Tui Dairies

Tui Dairies is the future of dairy farming in New Zealand, with the farm fully equipped to monitor every individual cow in the state of the art property. Nind Dairy Services were featured in the Sun Live newspaper ‘New Farm Dairies’ feature this year, as contributors to the shed install and effluent system at Tui Dairies.

The 340-hectare property operates a 760-cow operation, with a GEA 64 bail iFLOW rotary platform. Interestingly, all cows have radio-frequency identification (RFID) and the property has 51 paddocks of 4.2ha. All cows are scanned as they enter the rotary platform, where they are tracked individually for things like somatic cell count, calving and more.

Maintenance, thanks to Nind Dairy Services, is minimised by the rotary platform having auto-lubrication on the platforms roller system. A high level of automation within the shed is achieved through the use of the iCONVEYOR rotary milking system which includes automatic cup removers, cow restraints, iPUD teat spraying and a dropdown system. An iNTELWASH system automatically washes down the system at the end of milking too.

The interesting thing about Tui Diaries is the unique effluent system, designed in conjunction with sharemilker; Nick Tomsett, and Nind Dairy Services. The entrance to the collection yard features three large feed pad yards where silage is fed out to the cattle. Looking for an automatic way to effectively clean this area using green wash, Nick went looking on the internet, and worked with Nind Dairy Services to get exactly what he wanted. The design uses GEA flush valves and Nind’s colour touch screen controller to allow an automatic flood wash treatment to suit the farmers needs.

The effluent from Tui Dairies is separated via a weeping wall and sludge bed, before being stored in a lined pond, where it is irrigated out to each individual paddock (all 51) via a network of effluent lines, allowing for efficient and effective use of waste.