnoGrazing-type system, which divides a “We’ve chosen a shed with longevity,” farm into a grid of grazing cells. By Merle Foster says Lindsay. “It’s a like vineyard – all posts line up and all

CAMDEN DOWNS

Page 98

Coast & Country

Camden Downs Waimate farmers Ben and Chloe Smith’s new rotary.

Farmers Ben and Chloe Smith, with daughter Pippa, 20 months old, in front of their new 50-bail rotary at Waimate in North Otago.

Ben’s farm dogs relaxing outside the new dairy.

Ben builds on his dairying future In 2011 Ben and Chloe Smith moved from the Hawke’s Bay to sharemilk on a Waimate dairy farm in South Canterbury, which has a 180 hectare run-off. They’ve since become equity partners in the properties and completed three seasons in the farm’s 100-bail rotary milking 1000 cows. But it was always the intention to convert the run-off into a stand-alone dairy unit. “We had plans for it eventually, when we bought the property,” says Ben. “And we were milking off a lot of that run-off before – so decided it was more efﬁcient to put another cowshed on this unit.” The ﬁrst farm adjoins the run-off but the move has also reduced shed walks for the cows.

The conversion began at the start of the 2014/2015 season – Ben calved and milked the new dairy’s 700-cow herd once-a-day in his neighbouring shed until the 50-bail rotary was ready in November 2014.

Absolutely rapt

“We’re quite efﬁcient and that’s due to it being a one-man operation and the ﬂow of the shed – I’m absolutely rapt with it,” says Ben, who runs the unit with two full-time staff and a part-timer during calving. “It gives us a chance to give our staff good rosters – and this helps us retain good staff. If you’re trying to attract good staff you need good facilities.” GEA Farm Technologies’ South Canterbury/ North Otago area sales manager Peter Vaughan says Ben’s GEA Milfos dairy promotes fault-less

cow flow and streamlines milking time. But Peter says GEA Milfos’ biggest point of difference is their Drop Down System, allowing clusters to drop and pass underneath the platform bridge – so cows can enter and exit without getting tangled up in cups and tubes. Plus the whole system has iCORE automated milk management system and GEA Milfos’ new Gen2 bail has adjustable neck, kick and shin rails to suit all cows. This is Ben’s first GEA Milfos shed. “The main reason I went with GEA Milfos is budget constraints that a new conversion poses saw us need to get the best value for our money. “With GEA Milfos we could build a system and choose automation to a level we thought was most possible first-up but that was very modular. “It’s very easy to add more equipment later on to expand compared to other plants we

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looked at. You don’t have to change anything to upgrade levels of automation. That’s the big selling point.”

One-man shed

Ben also likes that iCR intelligent cluster removers make it a one-man shed. “For this shed’s future we needed labour efﬁciency. “I found iCRs will sufﬁciently reduce my labour bill and the whole build was about justifying our spending – we weren’t spending on something that wouldn’t return us productivity straight away.” Temuka-based Duncan Engineering is GEA Farm Technologies’ Milfos dealer in the South. They installed the Milfos milking plant and iFLOW 50-bail rotary double iBEAM concrete platform. Ben says they’re great to deal with – “everything was done as we needed it and on time”.

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The GEA Milfos iNTELSTART system.

THE GEA Milfos platform controller at cups-off.

Farmer Ben Smith and GEA Farm Technologies North Otago area sales manager Peter Vaughan with a set of Milfos cups each.

The yard is set-up and ready for an LIC Protrack drafting system when Ben wants one.

A wise investment at Waimate He’s had next to no issues with equipment “and any issues we do have, Duncan Engineering can be there 24/7. No matter what time it is Gary Duncan or one of his guys will be here as soon as possible, so there’s no problem”.

Brilliant service

Timaru-based ATR Refrigeration installed two Patton Pak units outside Ben’s new dairy. ATR Refrigeration managing director Andrew Turner says Ben chose them because they’re fully enclosed with a small environmental footprint, with dairy shed space at a premium. “They’re nice and tidy, clean, easy to service and the parts are readily available. They’re also fully electrically wired – and we modify them to suit the dairy farm’s requirements.”

Ben says he got brilliant service from the ATR team. “The refrigeration was put in on time and sized correctly, which is the key. “Many people will undersize or try sell you the cheapest unit but going forward it’s all about efﬁciencies.” And with milk cooling regulations to tighten, Ben says his relationship with Andy is crucial. “We believe these units are currently the best bang for our buck but in future we can futureproof with a snap-chilling unit.” Before milking started in the new dairy, in swooped AsureQuality – to check hygiene standards were met by the food processing unit for the milk export market. The company provides food safety and biosecurity services to the food and primary production sectors.

With skilled staff and extensive accreditations, AsureQuality audit, inspect, verify and certify food quality and management systems from the farm right to the supermarket shelf. Ben’s other shed has Protrack, so he’s futureproofed this dairy to install it in future when investment is warranted. LIC’s Protrack Drafter system is a fully automated herd management system that offers in-bail cow identiﬁcation, alerts, intelligent animal feeding, event recording and drafting. The system not only saves labour and time, keeping track of the herd and its health, but all animal records are at your ﬁngertips. “When building a dairy people often don’t put in ducting to accommodate Protrack,” says Ben. “But it’s something people should look at, so down the track if you want to install Protrack

you have access points to drafting gates and install costs are much cheaper – that’s what I’ve done.”

Back-up power

Ben’s also looking to get a Cowpower for the dairy because the ﬁrst shed has one, which he shares between units. “It saves our bacon in storms – and we’ve used it right through to help with the new dairy build when we didn’t have power on-site. All contractors have used it and it’s never missed a beat.” Cowpower is the NZ dairy industry’s main generator supplier, says director Barry Hayes. “We supply self-contained Cowpower generators nationwide to those with herringbones to rotaries to robotic sheds.”

