26 | Extra recovery time has been a huge Bruce has progressively taken over the reins. Three hundred and fifty American bred Friesian cows are milked through six robots. Richard Loader DAIRY » Bruce Dinnington The Dinnington’s dairy farm takes pride of place deep in the Southland plains near the small rural township of Dacre between Invercargill and Edendale. Bruce Dinnington is the 3rd generation in his family to farm the land that his grandfather first bought in 1947. When Bruce’s parents, Alan and Noeline, took over in the ‘70s the farm was converted to dairy. Initially milking the cows through a walk-through shed, Alan moved to a herringbone system before getting really modern with a rotary. While Alan and Noeline remain active on the farm, Bruce has progressively taken over the reins and a little over five years ago continued the legacy of embracing change with the introduction of a Lely robotic milking systems in conjunction with a 360-bale free stall barn. Three hundred and fifty American bred Friesian cows are milked through six robots, with spring and autumn calving at 18 month intervals. “Some of the cows in the herd have done two years milking, before I put them back into calf,” says Bruce. “Because they’re such big milking cows I don’t have to calve them every year. Cows that calved last springtime, for example, I won’t put them in calf until this June or July, which means they won’t calve until next autumn. So all the cows here are getting a six month break between calving and mating. That extra recovery time has been a huge benefit for the cows. Apart from two months when they are dried off before calving, they milk all the way through.” The Dinnigton’s big Friesians average 45 litres of milk at peak, compared to an average 23/24 litres per cow, explains Bruce. “My top cows are doing seventy litres a day. If they drop below forty litres a day, I will put them back in calf. If they’re still providing forty litres a day, I don’t see much point in putting them back into calf. This calendar year we’re on track to achieve 750kgMS per cow.” The Lely robotic system enables the cows to decide what they do when they want to do it, providing a stress free milking experience for animal and man. “They’re milking three times a day, which takes the pressure off the udder and the feed in the robots is production based. My big milking cows get the actual supplements they need to keep them going. In the past with a rotary system, every cow got the same regardless of how much they produced. That meant those big milking girls weren’t getting enough to sustain them. www.rogersmotorcycles.co.nz Contact Kevin and the team at Rogers Motorcycles. 84 Leet Street, Invercargill, LMVD. P 03 218-9584. Sales AH Kevin McDonald 027-678-5671 OPEN SAT 10.00am-Noon Proud to support Bruce Dinnington 299 North Road, Invercargill Phone - 03 215 9237 vsi@vetservices.co.nz www.vetservices.co.nz Waikiwi Vet Services Ltd That made it hard for them to get back in calf and retain condition. I can really look after those big milking cows now, and they thrive under this system. It’s just so stress free for them and they are contented.” The cows’ freedom to wander in and out when they feel like it at their own individual pace has also eliminated lame feet resulting from walking in as a hierarchical herd, pushing and shoving and scrapping to be first in or out of the shed. “They just wander down the lanes, stop and start, it’s just a much more relaxed environment for them. When they are in the barn, they still have free access to the robots, but the robot won’t milk them within six hours of a previous milking.”
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