28/1/25

Josh & Jenna Phillips

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After installing new ACRs and in-shed feed, we found we had the typical case of cows shitting all the time because of the feed. After nearly 12 months of cows kicking your hands when cupping them, kicking cups off while being milked (2 to 3 per row sometimes), cows stomping or kicking the cups off when the ACR turned off and some cows just being absolute nightmares to milk. After trying other “experts”  who couldn't find anything wrong, we finally called Peter towards the end of the 24/25 season. Peter found a handful of issues, relating to the electric fence unit, milk probe and the ACRs. After rebreaking in the entire herd, our cows no longer kick your hands when cupping, cups aren't being kicked off or stomped off when the ACR turned off and the main cows who would rather fight than be milked are now standing still to be milked. Hosing every row is now a thing of the past with maybe one or two cows shitting as they exit is our new norm (I believe this to be a yard design issue) while shit on the yard would be approx ⅓ of what we used to get.

Our SCC is much more stable, sitting well under 100 and our mastitis cases are less than ¼ of last season. I hate to think how many cows were wasted because of continued mastitis through an unpleasant milking environment.

We ran out of in-shed feed for 5 days before a new load could be delivered and I thought we were in for a hard time. Our cow flow went unchanged over this time and cows didn't shit more in the shed either. My suspicion is, if your cows stop walking in without feed and crap more, there may be stray voltage and the in-shed is helping cover it up. 

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I would recommend Peter to anyone, even if you don't think you have stray voltage, it's worth making sure.

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Josh & Jenna Phillips

Koramo Wired Ltd

Riverlea,  Taranaki.

Ph. 0276334908

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Jenny Buckley and Dave van den Beuken - 50/50 Sharemilkers

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We took over the farm next door at the start of the 2022/23 season and called Peter in September at the end of our tethers about dealing with the 30 aside cowshed with ACR’s.

Lack of cow flow (well no flow at all, we had to have someone out in the yard pushing the cows in), cows especially heifers constantly kicking the cups off, nervous kicky cows, having to hose every row, and mastitis issues.

We had to have 4 people in the shed during milking just to get it done which was ridiculous.

It was an extraordinarily stressful time and we were seriously thinking of giving up farming due to the difficulties we were having just trying to milk the cows every day. Everyone we spoke to said it was just new farm problems and the cows would settle, but half the cows were our own original herd who had been very quiet up until that point and they were just getting worse. We knew there had to be something wrong.

Peter arrived within two days and immediately found two major problems. Serious stray electricity leakage from our electric fence unit, and interestingly the cup removers in themselves were emitting stray voltage from their flow sensors causing the cows to kick the cups off. We immediately moved the electric fence unit further away and Peter made bonding wires on-site to connect to the ACR’s. He was at the shed for 6 hours sorting everything out.

He provided a detailed report with his findings and the cost was a fraction of what we were expecting.

After 4 milkings we didn’t even have to use the backing bars or backing gate until the last row, the cows WANT to be milked now with no cups kicked off and hardly any crap to hose away. We’ve shaved an hour off our mikings with two less people needed. The cows, us, and staff are far more relaxed leading to far more milk production and a happier environment for everyone. Our Somatic Cell Count dropped incredibly, consistently sitting at around 65,000 now.

We think it should be mandatory for Peter to visit cowsheds every few years to check what’s going on. It’s a Health and Safety as well as an Animal Welfare issue, not to mention the mental stress stray electricity in cowsheds can cause.

We wonder how many cows live their whole lives in an uncomfortable environment like that, without their owners/managers/staff realizing how common this issue is?

There is a simple solution if you’re having problems in your cowshed, get Peter out to check!

Peter Dewes definitely saved our dairy farming career.

 

Jenny Buckley and Dave van den Beuken - 50/50 Sharemilkers

Jaydee Farm Ltd

Tauwhare, Cambridge

0276400520