Burnview Farm - South Africa
Farm name: Burnview Farm
Number of head: 1,170 total animals, 700 of them are mature cows of which we're milking, just under 600.
Details
Owners: Hayden Stokes
Breed of cows: Holstein cows and cross breed.
Farm Story
I've recently stopped cross breeding. We built a new dairy, with a rotary parlor and we had a massive increase in production, probably 600, 700, 800 liters per cow, so that pushed it to 6,500, close to 7,000 per lactation And then, with Afimilk installed just a year ago, that's pushed it up another two or three liters a cow per day, another 800 liters per lactation. Production is up to 8,000 liters per year, per cow, now, so we've got a great response from the system.
The production increase is due to my feeding efficiency. The cows are getting fed what they deserve at the right stage of lactation according to production, so and I'm feeding slightly more meal for cows that produce an extra 800 liter in lactation. It just blows the extra food out the window.
Annual milk production averages
Over 8,000 liters per year, per cow.
Herd management
It's been almost a year now, but I've had a massive production increase. I've had my heat detection rates jump from 49% to 75% in just under a year. Health problems, there's just been so much that's been gained by the system on a whole, just through more efficiency and us being able to manage our cows on a more individual basis.
Customer Service
Initially, the first two or three months, I had to spend a bit more time getting to know the system, getting used to it, getting to set up the parameters I wanted. But now once we're going with the system it's easier, it's just like it's just a routine after each milking.
It could get close to 70,000, 80,000 in a month, benefit on the scheme which means you could really pay off this whole system in between one or two years. So it's been a very good tool.
If you're serious about milking you'll put in Afimilk. You know, it makes life easy it makes it more efficient. You can measure anything you want to through your cows, so I don't know if I'd really recommend it to my neighbor, because it means I won't be able to buy his farm soon because he'll do well, as well.