CAMDEN DOWNS

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The GEA Milfos rotary platform, which sport the brand’s big performer – the Drop Down System.

The GEA Milfos cups.

Coast & Country

Genesis Homes Oamaru’s sales consultant Vern Lawry in front of the three-bedroom staff house his company supplied.

Rotary helps attract and retain staff Barry says farmers turn to generators for three reasons. “Firstly, they buy a generator to supply extra power. Secondly, the main reason is back-up in power outages to still milk cows, pump water etc. Lastly, they buy them for irrigation where no power is available.” Barry says most farmers who use a generator for 24 hours ﬁnd it’s already paid for itself. “Like anything with insurance, because a back-up generator is a form of insurance on farms you shouldn’t take it out after an event because the event’s already cost you money. “Because it not just milk costs, it’s health damage that can be done to cows through not getting milked – and in rotaries you don’t want cows getting stuck on platforms.” Ben also needed staff accommodation. Genesis Homes Oamaru built a three-bedroom home, shifted it on-site and project-managed the whole event. “The house comes with ﬂoor coverings, it’s

gib-stopped and painted and has kitchen with a cooktop and rangehood,” says sales consultant Vern Lawry.

Mobile homes

Genesis Homes Oamaru offer residential dwellings from single workers’ cottages to staff houses and farm owners’ homes, covering the South Island. And with most farmers busy building new dairies while building new houses, Genesis Homes project-manage all services installation – plumbing, drainage and power. “It means for the likes of Ben, he can carry on farming while knowing that house is getting sorted.” Vern says the houses are perfect staff accommodation, being low maintenance, hassle-free and easy care. “Dairy farmers are investing a lot more in staff accommodation – and with these portable

houses there’s ﬂexibility in their investment. They can put a house on and shift it to another location if they have to.” Ben weighed up all options “and, going for value for money, Genesis stacked up”. “The fact they completed everything for us and organised the full package made it easy. “The biggest thing for us was the speed of the build, compared to building a house from scratch on-site. We needed houses and we needed them quickly – they were by far the quickest option.” Ben went to university before sheep and beef farming, then decided dairying was best for his family. “With no family farm, the best option for me was get my teeth stuck into dairy – so I made the change and never looked back.” In 2011 he was named NZ Dairy Trainee of the Year for the Hawke’s Bay/Wairarapa region and won the national title. “Obviously, that

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helped us secure our future job and I wouldn’t be where I am today without the awards.” But Ben also pays tribute to his equity partners in the Waimate dairy venture. “We couldn’t have done what we have without them – they’ve made this project possible.” Today, with two cost-effective dairy units, Ben, Chloe and their three young girls have a bright dairying future.

Kids future “It’s a great environment for my children to grow up in and I get to spend time with them – there’s not many jobs where you get to go home for lunch and can see your kids. “And I’ve always thought we do what we do to provide for our kids’ future – but simultaneously we need a work-life balance, to ensure we provide for the future but also enjoy the here and now.” By Merle Foster

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Coast & Country

Potato farm becomes Jonathan’s first dairy For some, walking into Jonathan Hamilton’s new 60-bail rotary would be a letdown. Automation in the Darﬁeld dairy is nearly non-existent – but that’s exactly what the equity partner was aiming for. Instead, Jonathan and his three staff like being proactive, knowing what’s happening with cows and machinery – and ultimately being totally connected and knowledgeable about how everything is running farm-wide. The Hamilton family’s company TH Enterprises bought the 276ha property in March 2014 as a potato farm. “The only thing here was my house. We had to build three houses, a cowshed, convert woolsheds into calf sheds, re-water the whole lot, regrass every paddock, install efﬂuent and put on a centre pivot to join the existing two,” says Jonathan, who owns 20 per cent equity and runs 268ha effective. “And with April 2014 being so wet we only had four months to get the project done.”

Building quality Trevor Gregory built TH Enterprises’ 60-bail rotary in Rerewhakaaitu. “Now he’s built this one and an 80-bail in Hawke’s Bay for us.” Trevor started in May 2014 and built the 28m by 24m shed in three months. Steelwork and materials

for Trevor’s sheds are trucked in, so there’s no welding on-site – everything is bolted together. “The end result is a solid shed,” says Trevor. Jonathan’s dairy can house an 80-bail, but he loves the extra space, ceiling panels and a high roof creating roomy-ness and nice airﬂow. And Jonathan’s requests were incorporated “to make the shed work for him”.

Animal handling

An animal handling area was installed and the roof extended over the platform, keeping weather out. “Many dairies are built to price but we build for people who want that little bit extra quality,” says Trevor. “We’ll change our format to suit the farmer – we build dairies with them in mind.” ARC Engineering works with Trevor to install yardwork. Owner Matt Nash says they did the animal handling area and yardwork, which includes steelwork and a two-storey loading ramp; and supplied the vet platform and air drafting unit. Jonathan wanted a rectangular yard, believing cow ﬂow is better than in round yards. “Rectangular yards are, according to experts, better because the cows push up easier and don’t turn round,” says Matt. “But different farmers have different preferences. The farmer comes up with a concept with the builder, then we make it happen.” Hororata Engineering installed the Herdﬂow Crowd Gate – designed to

Farm equity partner Jonathan Hamilton loves the solid structure and simple efﬁciency of the new 60-bail rotary at his family company’s Darﬁeld farm.

Staff member Nirela Nelson, 2IC Peter Goodall, farm equity owner Jonathan Hamilton and staff member Bryce Walker at the new dairy.

The Veehof Wopa Standard cattle crush can restrain a cow for any health woe or task.

