Time saving opportunity for grass based dairy farmers

Jamie McCoy, Dairy Technical Officer

A project improving cow tracks and grazing infrastructure has been taking place at Moor demonstration farm. Andrew Rees, the farmer has been trialling a Batt Latch gate, on kind loan from KiwiKit. The gate is solar powered and programmed on a timer to release automatically allowing the cows to return to the parlour at the set time, and moves with the cows as they graze around the farm.

Within just 3 days of having the new gate the cows were all responding by heading back to the yard as soon as the gate opened, ready for milking. Andrew claims that the auto-latch gate is saving a minimum of 20 mins per day, and more on the days grazing the furthest paddocks. He says ‘The auto-latch gives me a good head start on the day, saving time sat on the bike, burning fuel and rushing the slower cows. Extra time in the morning means I can have a coffee, plan my day, and still start milking on time. It also means we keep to a timetable on farm, because at milking time the cows are coming ready or not!’

Whilst the herd does not have a particular problem with lameness it is considered good practice to allow cows to walk at their own pace rather than rushing them and for some cows it reduces the time spent waiting in the collecting yard as they don’t all arrive at the same time.

It is difficult to value time – some would say priceless… however if we consider a saving of 20 mins/day at £10/hr this equates to £1216 annually, and payback on the initial investment within weeks!