We contract milk 600 high producing cows on a self-contained 240ha unit through a 40 aside herringbone shed for my parents, Gerald and Karen Holmes, on the Taieri Plains near Dunedin.

We have a spring calving herd in a system 3 with added supplement to top up an ad lib grass based system.

Cindy is a mortgage advisor for her own business but takes care of our business accounts and really enjoys working in the yards with me. 😉

We have two teenage boys, Ezra and Paton, who regularly cover staff leave on farm but milk for neighbours as well to support their expensive motocross hobby. Any spare time we have is generally travelling the country with motocross and meeting some great people and staying in unique places.

I originally saw the MilktechNZ® CR-1 advertised on a Facebook ad. I clicked the link to find out more and learnt that it had all the features I had been looking for in an ACR.

I sent an enquiry through to get a rough price and to find out a bit more info and had a response within 24 hours. Mark from MilktechNZ® was on farm within a week to draw up a quote. He took some measurements and photos and then a couple days later had a comprehensive quote through to me. The price was very competitive. We decided to use our Fonterra Cooperative difference payment to contribute towards the cost and proceed with the installation.

In approximately six weeks the MilktechNZ® CR-1s were ready to be installed. The team from DairyTech South made contact and a day was arranged for the installation. We gave them a milking window from approximately 7:30am-3pm. The installation was impressive. About eight guys knew exactly what their jobs were and knocked the job out in an impressive time frame. At 2:15pm they said we’d be right to get the cows, first cups on at 2:30pm and everything worked as it should. Very, very happy with the installation process.

I liked the fact the product was designed in New Zealand and as much for a herringbone as rotaries. The design had taken the best features from the other ACR’s available in New Zealand and made one super ACR.

The CR-1 just ticked all the boxes. MilktechNZ® is doing some cool things in the dairy shed game at the moment.

The things I was looking for in an ACR were:

  • Lift to start
  • Bright LED’s visible anywhere in the shed.
  • Stainless canister (plastic tends to freeze easier)
  • Easily adjustable parameters via WiFi

The main reasons we wanted to invest in the CR-1 was staff fatigue. Milking use to be an intense process that required two experienced milkers plus a third person to get 2nd herd and sick mobs etc.

It’s still a two person job now but they’re much more relaxed, someone is able to shoot away and grab the other mobs while the other one milks a row or two on their own and we don’t need to worry about over milking.

The other reason was cow health. Avoiding over milking and freeing up time to observe and draft cycling cows.

The final deal breaker was when I told Cindy we wouldn’t require her to help with herd testing. We can herd test with only 3 people and finish in a very timely manner now.

When finances allow we’ll look to install an auto walk over teat sprayer to fully utilise the the CR-1. It is highly likely that 1 person could comfortably milk on their own for a day here and there.

10/10 from Mark and the MilktechNZ team for the sales and after sales service.
10/10 from Dairytech South for the impressive installation.