The GEA Milfos rotary platform, where the cows walk on.

handle stress and pressure of large herds to improve cow ﬂow onto platform. Jonathan says the gate doesn’t bunch up cows but brings them in gently “and if it gets weight on it, it backs off ”. And a Veehof Wopa Standard cattle crush, with a rubber mat, sits under cover. Veehof director Fred Hoekstra says the cattle crush is for anytime an animal needs to be restrained – hoof trimming, teat sealing, mastitis problems, calving etc. “The crush is designed so at the rear it has no bars in the way, meaning the farmer has full access to the cow and can stand beside the animal the same way a horse farrier would do a horse.” “This means a cow’s leg can be lifted high without doing any harm, so the farmer can position themselves to be safer, with a lot less strain on their back.” “You don’t get kicked and the cow is comfortable as well,” says Jonathan.

Good GEA-r

The company has three other sheds with GEA Milfos plants – so the choice was obvious. “We believe we got a good deal – and we stick with them because it’s really good gear,” says Jonathan. The GEA Milfos range of Centrifugal Milk pumps are cost effective, quiet in operation and require minimal maintenance. The iNTELCENTER can be customised to different settings for wash and milk, and when coupled with iNTELSTART can be programmed to switch the plate heat exchanger on and off simultaneously with the milk pump during milking, reducing water wastage.

DARFIELD FARMS

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A basic but solid shed – beautiful milk vats, polar wraps and a 24/7 nationwide support service. Before Jonathan began milking in August 2014, the dairy was checked by AsureQuality. AsureQuality audit, inspect, verify and certify food quality and management systems from the farm to the supermarket shelf. AsureQuality checked everything over in Jonathan’s shed because it’s a food processing unit, which has to be up to the high standards the export market requires. “They made sure we’d got it all assembled correctly and it’s hygienic and clean, so nothing will contaminate the milk.”

Darfield Farms Jonathan loves the clutter-free bails and round around the pit created by building a 60-bail rotary in shed designed for 80 bails.

Refrigeration sorted

Supplying Westland Milk Products, Jonathan didn’t need to worry about refrigeration. Tru-Test Dairy Technology Services installed two Patton Pak units as the co-op’s contractor. Jonathan says the two units have proved The efﬂuent system, including the pond, designed by Efﬂuent themselves – but it helps that cold water and Irrigation. through the plate coolers comes from a well. “They don’t have too much strain on them – and I’ve had no problems.” The Tru-Test Group acquired Dairy Technology Services Limited in 2013 and hasn’t looked back. Owning DTS has added NZ’s leading manufacturer and supplier of farm storage tanks, milk cooling systems, remote monitoring systems, maintenance and support services to the Tru-Test brand. Nairn Electrical took care of all The farm dog wants to Tru-Test DTS offer includes pre-cooling, the dairy’s electrical needs be let out on the land. refrigeration and vat monitoring solutions,

arcengineering@xtra.co.nz

Utilising resources

TechniPharm group CEO Harmen Heesen says farmers are recognising that utilisation of resources is an efficient way to manage a farm sustainably. Jonathan’s Dungbuster auto yard washing system means no manual washing and is a good step towards sustainable use of resources. Harmen says a Dungbuster has reduced water use, less pumping and less effluent generated – and less effluent to manage, which equals power saving. “Farmers with Dungbusters report water use is down by up to 40 per cent. A 1000m2 yard would take about 2500L-3000L water, a small fraction of the old-fashioned hand-washing option.

“Plus, labour savings of up to four weeks per year for most farms mean a saving or reallocation of at least $3000-$4000 of time – a signiﬁcant productivity gain.” Jonathan loves pushing a button and walking away. “When you push a button it scrapes the yard down and washes it for you – it’s great.”

Pond to paddock

Jonathan had a 2.3 million litre effluent pond dug and lined when consultancy service Effluent and Irrigation designed a system to take effluent from the dairy to irrigate to paddocks. Effluent and Irrigation principal Marty Forster says the system is very simplistic. “We don’t try to overcomplicate things – everything goes to the pond, then out to the farm. The effluent goes through a stonetrap before travelling to the holding pond, which has a shore-mounted stirrer and progressive cavity pump sitting on the side. “Inside the pond is the stirrer and a four litre pump, which stirs the effluent before it’s applied to land via a travelling irrigator.” Marty says shore-mounted stirrers’ stirring mechanism is at the bottom of the pond – not the top – and stirs all the slurry back into the suspension. “A vertical stirrer will push the effluent sideways and if the pond is full it will have very little impact on the slurry at the bottom.” “Whereas this stirrer, you can pivot it left and right and move it up and down – so it does a much better job.” By Merle Foster

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The iPULSE pulsators are made in NZ for long-life in tough conditions, sealed from moisture, and provide accurate milking from perfectly controlled pulse. And with iNTELGEN controller, staff can adjust the pulsation rate to suit their cow production. Jonathan has stuck to the basics. “No automatic cup removers and no automated teat spray – less can go wrong.” GEA area sales manager Steve Dickie says Jonathan has an optimum milking system he’s comfortable with – and the plant is built for future automation. Jonathan sited the shed to next to the existing power supply and Nairn Electrical ensured everything was wired correctly. With a Leeston base and North Canterbury branch, Nairn Electrical do all on-farm electrical work, employing local people who know the industry’s needs.

