Milking longer with maize silage
This season's dry conditions have made one thing clear: not having enough feed on hand can bring your season to an early close.
Waikato Milking Systems’ latest innovation, ErgoPOD is now commercially available within New Zealand and Australia.
This state-of-the-art semi-robotic milking technology promises to increase milking speed, productivity, and efficiency in the milking parlour, the company says.
Designed to break productivity barriers, Ergo- POD is said to focus on ten key drivers developed to optimise the milking process and enhance overall productivity.
“ErgoPOD redefines milking precision with its advanced quarter-milking technology, enabling early detection of health concerns for faster, targeted intervention at the individual animal level.
“Engineered with hygiene and milk quality as core priorities, ErgoPOD uses individual per quarter milk lines rather than the traditional milking cluster. This eliminates cross-contamination between quarters and allows for precise milk sampling from within each quarter to identify potential infections,” WMS says.
Additionally, the DairyHQ Parlour Management System enhances this process by delivering real-time production data and live updates on cow health and system performance, empowering farmers to make informed decisions with confidence.
ErgoPOD is engineered to reduce energy and water usage, promoting greater environmental stewardship. Its seamless integration into both new and existing rotary dairy installations ensures operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
“With ErgoPOD, our vision was a future where efficiency, safety, and animal well-being converge seamlessly,” says Jamie Mikkelson, executive chairman, Waikato Milking Systems.
“Our mission was to provide dairy farmers with the technology to achieve unprecedented productivity and efficiency to milk more cows, while prioritising the health and safety of both operators and cows.
“For dairy farmers driven to enhance milking time productivity and efficiency, with an improved return on investment, ErgoPOD is the ultimate solution,” says Mikkelson.
According to the most recent Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, farmer confidence has inched higher, reaching its second highest reading in the last decade.
From 1 October, new livestock movement restrictions will be introduced in parts of Central Otago dealing with infected possums spreading bovine TB to livestock.
Phoebe Scherer, a technical manager from the Bay of Plenty, has won the 2025 Young Grower of the Year national title.
The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards, providing the opportunity to honour both rising talent and industry stalwarts.
Award-winning boutique cheese company, Cranky Goat Ltd has gone into voluntary liquidation.
As an independent review of the National Pest Management Plan for TB finds the goal of complete eradication by 2055 is still valide, feedback is being sought on how to finish the job.
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