Waikato Milking Systems At Fieldays 2021: Introducing CowTRAQ Collars And DairyHQ Dairy Management System

Dairy farmers operating in a complex, modern industry can find the solutions to the challenges they’re facing, by partnering with Waikato Milking Systems at this year’s National Fieldays.

The dairy technology company will showcase new products aimed at helping farmers make decisions on how to improve efficiency and productivity, to meet the unique conditions of their operation.

There will also be a focus on helping farmers improve the milk quality of their herds, with labour-saving and data collection technology already tested around the world, from large-scale commercial operations to the traditional family-owned farms.

“We’re asking farmers at this year’s Fieldays, what are you looking for?” GM Sales and Operations Asia Pacific, Grant Wisnewski said.

“We want to know what are the goals for each of our farmers and understand what it is they want to achieve.

“We can then help find the right solutions using our products, technology, people and our 50 years’ experience in the dairy industry.”

Looking for improved cow health data?

Waikato Milking Systems launched its new CowTRAQ™ Collars in May, in partnership with dairy herd management technology company, Nedap.

The collars offer Heat and Health monitoring at your fingertips, so you can take control of your herd’s performance.

They collect data on heat detection, eating time, rumination monitoring and cow identification, all from a single collar.

The collars send the information gathered to a central point where the TracHQ™ software translates the data into a format for the operator to review.

The software has a simple, user-friendly interface, and is available with mobile alerts on PC and tablets.

It’s a modular solution so upgrading to include auto sorting and integration to milking solutions and feeding in the future is simple.

With a three-year, 100% replacement warranty, and graded warranty thereafter, it’s technology you can trust and rely on. Typically the operating life is 8-10 years so it outperforms and goes the distance.

“We’ll also be introducing our new DairyHQ™ Dairy Management System to the market at this year’s Fieldays, which we’ve been developing to help improve milking efficiencies and productivity,” Grant said.

“It takes herd performance data as well as offering a complete overview of the platform. It gives the operator an insight into what’s happening in every stall during milking time.”

DairyHQ™ can also provide instant alerts and can be remotely accessed from any device.

Looking for improved milk quality?

“Improving milk quality will also be a top focus at this year’s Fieldays and again it’ll be based on what dairy farmers want to achieve,” Grant said.

“If it’s labour savings farmers are looking for, our ECR-S and ECR Plus range of electronic cup removers could be the right solution.

“Its technology that eliminates the need to manually remove the cups at the end of milking.

“Automating this step in the milking process frees up time to spend elsewhere on the farm.”

Waikato Milking Systems will also use Fieldays to showcase its tried and proven, SmartD-TECT technology, which samples milk from each quarter of a cow’s udder, to keep track of udder health and provide early mastitis detection.

“If farmers are looking to reduce somatic cell counts, this is definitely a solution which can help achieve that goal,” Grant said.

“If the focus is on measuring the milk yield of the herd, or even right down to how each cow performs at each milking time, our Electronic Milk Meters can provide a milking profile of each animal.

“Using this data can help design better feed regimes for each animal, ensuring the herd is performing to its optimum level.”

Looking for advances in teat spraying automation?

Waikato Milking Systems launched its WalkoverSPRAYER (powered by Teatwand) in May, automating another time-consuming function at milking time.

It uses optical sensor technology to accurately spray the teats of each cow as the animals walk over the sprayer. The sprayer can track fast moving cows to ensure no animals are missed.

The sprayer’s automatic nozzle wash ensures the unit can be cleaned and ready to deploy at each milking time.

Looking for better advice?

Waikato Milking Systems will return to its prominent trade site (F45-M14-M12) at Mystery Creek in Hamilton for Fieldays 2021, from June 16-19.

Automation technology will feature highly at the site and include an interactive touch screen to demonstrate the company’s new DairyHQ™ software.

Visitors will also be able to see and learn more about automatic cup removers, SmartD-TECT, Electronic Milk Meters, YieldINDICATOR and the new CowTRAQ™ Collars.

The site will also show the new WalkoverSPRAYER and demonstrate how it connects/works with a sort gate.

Milking systems for small ruminants will also be prominent at the site this year, as more farmers enter the dairy sheep or dairy goat industries.

Visitors will also be able to inspect a section of the company’s award-winning Centrus Composite Rotary platform which is now used by some of the world’s largest dairy farms.

Milk cooling will also be part of the site’s offering, all connected via an information centre to help match visitors with the right staff to talk about the solutions available.

Waikato Milking Systems will also have its site cafe operating for visitors to have a rest, chat and perhaps talk over business opportunities during the four-day Fieldays event.

Grant said the company was looking forward to exhibiting at the event after it was forced to take a break in 2020 because of Covid-19.

“It’ll be a chance for us to showcase the new products and advances in technology we’ve been busy working on during the past 24 months.

“We’re keen to see some familiar faces but also meet some new people to see how we can help more dairy farmers meet the challenges they’re facing.”

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