Dinner for 800 . . .

A LARGE scale dairying operation in Mid Canterbury is about to take delivery of a high performance Trioliet Solomix 2 2800 ZKX-T mixer wagon for use in an intensive nutrition program that sees 800 cows fed up to 24 kg/day of a total mixed ration.

Willy Leferink, who oversees the management of Pannetts Dairies, says the mixer is arguably the most important piece of machinery on the property. “This operation boasts a lot of impressive technology but the mixer wagon is probably the most important,” Willy says. “The right wagon can make you a lot of money, not just in operating efficiency but in nutritional consistency, cow health and production. Conversely, a bad machine can cost you a lot of money.”

The purchase follows the successful demonstration of a slightly smaller Trioliet unit over winter and spring. “We’ve had two other mixer wagons before and trialled another two before we decided to go with the Trioliet,” Willy says. “It mixes each load consistently from start to finish and it gets it out the door incredibly fast. Labour, diesel and tractor costs are a triple whammy if you’re running a machine 365 days a year. With our old wagon, feeding used to take about eight hours a day during winter. With the Trioliet, we can do a better job in six.”

The wagon is used to mix and feed out up to 20 tonnes a day of a total mixed ration comprising maize, lucerne and grass silage, supplemented with wheat, canola and a vitamin-mineral premix. 

Engineered to process and thoroughly mix large quantities of feed in a very short time, the 2800 ZKX-T features an integrated tub-chassis design and a capacity of 28 cubic metres.

Its extra heavy duty construction includes a 15 mm wear ring on the tub floor, 10 mm thick walls, 22 mm augers and 25 mm auger wings. The twin vertical augers, each with nine knives, allow quick and even mixing of each 10 tonne load.

Despite its voracious appetite, the 2800 requires only a relatively modest 130 hp to operate because of the reduction gearbox which has been specified with the unit. The gearbox allows the operator to select a lower auger speed during loading and an increased auger speed during discharge.

The new wagon will be equipped with the optional Triotronic 3610 programmable weighing system. If desired, this will allow the mixer to be run with the CC 330 app for smartphones which is downloadable from the appstore and google play, it offers an alternative to mounting weighing indicator in the loading vehicle. .

Rowan O’Connor, a Nutritional consultant to Pannetts Dairies, works closely with Willy agrees on the importance of the wagon in the operation: “Accuracy is one of the essentials of feeding profitably,” he says. “Feed ingredients, such as protein and minerals, are very expensive. Going five percent over on a particular day or even a week won’t hurt much. However, if you do that every day over a year, then it’s going to make a huge difference to your bottom line. In a large operation like this, small percentages can multiple out to tens of thousands of dollars over a year.”

Located outside Mitcham, Pannetts Dairies was established in 2013 as an equity partnership. The 215 ha platform includes 200 ha of irrigated pastures, two free-stall barns and a 60-bale rotary dairy.

The facilities include a state-of-the-art effluent and irrigation management system to support the year-round production of ryegrass, clover and lucerne pastures.

A huge rubber-lined pond stores up to three months of effluent, allowing liquid waste to be accumulated over winter and discharged in spring and summer.

“The initial plan was to calve 1000 cows year-round and implement a three times-a-day milking schedule,” Willy says. “We’re still milking year-round but we’ve moved back to block calving, with about 80 percent of the cows calving in spring and the remainder in autumn. Block calving allows the staff to concentrate on doing one or two key activities really well, rather than having to do a lot of things every day. We’ve also adjusted the milking schedule to twice-a-day and wound the nutrition program back to a partial mixed ration.”

Cows spend the winter months inside the barns and are fed up to 24 kg/day of a total mixed ration. In spring, they are fed 9 kg/day in the barn during the day and are free to graze overnight. Also gone is a 135 ha arable property used to grow silage.

“We are focusing on our core business of feeding and milking cows and buying whatever feed we need on the open market,” Willy says. “We are definitely in a consolidation phase but we can see huge upside once milk prices improve.  “We are averaging about 555 kg milk solids but that is going to jump to 750 kg once our herd matures. At the moment, we are still milking about 300 first-calf heifers.”

The enterprise is pushing the envelope of conventional production systems by allowing a large number of cows to be milked 365 days a year without any adverse impact on the cows or the environment. 

“Everything about this operation is designed to be friendly for the cows, staff and the environment,” Willy says. “We have much lower nitrogen leaching levels compared with pasture-based systems. We are achieving much higher rates of nitrogen utilisation via the feeding program and reducing leaching at the same time. About 90 percent of the effluent is captured in the dairy and barns, which we can spread when and where we like.”

Pannetts Dairies is currently in the process of obtaining ‘Lead With Pride’ certification from Synlait Farms for best practice dairy farming.

Trioliet Solomix mixer wagons are available in a range of capacities from 5 to 52 cubic metres and single, double and triple vertical auger configurations to suit all herd sizes. Each model features a simple design for easy operation and minimal maintenance. The stairs, viewing platform, scales and window allow the operator to easily and safely monitor operations.

Trioliet mixer wagons are sold via the CLAAS Harvest Centre network in New Zealand.

New buyers will receive subsidised consultancy services from one of the country’s leading nutritional consultants MilkMaP Consulting Limited.