Cow and farmer friendly
Cows benefit from robotic milking. They are more relaxed, healthier, and reward farmers with more milk.
Dairy automation specialist Lely has developed a version of its Discovery robot to remove manure from solid floors, unlike the original which could only push muck through floor slats.
The Discovery Collector contains a vacuum pump to ‘hoover’ up manure after first softening it with a front mounted water nozzle, then using a following spray to wet the floor to prevent it becoming slippery.
On board, two water bladders of 70L capacity are filled from a docking station at the end of a cycle, and in a neat piece of design, the bladder containing the manure expands as the water tanks empty.
After a run, manure is emptied from the machine at a designated dump site.
The Collector navigates independently using in-built sensors, following an easily programmed, pre-determined path at pre-determined times.
Available in Europe in early 2017 and elsewhere later in the year.
http://www.lely.comThe Rural Change programme, providing free private mental health professional sessions to the rural industry, is set to continue its next chapter within Rural Support Trust from 1 July 2024.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand chief executive Sam McIvor will step down in July.
A new report shows farm employers across the dairy, sheep and beef, and arable sectors have continued to invest strongly in one of their greatest assets – their staff.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.