| 59 PRODUCTION Maui Sheep Milk Waikino Station imported a French internal rotary 64-bale sheep-milking plant. Waikato Milking Systems is building on the successful launch of its small ruminant technology to helpmore Kiwi farmers enter the emerging dairy sheep and dairy goat markets. The agritech company has its headquarters andmanufacturing plant near Hamilton where it designs and builds milking systems for cows and now sheep and goats too. The company’s Small Ruminants Specialist Andy Geissmann said strong interest in goat and sheep dairy milking over the past three years had been driven by consumer demand. “People are developing a taste for sheep and goat milk dairy products and are aware of their nutritional bene its as well as their lower environmental footprint. “There’s less nitrogen loading required, a lot less water needed and a smaller area to farm the animals.” Waikato Milking Systems designed and installed a prototype 100-point goat rotary milking system for Wilma Farms in Canada. That project was commissioned in 2018 to milk the farm’s 1500 goats. “We learned a lot from that pilot project in Canada as well as feedback from farmers already working in the small ruminants industry. “We know goat and sheep have very di erent animal behaviour and that prompted us to design a separate milking system for goats and another for sheep.” In 2020 the company launched its Optima External Goat Rotary System and an inline, Agili Goat Rapid Exit System. For dairy sheep, it released its Ultimo Internal Sheep Rotary System and its Agili Rapid Sheep Exit System. The company commissioned three sheep and three goat milking systems in New Zealand while nine goat rotary milking systems were installed in China and one in the US in 2020. In New Zealand, Andy said good prices for milk suppliers o ered by Maui Milk, Spring Sheep Milk and the Dairy Goat Co-operative were luringmany dairy cow farmers over to the other side of the fence. “We are inding that cow shed conversions are the most popular option being explored by farmers looking tomove into small ruminant dairy farming. “That’s because it lets themmake use of their existing assets.” Andy has worked with Kiwi farmers to ensure there is an option to suit entry level or large scale farming operations, and everything in between. Many of the new installations in New Zealand had inished their irst season milking and feedback had been very positive, Andy said. “We’ve designed the systems to be strong, durable and for longevity. “We’ve also designedmilking automation technology which can be applied at di erent levels for each of the systems to enhance performance, e iciency and productivity.” For example, the rotary parlours for sheep and goats both feature rubber matting on the deck to reduce stress on the animals duringmilking time, and provide a quiet and calm environment. “We can also con igure each system in terms of point size and technology, tomatch each farm’s unique conditions and targets. “Nomatter what the situation, there is an option to suit.” Performance & productivity
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