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While advances in technology are incredibly helpful on-farm, they aren’t the only way to modernise the workplace, DairyNZ senior scientist Callum Eastwood says.
“Sometimes technology’s not the best solution. There’s often things we can do to tweak our farming practices,” Eastwood told The Country Sport Breakfast’s, Brian Kelly.
Of course, this doesn’t mean using technology on-farm isn’t also a valuable tool.
“We do a technology survey every five years and our recent survey that’s just finished highlighted the popularity of some of the technologies around automating parts of the job, particularly milking and also animal wearables - things like automated cup removers, drafting and heat detection and animal sensors,” Eastwood said.
“These can save time but also make the job quite a bit easier.”
DairyNZ has increased its focus on improving the workplace environment in recent years, looking into the value of not only technology but also researching other methods to give farmers more options for running a successful business.
This includes upskilling staff and strengthening communication within the team.
Proven milking techniques were also providing some “easy wins” so far, Eastwood said.
One example is the “MaxT,” strategy, where cows are milked to a pre-determined time based on their milk volume, which results in less time in the dairy for staff and cows.
Using flexible milking, or once-a-day, has also proved successful, along with innovative rostering systems, using kanban boards for task scheduling, and providing employees with more flexibility in the workplace.
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Keeping staff safe and well was also a priority, Eastwood said.
“Recently we also partnered with ACC to look at sprain and strain injuries on-farm - obviously you don’t want people in your team to go down at any time of the year with injuries - so we’ve been looking at how you can create some opportunities on your farm to de-risk things like lifting calves and milking so you can hopefully reduce the injury risk on your farm.”
There will be an opportunity to learn more about this at DairyNZ’s upcoming Farmers’ Forums.
“This year’s Farmers’ Forums are really focused on the theme of research to reality - so, practical science for dairy farmers,” Eastwood said.
“Along with the technology and workplace topics - they’ll also cover profitability [such as the] use of things like plantain and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.”
The first forum is in Waikato on April 27, followed by one in Ashburton on May 9.
Farmers can register now at Farmers’ Forum 2023.