The 112m long, 22.5m wide dual purpose calf and show shed is being put through its paces for the first time this season.
Come October, Gorbro Holsteins of Cohuna is hoping its milking herd will be housed in a purpose-built, 750-head free stall barn and the cow comfort it has dreamed of for years will finally become a reality.
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Glen and brother Drew said the barn was the result of five hard years of hard work researching and refining detail with the goal to take animal welfare to the next level and protect their herd from climate extremes.
“This development is all about cow comfort and the theory the more comfortable the cow is, the better she will milk, the higher her fertility will be and the more cows we can get in calf,” Glen said.
“We have one of the top genetic herds in the country and we wanted a facility and a system to match.”
The 200m free stall barn was started in January.
Once completed the brothers expect the herd to spend the majority of their day in the barn comfortably eating, drinking and resting.
“The cows will leave the barn twice a day for about an hour and a half for each milking. There will be a lot of work droving the separate herds to and from the shed and cleaning the beds when they are gone,” Glen said.
The brothers haven’t ruled out letting the cows graze at certain times of the year, but that will depend on the weather and what happens in the vat.
“We will just wait and see how all that works out — the cows might end up spending all their time in the barn,” Glen said.
He said they were expecting to run three separate herds — a sick herd, a fresh herd and possibly a young herd but again they would have to wait and see.
Rather than feeders, milk is fed via a trough in the wet area. The trough also doubles up as a grain feeder as well.
The decision to build a barn wasn’t taken lightly, however they are confident in their decision to build a free stall barn complete with undercover sand beds and a 90m compost loafing area.
“It will be like the cows are sitting in their own cubicle at the beach,” Glen laughed.
The decision to use sand for bedding is a more expensive option but the fact bacteria can’t grow in sand was a huge driver behind the choice.
They purchased a 80 horse power tractor whose specific job will be to rake the sand beds every day.
“We have also invested in a sand trap that is designed to reclaim 95 per cent of the sand we use and because sand will be a significant cost to the business, we want to reduce that cost where we can,” Glen said.
In simple terms, wastewater from the barn will flow into the trap and the sand will accumulate in the top section where it will be dragged aside and into a pile, while wastewater will flow into a pond and be reused and recirculated across the farm.
The barn will have its own 100kW solar system which will generate enough power to run the 64 fans placed throughout the facility.
The show area of the pen.
This is the second solar development on the farm.
“Dad is a big believer in solar and we have had a 100kW system on our dairy for the last five years and it has certainly helped reduce our power costs.”
Despite completely changing the management of their farm and the herd, Glen is looking forward to what the future will bring for their operation.
They plan to increase the milking herd from 680 split cows to 880.
There are no plans to change the existing 60-unit rotary dairy, although a concrete laneway will be constructed to link the dairy to the barn.
“Animal welfare is going to be a huge issue for the industry moving forward and we are passionate about ensuring a sustainable future — this investment is all about ensuring we have happy and content cows,” Glen said.
“Dad always said if we stayed in the industry long enough we would reap the rewards and the last few years we have had record prices and there is a lot of confidence in the industry at the moment.”
The Evolve feed rails by Easy Fix.
The milk tanker has been a game changer when it comes to feeding calves, heating the milk up to 39 degrees. Calf rearer Kelly Bleijendaal just drives it alongside the pens and fills the troughs up without having to lift a single bucket.
Gorbro is hoping its 200m free stall barn will be in action by October. The shed will be capable of housing 750 cows.
Some of the 64 fans waiting to be hung.
The sand trap will hopefully allow 95 per cent of the sand used in the barn to be recycled.
