News

MilkHub 4x4 team finishes second in class for series

Editor — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 23:06:56 +0000

Milkhub would like to congratulate Sue & Rowan Huckstep on their great results from the National 4x4 Series. They have been great ambassadors for MilkHub and have given us some exciting entertainment!

Here is Rowan's final update:

"The 4x4 National Trial Series is over for another year with the final round held south of Thames on Saturday 7 April. We finished 2nd on the day in A class and 2nd in the series for A class. We also got 2nd in A class for the Central Zone Series (a series of 3 rounds within National Series). We knew we had to win on Saturday to win the series and it just wasn't our day. We finished on equal points with the winner but they had more round wins so take 1st place

Some hazards were pretty hard and technical with a lot of rocks. We had an axle break inside the diff so the whole thing had to be taken out and dismantled taking about an hour and a half which probably made me drive a little more cautiously after that (not on purpose though)."

Thanks Rowan & Sue, and all the best for your campaign next year!

Open Day & Demo at Kaitaia

Editor — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:59:30 +0000

Joe & Fiona King hosted an open day at Elbury Farm last Friday demonstrating their new shed milking 600 cows.

The King's brand new 60 Bail Rotary Dairy shed features a stainless steel platform, 75 m square yard and return race doubling up as feed pad, MilkHub auto drafting, flood wash and good effluent management systems.

Contributing companies included: Dairy Build; MilkHub; Peter Covich Electrical; Farmlands; De Laval; Northland Metal Industries Ltd; Placid Rotaries.

Read the Northern Age feature pages here: page 8, page 9

Congratulations to our Field Days competition winners!

Editor — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:46:43 +0000

Congratulations to the winners of our recent Field Day competitions. Your local reps will be in touch to deliver your prizes.

Play Tag and Win! (Southern FD)

Vicki Simmons

10 Straw Draw (Northland FD)

Eian and Phenny Brown

10 Straw Draw (Central Dist FD)

Hazel Schroder

CRV Gift Basket (Central Dist FD)

Ken Williamson

10 Straw Draw (DWN Conf)

Heather Woodcock

Canterbury User Group Training - April

Editor — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:45:44 +0000

We're looking forward to our advanced user training session focusing on drying off with MilkHub. Participants have been notified already so this is a friendly reminder to put the date in your diaries and bring your questions for Moonyeen, Josh and Ross.

Date: April 12th

Time: 10.30am - 2.30pm

Venue: Ashburton Hotel

Let us know asap if we've inadvertently missed you out.

There will be further User Group Training Days held in other regions later in the year.

Plant cleaning made easy with Automation

Editor — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:27:00 +0000

In some dairy sheds you may be happy to eat your dinner off the floor. In others, even a hardy street cleaner would fear to tread. Anyone can all see cleaning issues on the shed floor but what about the parts of the plant that come into contact with the cow and the milk?

Poor cleaned plant gives opportunity for bacteria to gain hold and that can lead to hygiene downgrades. With poorly cleaned cups there is a chance of spreading infections from the hospital herd to the healthy cows next milking.

The MilkHub dairy automation and management system uses a 4-in-1 sensor to measure cleaning solution and help you detect cleaning issues on a daily basis.

Cleaning Summary as displayed on broadcast screenFollowing every milking a highly visible broadcast screen displays your cleaning information. The screen graphic gives an easy to read display depicting the platform with each bail clearly identified and suspect cleaning issues highlighted in colour.

The system also communicates cleaning information back to the MilkHub online management webpage. This means you can keep an eye on cleaning performance when ever and where ever you like. You can even look back each milking to see if there are morning or afternoon issues or if issues are being fixed in good time.

Plant cleaning is measured by monitoring water temperature, flow rate and volume flushing through each cluster. Low temperature may mean milk fats are not melted and remain attached to pipe surfaces. Poor flow may indicate lack of force to wash features like joins and corners. Lack of volume may indicate milk residue is not completely flushed out.

Maybe the hot water cylinder needs turning up, or jetters need adjusting, or components need servicing to remove blockages or repair leaks. Once you know there are issues you can do something about it!

