Case Study

John and Debbie Moorby

Scope

John and Debbie Moorby milk 1150 cows across their 350ha dairy property, in their new 80 bail Waikato Milking Systems Centrus Composite Rotary platform, near Te Awamutu, one of the biggest operations of its kind in the Waipa District.

The shed has been fitted with some of the best products Waikato Milking Systems has to offer, making milking time easier and faster. The platform rotates on a multi roller system, this energy saving technology powered by a 2.5kw motor is longer lasting and lighter than traditional systems. The shed includes ECR Plus technology, SmartD-Tect which automatically tests each quarter individually during milking to accurately notify the operator of potential mastitis cases. SmartSpray was installed in each bail and is signalled by the electronic cup remover to spray soon after the cups have been removed this eliminates the need for manual teat spraying. BailGates keep the cows in the bail if they haven’t finished milking to complete another rotation, they are triggered by electronic cup removers and move down automatically at cups on and moves up when the cow has finished milking to allow her off the platform.

Qubik also installed the effluent, milk pre-cooling, refrigeration and in shed water system. A flood wash system was installed on the feedpad, using the green water from the shed during milkings which is stored in 2 concrete tanks, flooding the pad clears the effluent and reduces the need to regularly scrape the pad. An 18.5kw Lowara variable speed pump runs effluent through to the Cobra Travelling Irrigator to be spread on the farm. 

Three 800L water cylinders were installed, visible pipework is noticeably absent with hot water inlets and outlets incorporated in the stainless steel cylinder frame. An 11kw Lowara variable speed wash down pump and 5.5kw Lowara cooler and services pump provide water to the shed. A platform skirt washer keeps the cluster sets clean between use on each cow, feed pad water troughs and yard sprinklers complete the water set up.

A 60kw chilled water system, 2 x 25,000L plastic tanks and heat recovery was installed to ensure the Moorby’s were compliant with the milk cooling standards. Two DX units one new and one existing from the old shed keep the milk at temperature within the vat.