RYAN

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Coast & Country

Unique shed for a unique project Despite being a difﬁcult and at time frustrating conversion, Jason and Ann-Marie Ryan’s dairy farm, snuggled under the hills near Mt Somers in Mid-Canterbury, is now looking a picture.

from a nearby quarry for the laneways. As the budget allowed, the two worked together and the ground was slowly developed. They wanted an attractive drive to the shed and as the ground was gradually built up to get enough drop to the efﬂuent ponds. And the shed ended up on a terrace which gave the area the look Jason wanted. During the development phase, Jason still had no idea what he wanted in a shed, so Lindsay recommended he get in touch with Nigel Hodges from Rural Building Solutions. Nigel showed Jason and Anne Marie other sheds in the area and Jason picked out what he liked from each one. As Rural Building Solutions has a policy of building sheds unique to each situation, Nigel was able to help Jason decide on a plan which was designed and drawn up by Chapman Dairy. The shed build began in March 2014 and once Ashburton Contracting Ltd had poured the concrete, the shed build got underway. With space in mind, there is plenty of room for staff and cows to move and the natural light that ﬂoods in gives the building a calm feel. Jason says they decided on a concrete underpass as it provided extra safety for staff if

Ryan

The conversion is one that took several years with a goal to be milking cows in 2014. Jason and wife Ann-Marie had farmed in the Nelson Lakes area for six years wintering dairy grazers on their property before heading south. They really had no idea how they wanted the Mid Canterbury farm to be set up and for three years they leased the land to Rangitata Dairies as a wintering block. During this time, infrastructure was gradually put in place, including water storage. Jason says they spent many years fencing, but when it came to the crunch they were advised to pull out all the fences and start again.

Working together

Local contractor Lindsay Marwick from L & S Contracting, worked closely with Jason doing track-work and earthworks while the farm was leased out and sourced rotten rock

Underground pipes from Stocker Dairy Plumb run from the shed to the calf-rearing barn.

The large yard and thoughtfully laid out shed makes working a breeze. they need to get from one side of the platform to the other in a hurry. It’s already proved its worth after a cow had a mishap and the worker was able to get straight to her, meaning a quick release. Duncan Hedgecock from Advanced Brick and Block did the block work. The company is a family run business with Duncan’s son William a partner, his daughter

mans the ofﬁce and other family members are also involved. Advanced Brick and Block has subcontracted to Rural Building Solutions for the last eight years. Duncan says working with Nigel is easy as sheds are well organised and run to programme.

Cows coming in for afternoon milking.

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Making a go of things in Mid Canterbury and has been making and supplying milking plants for many years. Read Industrial supplied the Ryan’s shed with a VSD centrifugal milk pumps, a blower type vacuum pump wash gland, sight clusters, rubberware and automatic teat spraying. Philip says the ACRs and other equipment like the wash gland means one person can milk and clean the system easily. Keeping the cows’ PMR Contracts supplied the feed udders healthy is as mill for Jason and Anne-Marie. important as good nutrition, so a WETiT teat spraying system was installed. Using the WETiT Platform Magic and Wave systems means Jason’s cows have the best chance of ﬁghting any bugs that might work their way up the teat canal.

spring a leak as the ﬁttings and pipe are made as one. To get milk to Jason’s calves, Stocker Dairy Plumb put in an underground milkline straight from the vat to the new 10-bay calf shed.

Calf milk View of the hills from the large circular yard. The portals for the shed were supplied by Duncan Engineering and designed to ensure maximum strength for the building, while the robust roof was put on by Graham Hill Rooﬁng. Keeping the block work clean and protected, an Acraﬂex paint has been used, which withstands the harsh environment of a dairy

shed and is easy to clean. Specialised Coatings provide the Acraﬂex and the manpower to get it onto the block work. To get water where it’s needed, Stocker Dairy Plumb installed all the necessary plumbing for the shed. Using German-made Fusiotherm pipe, Jason is conﬁdent the welded piping won’t rust or

L & S Contracting’s Lindsay Marwick, Four Seasons Feed Ltd’s rep Geoff Bryant, Dairycool’s Lee Gilbert, PMR Grain Systems’ David Shaw, farm manager Richard Spice, William Ryan, 2IC Karl Barakat, Thomas Ryan, with farm owners Anne-Marie and Jason Ryan.

The pipe comes up at a centre post in the shed, allowing whoever is feeding calves to simply take a hose to the calfaterias. Sean Bovey, plumbing manager for Stocker Dairy Plumb, says the washdown, stock water and shed water are all integrated in the pump room, meaning if one fails, the other can take over as back up. The 60-bail rotary platform sits on nylon rollers and was built by Donald Engineering. The nice wide bails means there’s plenty Wave magic of room for the The Wave also biggest cows in means the cow stands Lee Gilbert from Dairycool checks the the predominantly properly aligned and crossbred herd. can indicate if the milk silo control system. To make milking animal has a sore hoof efﬁcient, Automatic Cup Removers were as they won’t like to put pressure it. installed as part of the Read Milking System. Using a ‘magic eye’ the teat sprayer sees when Read Industrial is a family-owned business the cow is about to back off and sprays the operating from Rangiora in North Canterbury whole area reducing the risk of mastitis.

RYAN

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Coast & Country

Contractors guide farm owners to success The health of the dairy cows is the utmost importance to Jason and Anne-Marie and to make sure they are getting optimum nutrition, molasses is added to the grain fed while the cows are being milked.

Feeding molasses

Solutions and Young Electrical to put the feed system in place. Jason says when the cows started being milked, it was essential the extra feed got to them as they only had half the farm back from Rangitata dairies in July and there was basically no grass. The cows had been wintered on a block 5km up the road and when they came in for calving, a huge amount of silage plus extra feed in the shed was needed to keep them going. With a consent to milk 800 cows, they decided to be conservative in their ﬁrst season and start off with 600 – which was probably a wise move. The start of the season was a fraught one for the Ryans. They didn’t really know what they were doing and Jason says if a friend hadn’t stepped in to help them, they would have been in deep trouble.

