Two seasons ago Graham Best began milking once a day. It wasn't a spur of the moment decision, Graham had been intending to milk once a day since he and wife Avril bought their Waikite Valley property eight years ago, but with one thing and another it took him a few years to implement the plan.

Graham milks 400 Friesians off an effective 148ha of rolling to steep dairy country. Initially he bought Jerseys, but soon found that while they may be better suited to once-a-day milking, they were not suited to the hills.

'They wouldn't walk up the hills, so we brought in the Friesians, big strong beasts that don't mind the steep hills at all.”

It was those very hills that first decided Graham to milk once a day. Walking to and from the shed, the cows were expending a lot of time and energy which could be better used making milk, but while many cows respond well to spending more time in the paddock, others do not.

'Lower milk yield and higher protein/fat percentage is one of the deciding factors because a cow at peak can only store a certain amount of milk in her udder.

'If you have a cow that has higher milk solid percentage and less milk, she is more likely to store a full 24 hours' worth of milk, but a high volume producer may only store her milk for 16 hours the other eight hours she's not producing. This (being left with a full udder) sends a signal to drop production and dry off. And if you under feed on any given day production drops and you can't get it to come back without a herd bred for once-a-day milking.”

Graham has installed an in-shed feed system to maintain regular feed input and ensure the cows are fed ‘to the max' every day. It seems to have worked as production is up, this season is the second best since he's had on the farm—and he achieved that with 80 less cows than his best year. For the long term he's going through an aggressive selective breeding and culling programme that will ultimately produce a ‘once-a-day herd' of 450 – 500 cows that will increase production even further.

is also a difference in the seasonal production pattern. On twice-a-day there is normally a peak in spring, then production gradually tails off over summer until another, smaller peak in autumn. This doesn't happen on once-a-day—there is a lower spring peak followed by a slow but steady decline without the second peak. Production is more constant and the cows milk longer because they're in better condition, so it all evens out.

Better health

As with people, less stress in cows leads to better all-round health and better condition.

'Per cow they don't produce as much because the demand [of twice a day milking] is not there, but you get a longer lactation time because they're in better condition. You also get more compact calving. On twice-a-day we were getting a submission rate of only about 75 per cent with intervention, last year we had a submission rate of 92 per cent without intervention, and an in-calf rate in the first three weeks of about 70 per cent versus 50 per cent. We had an average empty rate before of around 15 per cent, now, in the last two years we've mated for three weeks less and our empty rate is down to 6 per cent” Graham said.

Other benefits

There are other benefits apart from production and pregnancy. Vet bills are down about 15 per cent Graham's been able to reduce AB from six weeks to three; there's less lameness because they're only walking half the distance and the somatic cell count is down.

There are, however, a few health problems specific to once-a-day milking—for example while clinical mastitis rates remain about the same, it's harder to find and treat. There's also a problem if a cow has weak ligaments—the udder gets fuller and heavier, which puts quite a bit more strain on her. Older cows come in with their teats dragging on the ground, so the older cows tend to get culled earlier than they would otherwise. But on the plus side and there's the advantage that younger, healthier and fatter cows, especially big Friesians, fetch about $200 more per carcass.

Cows aside, there are considerable gains on the farm. Power consumption is close to halved, rubber needs replacing only once a season, there's all round less wear and tear so machinery and equipment and race-ways need less maintenance. Freed up work time is reallocated to reduce the use of contractors—for instance all the farms weed control is now ‘in house'.
Graham's final word?

'Once-a-day is not for everyone—a smaller herd on flat land where the cows are not stressed may not reap the same benefits, but on the steep country it works well. I wouldn't go back.”