Innovative Te Puke Farmer Wins Smarter Not Harder Competition

A modified spring rotation planner has won dairyman Doug Pamment of Te Puke the Vestigo Dairy Management Systems Managing Stock prize in the inaugural Smarter Not Harder competition. 

The contest was run by Dexcel in association with The Dairy Exporter and aimed to showcase innovative ideas and practices used on New Zealand dairy farms.

Mr Pamment’s winning idea is a modified spring rotation planner based on set square meter per head pasture allocations which allows him to easily set temporary fences while eliminating guesswork.

Judges said Mr Pamment’s invention is a perfect example of the competition’s theme – smarter not harder.

The Spring rotation planner frees Doug up to concentrate on other farming activities and enables easy decision making by all staff over the busy Spring period – something that comes in very handy when you have four properties to run as Doug does.

Another aspect of the innovation that shouldn’t be overlooked is that it gives Mr Pamment’s staff more control and authority, which helps to make their jobs more enjoyable and sustainable..

The Smarter Not Harder competition, run by Dexcel in association with the Dairy Exporter was a competition looking for innovative ideas on-farm that help farmers to do the job more quickly, save time and money, make the job easier for a wider range of people or make the job more pleasant to complete.

Part of a larger Dairy InSight and Sustainable Farming Fund funded project,  the competition was open to all New Zealand dairy farmers, and sought to give profile to the simple activities people carry out on farm that contribute to improved people performance and ultimately productivity.

Winners of the other categories were:

• Charles Nimmo, Leeston – management/administration and supreme award winner – whiteboard records management system;
• Ray O’Connor, Helensville - milking process with a cluster alignment system; and
• Mike Tuffin, Winton - machinery adaptations with an adapted drench gun.

Dexcel developer Geoff Taylor said innovation is often about making small, incremental improvements in your farming operation.

“Some people think of innovation as huge breakthroughs that have never been done before – and sometimes that is the case.  But, this competition is all about demonstrating that it’s often the small changes that can make a huge difference day-to-day. 

“This has definitely been demonstrated by our competition winners.  The winning innovations are not real fame-breaking ideas; they are incremental improvements to how a tool is used or an adaptation of an existing tool for improved effectiveness in everyday situations,” said Mr Taylor.

Dexcel will publish all competition entries and some other helpful tips and hints on how to work Smarter Not Harder, on their website, www.dexcel.co.nz, in August.

-ENDS-

For further information contact:

Geoff Taylor, Developer, Dexcel
027 278 1608