What our farmers think:
Calm cows and calm people for better milking
Summit Farm is an early adopter of Gatekeeper. Milking 700 cows through a 54 bale rotary cowshed.
Cam Henderson, the farm owner, saw the value and benefits of technology that saves time and money, is easy on the cows and reduces the load on his workers.
Cam loves technology, the farm has solar panels with Kea Energy, fertigation and pivot control with Onfarm Data, Allflex cow collars for herd management and now backing gate control with Gatekeeper by Moover.
Cam outlines his reasoning for installing the Gatekeeper system. “I'm one of those people that like to be at the leading edge with technology and the Gatekeeper concept really fitted with the ethos of the farm. Animal welfare is important to me. Yard management contributes to cow stress levels. Having consistency with the backing gate is really important when there are different people using it day to day. Happy cows lead to better production, better health outcomes, less lameness, less stress leading to other things like mastitis so less treatment costs and monetary bonuses when the Somatic Cell Count is below the threshold.”
Steve Overend has been the Contract Milker at Summit Farm for two seasons, starting just after Gatekeeper was installed. Steve explains how it feels using Gatekeeper to control his backing gate: -
“The best thing for me is the relaxed vibe in the shed during milking. Stress free cows are critical to a profitable operation. Cows get stressed when the people handling them are stressed. So stress free people are important too.”
When backing gates push cows against their will it contributes to white line disease, a debilitating hoof condition causing lameness. Steve reports a lower incidence of lameness in the herd since using Moover and implementing a number of new herd management initiatives. “Definitely a lot less lameness this year than last year even with the wetter season this year, and it’s not only about how long the cows are on concrete it’s also about cow flow from the paddock to the shed. Relaxed cows flow better."
Steve finds Moover helps reduce staff training costs. “When we do have a new person milking I don’t even mention the backing gate. When you’re milking it just does its thing and the cows know what to expect every day”