Alkemade Dairies Ltd. in Ohaupo, in the Waikato area of New Zealand was acquired in 2015 by Kevin and Cherie van der Poel, after many years dairy farming in New Zealand and the US. They continue to maintain the herd of 400 Kiwi Cross milking cows, whose diet is divided evenly between grass and supplements.
Upon taking over Alkemade Dairies, Kevin felt “there was place in this industry to bring in better monitoring of our herds, using technology that reduces time-consuming tasks and allows remote access to real-time information 24/7.” He also wanted to automate procedures as much as possible to keep staffing requirements down. His conclusion: “A cow monitoring solution would make us more efficient and enable better monitoring in my absence.”
• Estimated 30% higher milk production
• More accurate and less labour-intensive heat detection
• Earlier diagnosis of health and feed issues facilitates faster,
more effective treatment
• Extra stock to sell, with more choice of which young stock to keep
• Access to farm data from any PC enables remote management and
decision-making
• Overall added value of $NZ 50,000 per year, from increased
production and cost savings