North Island company Four Seasons Feed Ltd supplies the molasses, which is imported in bulk and sent to the farm from Timaru. Four Seasons Feed Ltd’s rep Geoff Bryant co-ordinates the delivery of the molasses from Timaru to Jason and Anne-Marie’s farm. To get the feed to each cow, Jason talked with Dave Shaw, from PMR Grain Systems, who established what the requirements were. Dave says Jason and Anne-Marie wanted a basic grain feeding system as well as molasses, bulk storage and a grain mill. PMR installed Paperwork the stainless While the farm steel troughs is ticking along in the shed nicely now the and a molasses first few months kit. The whole were hard going. operation To make Four Seasons Feed Ltd’s rep Geoff Bryant. is fully air running the farm operated and is activated by the Protrack easier, Protrack was installed by LIC. system. With the system now being used efficiently, Dave says once the system is installed they it saves hours of paperwork for the staff and take care of the maintenance and running means a quick identification and auto drafting repairs when needed. of any cow when needed. The company worked in with Rural Building Grain and molasses feeding is also activated by

Protrack, so each cow receives exactly the right amount for her requirements, meaning no under or overfeeding. When the cows ﬁrst came into the shed, Jason and Anne-Marie had no idea how the Protrack worked and nobody showed them how to incorporate it into the day-to-day management of the cows or the property, which made the start of the season more difﬁcult.

Farm advisor

He acknowledges the tremendous input by his farm advisor, a friend, Lindsay Marwick and others, who helped keep the farm going in the early part of the season. To keep the milk cool, Dairycool took care of the refrigeration. A Young Electrical employee doing some Dairycool’s Lee Gilbert says with work on the shed. new milk regulations being tightened up by 2016 he sized the Mahana Blue system so the Ryans wouldn’t have to do any upgrades when new regulations come into force. Lee says there are several options that can be considered when looking at the refrigeration. He says there’s the ability to futureproof for the new regulations if they come in, or if the farmer wants to go to compliance only that’s also an option. With the system the Ryans chose, they won’t have to worry about changing The rotary platform with the WETiT Waves. anything later on.

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Ryan family’s dream now a reality Lee says they are doing a lot of data logging on-farm to collect information on the primary cooling and refrigeration systems. The data can then be used to produce options on where the owner wants to go speciﬁc for their farm.

Weather-proof

To protect against weather events like gale winds or snow, they chose to safeguard their income by purchasing a 100kw generator from Dixon Machinery. Dixon Machinery director Paul Dixon, who supplied the generator, says he’s been selling to dairy farmers for the last 10 years and that having a stand by generator is almost mandatory as part of a new conversion now.

With about 150 generators on farms, the company stocks all parts and offers servicing on farm. Paul says they generally work in with Young Electrical, with their electricians wiring the generators up. The new generators are all controlled by a smart panel so everything is at the user’s ﬁngertip. “So long as they are used for standby purpose and regularly started, the generators should last a life time,” says Paul. First on the scene and then last, Young Electrical was responsible for the wiring of the new shed. The company’s core business is dairy conversions, being involved with more than 20 new sheds a year. Once the wiring has been installed, they provide upgrades where necessary and provide maintenance. Taking away the efﬂuent and providing

drainage was carried out by Dean’s Drainage. The company has been supplying drainage needs for Canterbury people for the last 25 years. And as well as being involved in dairy conversions they’ve played a large part in the drainage needs of post-earthquake Christchurch.

In total awe

With the cooperation Blockwork was done by Advanced Brick and Block. and smooth input from Jason says he’s in total awe of the cows and the contractors, Jason and Anne-Marie’s dream very proud of their herd, which were bought of milking cows became a reality just as the from various sources, including dairy farmers ﬁnal touches were being put on the new shed. leaving the industry. Despite not knowing what they wanted or As the cows came in for milking, Jason how they was going to do it, hard slog and help pointed out individual animals and described from many has got the dairy farm up and their personalities. running and ended in a story of success. “I’m totally in awe of these cows, how they produce the milk and how they learn so quickly. They are just amazing animals.” The philosophy was to do the conversion once and do it right. While everything seems routine now, it certainly wasn’t at the start of the season. But now the staff, stock and owners have a really nice shed in a nice setting, which will last for many years. PMR Grain Systems’ David Shaw. A close-up of the LIC Protrack system. By Amanda Bowes

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WESTWOOD DAIRY

Page 108

Coast & Country

Canterbury conversion on time and budget Westwood Dairy

Looking into the shed â&#x20AC;&#x201C; light and airy.

In the lee of the Southern Alps and ďŹ&#x201A;anked by the Waimakariri River, Pete Morrison and Liz Nattrass have their fourth dairy conversion in three years on track and on budget. Westwood, a former sheep and cropping farm, at ShefďŹ eld was bought in December 2013. Fondly known as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Just in Time Developmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by the team, as all stages of the development have happened just in time, by mid-February 2014 the whole property had been stripped of its fencing, worked up and sown down in grass, clover and chicory. When the farm was purchased 210 hectares

were effective with a 65ha scrub block that was soon made short work of, bringing the total area to 275ha effective. With consistent rain a blessing, as the irrigation wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t up and running, the farm produced enough feed to get a cut of baleage off by April 2014. Westwood has 820 cows going through the shed, which are run as a split herd. One herd, of 435 mixed age cows, was bought from the North Island, while another 330 ďŹ rst-year carry-over cows and some heifers, bought in July, now make up the recent herd. Pete began the conversion by doing the basic site works in-house and once the levels were established, Nigel Hodges from Rural

The inviting entrance to the platform. Building Solutions Ltd met up with him to see where the pivot lines were going. Deciding on the best layout, a building consent was gained using a standard 60-bail rotary, Chapman Dairy design, which RBS has an exclusive licence to. With a level of automation that frees up a labour unit, the shed was designed with efďŹ ciency in mind. The design allows for plenty of light and gives stock and workers plenty of space to move. The entrance from the large, circular yard to the milking platform is wide and inviting, with heavy duty rubber matting to stop cows slipping when going on or backing off the platform. This was the fourth conversion Nigel had

worked on for Pete and Liz; and they were on a very tight timeframe, losing days to wet weather. Despite this, the team of sub-contractors, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d also worked on Pete and Lizâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s other sheds, got their jobs done with the ďŹ rst cows walking onto the platform as the ďŹ nal tests were completed. Nigel says the key to completing the job to a high quality is keeping their number of dairy construction projects to eight a year and not over-promising and underdelivering. Westwoodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manager Shaun Kelly says the shed works really well for cows and staff, and the layout ensures a smooth ďŹ&#x201A;ow of cows â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and milk!

