Unsurprisingly on dairy farms between 40-50% of staffing hours are spent milking cows. However, a lot of this time is wasted due to inefficient routines.
When the milking routine lacks structure then this will lead to inefficiencies. This results in longer than necessary milking times – costing time and money.
That’s why Josh Wheeler from QCONZ developed the Milking by Time (MbT) device which has been designed to help farmers implement and maintain efficient milking routines. Josh realised the need for the MbT through his milking efficiency work with DairyNZ and their Milksmart programme.
The opportunity for NZ farmers to improve milking efficiency was highlighted by the recent benchmarking work Josh was involved with. This showed 94% of rotaries and 85% of herringbones were achieving less than 80% of their potential efficiency. Fonterra farmers wanting to see their potential time savings from implementing an efficient milking routine can review their Milking Efficiency Insights Report distributed in October 2021. With the MbT farmers have been able to operate rotary and herringbone dairies consistently at 90-100% of their potential. A win-win for all – less time milking, better teat health, and less over-milking.
To learn more about MbT and how easy it is to use, visit the website https://milkingbytime.co.nz/ . To watch some video clips of farmers using the MbT, go to the Milking by Time page on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/milkingbytime/
To talk to Josh directly, call him on (027) 431 0543 or email josh@qconz.co.nz
