Milksmart | DairyNZ

Being milk smart can make a big difference.

DairyNZ's Milksmart aims to improve the milk harvesting efficiency on New Zealand dairy farms.

Milksmart is concerned not only with milking, but with the whole milk harvesting process, from collecting the cows from the paddock and milking, to clean-up and the return of the cows.

The smallest change in the dairy shed can stack up to important savings in both time and costs over a whole season.

The programme allows a farmer to complete a comprehensive self-assessment of the milk harvesting operation and then compare their performance against other farmers.

Having made the comparisons and identified areas in which greater efficiencies may be achieved, Milksmart provides a comprehensive set of guidelines containing suggestions for improvement.

The programme is presented via a website and a series of workshops.

The farmer or farm manager will be able to enter the Milksmart website here.

Once in the site and registered, they will be asked to complete a farm assessment of their milking operation.

The assessment has been broken down into key areas, so farmers can choose to focus on one specific area of concern, or spend time working through the whole assessment to get a big picture overview of their farm's milk harvesting efficiency. It is easy to use, with pictures to prompt what the farmer needs to identify.

Having completed the assessment, a report will be generated indicating areas which may need improvement. Simple prompts will then direct farmers to the appropriate area of the online guide, where they can read information specifically tailored to improve efficiency and choose from a range of resources designed to address the problem area.

There are also a series of Milksmart products geared toward milk harvesting efficiency, centred on systems designed to encourage better communication, tools to improve staff training and promote good practice.