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Read Industrial Phil Read and Advanced Brick & Block’s Nigel Hedgecock in the shed – working as a team means success.

Aakland Chemicals – plant wash made easy!

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Platform, feed system, gates – all at the push of a button.

Designed with efficiency in mind for Westwood dairy From the plant wash to yard wash Laser Plumbing Christchurch West made sure water got to where it is needed. With the plant wash activated by the push of a button, those in the shed never need to go into the dairy. Aakland Chemicals installed the detergent system which is also dispensed by the push of a button, along with other dairy hygiene products. Covering an area from mid to north Canterbury, father-andson team Duncan and William Hedgecock, from Advanced Brick and Block, carried out the block work. With 20 blocklayers on hand if a job needs a push, there’s always staff to call on. William says the shed was well managed and they knew exactly when to turn up, thanks to Nigel Hodges.

With northwest gales a regular feature in spring, the shed had to be designed to withstand ferocious winds and a sound roof structure was imperative. This also had to be able to withstand a maximum snowloading, so Graham Hill from Graham Hill Rooﬁng made sure the roof was ﬁxed down well and not in danger of blowing away.

Wide platform

The platform is wide and inviting for cows to step onto and made of concrete, a design deviation Colin Donald, from Donald Engineering instigated in the late-1980s. Prior to this platforms were made of steel and based on a North Island design. It took a week for ﬁve workers to build the platform, with two workers spending another week ﬁnishing off the pipe work and yards, including the backing and top gates.

Donald’s rotary platforms are also sold in kitset form and have been sent as far away as America and Australia. In addition to building the platforms for the Morrison’s other rotary sheds, they built a herringbone on another one of the conversions. Keeping the shed clean is made easier by the special Acraﬂex coating, supplied by Specialised Coatings, which all the block work was covered in. The coating makes it easy to wash down and prevents staining and mildew – a bonus at inspection time. Working alongside RBS, Read Industrial, a North Canterburyowned company, installed the milking machinery. Phil Read, the fourth generation of Read Industrial, says he’s responsible for getting the milk from the cow to the silo. The company manufactures most of its components in Rangiora with

two foundries and a stainless steel fabricating plant. The business has been making milking machinery for 93 years and has stayed local. The rubbers and liners are produced by a company in Christchurch, so most of the milking system is produced in Canterbury. The Westwood conversion took about two-three weeks to install and test-run, ready for the ﬁrst cows on August 1, 2014. With cows on a tight feed regime at the start of the season, an efﬁcient means of getting meal to the shed was crucial.

Roller mill

A meal feeding system by Permbrand was installed which, with a push of a button from within the shed, ensures cows are getting the protein they need while being milked.

Westwoood has a roller mill installed, which allows grain to be crushed and fed through a separate feed head in addition to the feed head which delivers palm kernel to the bins in the shed. Shaun says having the palm kernel feeder and grain crusher gives the farm flexibility when feeding at milking. “We have a special palm kernel feeder, but we can also crush our own grain if needed. “The cows have only had the palm kernel this first season, but if we needed to feed grain, it is good to have the system in place.” The dairy also has the means of feeding molasses if required. Just about everything in the shed is as automated as possible and Nairn Electrical fitted panels with extra buttons that are ready to use if additions, like the molasses feeder, need to be used.

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Westwood manager Shaun Kelly.

WESTWOOD DAIRY

The milk silos beside the vat for calf milk.

Protrack drafting system makes life easier.

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The silos and feed system.

‘Just in time’ development just perfect It was up to Andy Grace from Nairn Electrical to coordinate it all. “We keep in touch with the subbies and come in behind them to do the electrical work. As we are always the last ones in, the pressure is on. We were still testing when the ﬁrst cows came in for milking!” The job got done “just in time” and has worked well.

Protrack

To make herd management easier and more accurate, a Protrack system was installed, designed by the Livestock Improvement Corporation. Cows leaving the shed can be automatically drafted for various reasons, from lameness to penicillin cows. Shaun says they use the in bail cow identiﬁcation, auto drafting and individual feeding system. “The ability to control what each cow is getting fed based on her herd test and Condition Score

Happy cows on their way to the shed at Westwood. is a real advantage. It also means if a cow goes around twice, she doesn’t get a second feed.” The auto drafting system is a favourite with Shaun and he says being able to keep his MINDA records up-to-date and in real time with a push of a button saves “a whole lot of work”.

Hoof care

To keep the cows’ hooves in good condition, Veehof Dairy Services has installed a crush

under cover, where jobs ranging from hoof care to a caesarian can be done. Fred Vehoff says he imports the crushes from Holland, which are designed to make the cow as comfortable as possible, minimising the potential for injury to workers and livestock. Fred came from Holland 20 years ago and started hoof trimming in New Zealand. He took his hydraulic crush with him and after many dairy farmers expressed an interest in buying a crush, he started importing them.

The shed ofﬁce, plenty of room. As well as supplying crushes and visiting dairy farmers, Fred also goes to Massey University to train large animal veterinary students. Shaun says so far there has been very little lameness in the cows and they haven’t had to utilise the crush often, but it’s good to know it’s there if needed. For a ﬁrst season conversion, Westwood is performing very well and the best thing, says Pete, is that everything is within budget! By Amanda Bowes

WESTWOOD DAIRY

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vet, for AB, for whatever reason, you touch a few buttons (or tap a screen) and it’s done. Protrack Drafter comes with a Protrack Mobile Drafting App so you can control your drafts from anywhere. Even better, it comes in a range of models, all easily upgradeable. If you’re looking for an affordable entry-level solution to Farm Automation, Protrack Drafter is the place to start.

