A former school teacher, Amy and her husband Greg are herd owning sharemilkers, milking 240 cows on her parents’ farm; the robotic milking shed with three Lely robots can milk 240 cows three times over 24 hours.
“We have some OAD cows, with the rest milking twice or three times a day particularly in early lactation; we split-calve and milk year round,” Amy told Dairy News.
The farm began running farm tours for local and tourist groups and the idea of writing a book came after many positive comments about the dairy farming system.
“I had also taken umbrage at many negative comments about dairying on social media and in the media in general. Like most dairy farmers we are proud of what we do and take good care of our animals.”
The book, On the Free Range, Robotic Dairy Farm -- Midnight Mooovers, is about two of their cows -- Tinkly and Smoochy -- and their discovery that they are no longer shut in the paddock.
They sneak out in the middle of the night and find they can milk themselves and enjoy a midnight molasses snack before moving to a fresh paddock.
They are a bit worried that Farmer Goat might tell them off for being sneaky but he and Mrs Farmer Goat are very happy that their clever cows have worked out this new system all on their own.
The book is illustrated by a South Island professional cartoonist Rick Menard.
Some profits from book sales will be donated to their local rural schools, Amy says.
“It’s a great NZ story for anyone aged 2 - 102 who loves farming, cows or technology.”
Books are priced at $13 each or $12 each for two or more. Email orders to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
