Helping dairy farmers to save time, money and reduce stress is the aim of a DairyNZ Milksmart event to be held at Edgecumbe on March 6.

DairyNZ held two events in Morrinsville and Tokoroa last week, aimed at providing efficient milking techniques that can be easily applied on-farm.

Veterinarian Dr Neil Chesterton presents the ‘Cow flow from whoa to go' workshop at Milksmart Morrinsville.

During the next four weeks, events will also be held in Masterton, Stratford, Whangarei, Ashburton, Oamaru, Winton and Clydevale.

The practical topics include stockmanship, milking efficiency, cow flow, milking skills, mastitis management, smart cowshed design, people management, smart water use and more.

DairyNZ project manager for Milksmart Chris Leach says even small changes to a milking routine can add up; and there are a number of techniques and areas covered to help farmers achieve this.

'A time saving of 45 minutes per milking has been achieved by a previous participant by applying some of the principles from the milking efficiency workshop,” says Chris.

'We're including plenty of new material, as well as the topics that have worked well in the past.”

Walton sharemilker Chad Winke, who attended the Morrinsville Milksmart event, says being able to select his own workshops enabled him to get the most out of the event.

'There's a number of ideas I'll be taking back to apply on our farm,” says Chad.

'The milking efficiency workshop gave us targets to aim for. I've sat down with my staff to do the math around how much time we're spending on each cow; and to look at the big picture around how our system is performing.

'To improve efficiency, we're identifying where we are losing time during milking and what techniques we need to work on,” says Chad.

Each session is designed for one of three experience levels – those who are new to dairying, operational managers, and senior decision-makers or farm owners.

'With each workshop designed for a different experience level, it meant I could choose the workshops that were most suited to my role on-farm and I was getting the right level of information that I needed,” says Chad.

'I encouraged my farm assistant to attend the beginner workshops. When everyone's on the same level, it provides a good environment to learn.”

A full programme is available online. A free barbeque lunch sponsored by RD1 is provided at each event. To register for an event near you visit www.dairynz.co.nz/milksmart