3 H 2( 398 136)Ĕ '%00 97 32 0508 Protrack (0508 776 872) and we’ll be around faster than you can organise a draft. Think about it.

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DUNKIRK FARM LTD

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Dunkirk Farm

Building a dairy on Dunkirk Running east to west in a long rectangle, Dunkirk Farm, just out of Rakaia, is the third dairy conversion for owners Bruce and Sue Rolls, Heath and Rebecca Smith, and Shannon and Cass Rolls. By Amanda Bowes

On one side of the main farm track, a traditional mid-Canterbury cropping farm stretches away to the west, while on the other Dunkirk paddocks are ﬁlled with cows. Bruce Rolls oversees the 254 hectare farm with his son Shannon, who manages the property along with Bruce Elliot and two other staff members. Bruce Rolls says the group purchased the former cropping farm as the shape lent itself to dairy

with good infrastructure in place, including a central laneway and paddocks which only needed subdividing into smaller sizes. Two existing laterals covered 97 per cent of the farm, which was a huge advantage, says Bruce, as it saved them a lot of money. While the farm presented as a straightforward conversion, the biggest risk was undertaking development while waiting for the resource consent for water and change in land use. Purchased in March 2013, in autumn, winter feed went in for young stock and dairy cows from another property. In spring, after the cows had gone, re-pasturing began.

Choosing the best

In September 2013, Bruce and Shannon wanted to begin building the shed, but couldn’t give the go ahead until the resource consent came through. That happened in November 2013 so the shed build was ﬁnally able to get underway.

Laser Electrical was on hand at the very beginning and at the end to power up the shed.

I’m a big tough guy

Nigel Hodges from Rural Building Solutions was employed by Bruce to build the shed and after talking to him about what he was looking for, structural drawings were done. After the building consent was granted, Nigel organised the subcontractors, choosing the best for the job based on quality and price. Nigel says Bruce is a good client to deal with. “He wanted a quality shed at a good price and we knew it would be a straightforward build.” The hardest part of the whole job is the work beforehand, getting the building team on-site. But Nigel says they have a very stable workforce who knows what is expected, which makes life easier. Shingle left over from digging of the effluent ponds was used to build up the site. And when it was ready, Ashburton Contracting Ltd supplied the concrete. Before the pour, Laser Electrical from Ashburton hooked up power to the site and ran all the conduits and cables needed for the shed and associated plant outside. They then returned upon completion to fit the switchboard and wire up the motors. Laser Electrical’s Phil Moore says it was a straightforward build, which was well organised and finished by early May 2014 leaving

The Chapman-designed shed is open and light. plenty of time before the ﬁrst cows calved. A Chapman Dairy design, the shed is open and light with good access and is user-friendly for the cows and workers. There is a good ofﬁce space and smoko room which is appreciated by the staff. Father-and son-team Duncan and William Hedgecock from Advanced Brick and Block were subbed to Rural Building Solutions for the blockwork. The size of the shed and the good timeframe they had to work with made for a smooth job.

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Rolls family turns out a new dairy in Rakaia William says working for Rural No matter what’s thrown on them, the Building Solutions makes the job efficient as walls are resistant to the effects of chemicals everything is well organised and finished to a or biological matter. The coating also makes high standard. cleaning a much easier chore. With the Canterbury Bruce Cameron from nor’westerly taken into Specialised Coatings says consideration and snowAcraflex is a great product loading also taken into to use on dairy sheds and account the shed needed to they’ve been involved be robust and handle the with the product for pressures of a harsh climate. many years now. The portals were engineered One-man herds by Duncan Engineering and With 1000 cows to go the roof built by Graham through the shed, run Hill Roofing, resulting in a in two herds, a concrete structure that is sound and underpass was put in to built to last. maximise safety of staff North Island company when milking. Specialised Coatings made Shannon says one sure the paintwork would last person will milk one by covering the walls with The concrete underpass was built herd and then another a specialised coating, called with worker safety in mind. person will milk the Acraflex. second herd. The underpass allows the worker to get from the cups-on side to where the cows back off in a matter of seconds. While it added cost to the overall build, it was worth it for the ease of the workers. Automatic cup removers means unless there

Acraﬂex coating makes cleaning a breeze. Blockwork was done by Advanced Brick and Block.

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to be reliable and effective, is a problem, the person with no moving parts to milking rarely has to go to wear out. the other side of the shed. An electronic ‘eye’ senses The robust platform, where the cow is in relation known as a Donald to the bail and sprays the Platform, runs on nylon teats just as the cow is about rollers and was supplied by to back off, ensuring no Donald Engineering. contamination of the cups. A heavy dual motor is The Wave complements connected to the variable the Platform Magic speed control system and allows lame cow which has controls identiﬁcation, rapid mastitis strategically placed around checking and faster cupping. the shed for ease of use. A lame cow will rest her Bruce says the cows have hoof on the edge of the come together really well Wave, while the smooth – some came from the surface of the Wave allows a The WeTiT teat sprayer tank North Island and hadn’t quick and accurate result for takes teat spray to the cow. been in a rotary shed mastitis tests. before, and they’ve adapted to the different set The milker also beneﬁts as the cow stands in up easily. a weak kicking stance, with legs wider apart. Cows’ teat health is looked after by WETiT Teat Sprayers. Bruce and Shannon decided on a WETiT Platform Magic automatic From cow to vat teat sprayer which Read Industrial installed Read Industrial supplied the milking plant and WETiT Waves, which was installed by and Phil Read says their job is to ensure the WETiT contractor Chris Dunn. milk gets from the cow to the vat. The systems were put in to further enhance There are several functions which are unique the ease of one-person milking. to Read Milking Systems, including their slide The Platform Magic teat sprayer has proven pulsators and the circuit wash system.

