Intelligent teat sprayer hits its target every time

To ensure his Manawatu dairy farm is performing at an optimum level, adopting new technology is paramount for Matthew Jones.

After taking over the family farm from his parents a few years ago, Matthew is milking 220 cows through a 24-aside Herringbone, on a 140 hectare property near the Pohangina Valley. Having worked on the farm since leaving high school, Matthew saw an opportunity when his parents retired to make incremental changes to reduce labour and increase efficiencies by introducing automation technology.

The most recent addition to the farm is a Waikato Milking Systems WalkoverSPRAYER which replaced the dairy plant’s old teat sprayer in December 2021. “The old sprayer was outdated and I could see it was missing cows. That really prompted me to make a change.” says Matthew.

After researching other products, Matthew contacted his local dealer Bromley Dairy and Pumps to learn more about the WalkoverSPRAYER. Already familiar with the Waikato Milking Systems brand, Matthew was impressed with the sprayer’s intelligent sensor technology and automated features - and placed his order.

Bromley Dairy and Pumps removed the old sprayer and installed the WalkoverSPRAYER in the same position just outside the dairy plant’s sort gate. “It was a simple installation. They didn’t have to do any adjustments to the pipe work, it was mounted and connected” says Matthew.

To ensure the the new sprayer was detecting and spraying its targets perfectly, Matthew made fine-tuning adjustments himself as “It’s hard for the installer to know how big the cows are so a little bit of local farm knowledge comes into play. With this sprayer, you can adjust the light beams to make sure it’s reaching the cows’ teats every time. It’s a simple and easy system to use and adjust if needed”.

When the sprayer was first installed he noticed that it was sitting quite high up and he was worried the cows were going to stand on it - but those concerns were quickly alleviated with Matthew saying “The walkover unit is very strong and robust under the cows”.

The WalkoverSPRAYER also features an automatic nozzle wash function to keep them clean, “It’s quite cool, after every 10 cows it performs a small wash cycle and then a longer wash at the end of milking. It means if there’s any effluent left on it, it’s washed off and you don’t get any contaminants sprayed onto the cows” says Matthew.

Matthew says the WalkoverSPRAYER has performed up to his expectations. “I can see it’s spraying every cow. That’s really important to ensure we’re looking after the animals properly, and that our hygiene and milking quality standards are at their highest”.