The Dairyman, April 2012

MilkHub 4x4 team see mud from new angle

Editor — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:56:41 +0000

Here's an update from our fantastic 4x4 team, Rowan & Sue Huckstep.

"On 31st of December we had the third round of the national series in Wanganui. The weather was wet wet wet so things under foot were really soft and muddy. We had a good day and finished second in class.

After three rounds we are first in class and 55th equal overall, there are 89 competitors total.

Here is a clip on youtube of us showing off the sponsors names (I made a mistake and we tipped over).
The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIQSS58y6Pk&feature=youtu.be

We are shown towards the end.

Looking forward to Whitemans Valley on the 29th of January."

MilkHub Farm Day & Dairy Automation Demonstration, Taupo, 14 December

Editor — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:52:48 +0000

MilkHub and CRV AmBreed are running a Dairy Automation Demonstration Day in Reporoa at Broadlands Landcorp farm on Wednesday 14^th December, from 11am to 1.30pm.

This is your opportunity to come along, obligation free, and see our MilkHub dairy automation installation in action.

The Demonstration Day will also cover:

Improving productivity through cow information; understanding the value of dairy automation
Breeding a herd to suit your farm and build resilience into your system

BBQ lunch will be provided. Click here for more information about this practical and informative day.

If you would like any further information please feel free to contact us.

We look forward to seeing you there.

MilkHub helps drives productivity and profit gain for Landcorp

Editor — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:30:08 +0000

In Landcorp’s recently released 2011 Annual Report, Chief Executive Chris Kelly announced that Landcorp Farming has recorded one of its most profitable years with a $42.2 million net operating profit before tax, up from $10.0 million in the previous year.

Mr Kelly noted that along with product prices up across the board and favourable growing conditions, Landcorp’s long-term strategy of diversification, people development and best practice farming has definitely paid off over the past year.

Part of Landcorp’s strategy is to embrace new technologies and technology transfer including the installation of MilkHub dairy automation and herd management software in the majority of Landcorp’s rotary dairies.

Landcorp 2011 Annual Report“We put increasing emphasis on performance by the individual animal in dairying as well. MilkHub, the in-dairy management system, has become an extremely useful tool for monitoring cow performance, and for decision making on herd composition, feed regimes and animal health. MilkHub has been rolled out progressively since 2007 and is now operating in 19 of Landcorp’s dairies. Its value continues to grow as more information is assimilated and managers become more expert in its use. MilkHub helps drive productivity through efficient feed allocation, and smarter management of herd condition and performance.

The system requires individual animal identification using electronic ear tags and radio frequency (RFID) readers. Landcorp is well advanced in adoption of this technology for MilkHub, and also for smarter management in beef and deer operations. We are ready for the launch of National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) in the New Zealand livestock industry in 2012, but our commitment to RFID and data gathering goes far beyond NAIT compliance. For Landcorp, individual animal monitoring is a key enabler of productivity gain,” said Mr Kelly.

View the full 2011 Landcorp Annual Report here.

Use NAIT to get started in automation

Editor — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 03:17:34 +0000

While some farmers will see mandatory NAIT tagging as an unwelcome and expensive compliance issue, MilkHub Managing Director Ross Nilson says that others are taking the opportunity to use the RFID technology to upgrade their shed operations with automation. "RFID tags are the essential starting point for automation. We understand the prospect of new technology being foisted onto farmers can be quite overwhelming for some, so farmers need to know they don’t have to spend their entire payouts installing all the whistles and bells to get some real on-farm benefit from NAIT compliance." says Ross.

MilkHub 4x4 team has great start

Editor — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:19:50 +0000

Rowan and Sue Huckstep got off to a fantastic start at the first National 4x4 Trials event near Inglewood in Taranaki last Saturday. They came in a creditable third. Not bad!

We're looking forward to seeing how they go in the next event on 20th November at Stokes Rd in South Waikato. If you're interested in going along to watch, find out more info here.

If you want to know more about Rowan's MilkHub installation (and how he gets time off to go trialling), get in touch with our Taranaki rep Jim Barnes.