Bruce Rolls converted the former cropping farm as the shape lent itself for dairy.

DUNKIRK FARM LTD

Page 114 The Read Milk Recovery System has a unique design.

Coast & Country

Cropping to dairy - choice! for regulating The slide The Protrack system saves hours in the feeding pulsators are able of cows while to be flushed manual labour. milking. with water and are unaffected The barley, by variations in molasses and temperature or minerals are vacuum level. allocated The milk lines cow by cow, are equipped with meaning each Read Industrial’s animal gets the patented circuit amount they wash system, need without which is unique in under-feeding its simple design. or overA single feeding. butterfly valve The meal on the milk line feeding system stays open during was supplied milking and is then closed for washing. by Permbrand and efficiently delivers The wash water is drawn into the meal, grain or molasses to the feeders in main milk line through the jetters and the shed. completely floods the milk line. It passes With high energy feed a must for into the circuit wash return line and production and health, with the push enters the milk receiver through two of a button in the shed each cow has a sprinklers on the top. nutritious feed while being milked. A roller mill was installed for the

Cow history

Automatic cup removers make milking easier, and the robust platform was built by Donald’s Engineering.

The system works well and doesn’t need any air injectors or purge valves. To keep up-to-date real-time information on the cows Protrack from LIC was a must. Workers can see at a glance on the screen a cow’s history or whether she needs drafting out. Alerts can be sent for lame or penicillin cows as they get on the platform. Information can be fed into the computer at any time and manual recording and the reading of ear tags is not often needed. Shannon says they also use Protrack

The blue plastic MinBin takes magnesium to the feeders while the cows are milked.

crushing of grain and a Min-Bin – a plastic hopper that holds 1500 litres – delivers magnesium. Bruce and Shannon are passionate about running the farm in a sustainable manner which is reﬂected in many ways. Saving power is addressed by using a high end heat recovery system supplied by Dairycool Ltd. The Mahana Blue system installed uses heat from the cooler to heat the water for the plant wash. The water is heated to 85 degrees Celsius at 200 litres per second enabling huge savings, says Dairycool Ltd sales manager Lee Gilbert. Another powersaving feature is incorporated into the efﬂuent system.

Different needs

Steve Adam, from Environmental and Civil Solutions, says this is the third effluent system he’s designed and built for Bruce Rolls. After talking with Bruce, Steve established Bruce had some ideas but had different needs on this farm because of the large number of cows. With sustainability again at the forefront of their operations, the Rolls decided on a system that allows the effluent to be gravity fed until it’s pumped out. Steve says the system is built to best industry practice and with a background in civil works, he rates everything on a civil-side rather than rural. This means everything is built to a much higher standard, therefore heavier and designed to last. The system on Dunkirk uses a weeping wall. Effluent flows into a concrete pit divided into two.

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Proving cropping conversions can be successful Most of the solids stay behind in the first section and the liquid continues to drain away into a sump, which can then be gravity fed into the lined storage pond or pumped over. Once in the pond the water is ready for irrigating. A Cobra travelling rain gun is used to spread the pond water, which is kept separate from the lateral irrigator. Steve says the best thing is his company does everything, from the design, earthworks to lining the ponds, automation and pumping. “The only thing we don’t do is hook up the power!” Steve’s wife Barbara is also involved, carrying out Warrant of Fitness on effluent systems. Taking the effluent away are lines put in by Deans Drainage Contracting Ltd, which has had a lot of experience working on dairy conversions far and wide. Working with Rural Building Solutions, the Deans Drainage team also installed the lines for the washdown pads, the milk vat overflows and holding tanks for human waste.

Grunty generator

After losing power on their other properties, due to events such as earthquakes and high winds, Bruce made sure he installed a generator at Dunkirk. He says the cost of the generator can be covered by saving one days worth of milk in the event of a power cut. Q Power supplied the grunty generator which is imported from Italy. With a polyester powder coated acoustic canopy, it has been built to with stand harsh climates. The engines for the Q Power generators are sourced from America or Europe and

have either John Deere or Perkins engines coupled to Stamford alternators. The generators are tested before delivery to ensure smooth running when needed. Laser Electrical then hooked up the generator to the shed. In keeping with the robustness of Dunkirk Farm, extra water storage by the shed was installed. Promax Plastics supplied the corrugated tanks which are designed to last, having extra strength and lasting performance. They can be buried one metre under the ground where there is a height restriction. As Bruce wanted quality the corrugated plastic tanks, which are constructed in one piece, ﬁtted the needs of the farm.

Keeping the shed clean, workers scrub the pipework.

Steve and Husband-and-wife team mental and on vir En m fro Barbara Adams Bruce Rolls’ Civil Solutions look after tem efﬂuent sys .

Successful conversion

While the shed met the needs for milking the cows, outside the growing of grass was aided by Rainer Irrigation. They had done many projects for Bruce in the past, including stock water, pivots, Roto Rainers and effluent systems. For Dunkirk, they designed an effluent system using a Cobra irrigator and a Mono Effluent Pump Model HSE 25/10011kw. Four thousand metres of 100mm nine bar PVC and eight Hump hydrants were also supplied and installed by Rainer Irrigation. With 15,600 square metres being covered per day, this means the farm workers don’t need to undertake as many irrigator shifts. Dunkirk has proven to be a hassle-free, straightforward conversion. And Bruce Rolls, along with the rest of the team, have proven cropping farms can be converted to milk cows successfully. By Amanda Bowes

The eco-friendly weeping wall efﬂuent system is gravity fed.

Shannon Rolls with Dunkirk Farms Ltd staff – two are students.

The lined storage pond, which can be either gravity or pump fed from the efﬂuent sump.

Q Power representatives talk with Lee Gilbert from Dairycool. Behind is another of Bruce Rolls sustainable features – large plastic water tanks from Promax Plastics.

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