Podcast: Dairy farmers and their staff spend about 50% of their time milking. Milking times have a big impact on the structure of the working day.
An increasing number of farmers are looking for more flexibility in their milking routine and considering alternative options to twice-a-day.
CRV’s Rosanna Dickson talks to DairyNZ Senior Scientist Dr Paul Edwards about how farmers can maintain productivity and profitability, while reducing the number of milkings per lactation. They also discuss how genetics can help farmers breed cows suited to a flexible milking regime.
Paul has been with DairyNZ for nearly 12 years and is currently based at Lincoln in Canterbury. His PhD on the milking efficiency for pastoral dairy farms was incorporated into DairyNZ’s Milksmart programme. Through this and subsequent projects, such as Forages for Reduced Nitrate Leaching and Flexible Milking, Paul has focussed on the practical applications of research results. This has involved working with farmers and stakeholders to maximise the value and applicability of new knowledge.
Rosanna Dickson was raised on the Awhitu Pennisula and has always been a country girl. She joined the dairy industry in 2013. Before that, she worked in FMCG and spent ten years in radio advertising, surviving the global financial crisis of 2008.
Despite being a qualified Chartered Accountant, Rosanna quickly picked up the intricacies of bull traits and semen collection after joining CRV. Her passion is finding the right solution for NZ dairy farmers. Not just products and services but understanding the key business drivers to ensure farms are profitable, environmentally sustainable and are protecting our “Licence to Farm”.
A podcast is a series of digital audio files made available to download through the internet. You can subscribe to your favourite podcast and can listen either online or offline for ease of use. Better yet, they’re free!
Podcasts are mobile friendly, engaging and convenient. Usually they are focused on a particular topic or theme – in this case, herd improvement. You can subscribe to the show with an app, like iTunes or Spotify, on your phone and listen to episodes whenever you like on your headphones, in the car, in the tractor or through speakers.
You can also listen to the podcast via your favourite platform:
