The 100% New Zealand-owned company’s products are sought after at home and abroad for the innovation and quality inherent in the designs and manufacturing. Its Fieldays display will include rotary and herringbone systems, smart technology and new developments to save farmers time and money.
One example of larger-herd farmers’ preference for rotary platforms is Peter Risi, who milks 760 cows in the Tui Glen Farms Partnership at Whitehall, near Cambridge.
Last year, his farm produced 210,000kgMS from 700 cows, and he now aims to achieve 300,000kgMS in 5-10 years.
Risi says putting in a 60-bail Orbit rotary platform from Waikato Milking Systems is one of the best things he has done to increase his efficiency. Going to a rotary means he is milking twice as many cows now.
“For large numbers of cows you need a rotary and you need a good plant or you can’t get through the cows quickly enough. And you need good technology with larger herds.”
The machine has just finished its second season and is working as good as new, Risi says. “Waikato Milking Systems make a good plant. You turn them on and they go. It’s really user-friendly. We’ve had no breakdowns.”
Risi uses Smart technology designed and built by Waikato Milking Systems to combat mastitis, make milking faster and improve milk quality. The products he uses include Smart D-Tect for automatic mastitis alerts, Smart electronic cup removers, Smart Spray and Smart Wash.
“Everything talks to each other and works with the Protrack drafting system. Even with all this technology, you don’t need a degree to work it,” he says. The technology has pretty much saved another whole staff unit because you don’t need a person looking for mastitis.”
Risi says he went with Waikato Milking Systems because it was the best all-round package.
“This wasn’t a short-term decision. We’d been planning the shed for a long, long time. We did all our research, collected a lot of information and talked to other farmers. We went to other people’s cow sheds.
“We told Waikato Milking Systems what we wanted done and they came back with a package and a price. We knew exactly what we were getting for that price and we didn’t have to get out a calculator. It was easy to understand and transparent.
Meanwhile, Michael Hammonds, of Black Creek Farm, says his Waikato Milking Systems’ Supa4 herringbone is awesome to work in – two years old and still going like new.”
“It’s fast. It throws cows out like you wouldn’t believe. The boys row the cows up and start cupping and the shed does the rest. It saves me a whole labour unit.”
Milking 660 cows on 211 ha in Orini in the Waikato region, north of Hamilton, he has a Swing Over with 44-a-side swing arms and SmartPuls digital pulsation technology, both also from Waikato Milking Systems.
While Hammonds doesn’t milk fulltime himself any more, leaving it to his two staff, he says that when he does milk he finds it really enjoyable in the new shed. The wide pit of the Waikato Milking Systems Supa4 herringbone has made all the difference and was a big part of his buying decision.
“Most old sheds are narrow – our old shed was so narrow, you couldn’t get around people – it was just a nightmare.
“Now we have a nice wide pit. We can get two vet trolleys in. When we’re herd testing, we can get six people in the pit. It’s awesome having room to move.”
Hammonds is a third-generation dairy farmer, and proud his son will follow him into dairy farming.
