Walter and Hilda Walker from Waituhi Pastoral and their sharemilkers, daughter Joanne and her husband Darrell Osborne, began converting their 200ha farm near Te Kuiti from sheep and dry stock to dairy two years ago.
'When we started the conversion I was going to do it over two years, before starting milking,” says Walter, 'but the way it worked out the builder said he could get the shed done (in the first year).”

Since they would have a new shed ready a year early, they decided to start with 270 cows on the front 120ha and bring the rest in year two. With the conversion complete this year, they'll milk 420 on 170-180ha of viable steep rolling country.
Positioning the shed
The site they chose for the shed is central, but because it is located on a ridge and suited a rectangular yard instead of the round one Darrell preferred, it required a large amount of earthworks before the shed and the round yard could be positioned. The shed was designed by Grant from Morrinsville based company Grant McMillan Construction Ltd.
'It was built to Waikato Milking Systems specifications so all their gear fitted in neatly. Everything is Waikato,” says Grant.
'There's been a few that have tried to mix and match, but it doesn't work.” The job was a big one for Grant – not only did he build the shed complete with all the associated vet races and concrete work, he also built all the other buildings, including houses, that go with a new farm conversion.
Waikato Milking Systems designed and supplied the milking plant, including a 40 Bail Elite Rotary Platform complete with Bail gates and Smart Electronic cup removers with kick off alerts. These effectively turn milking into a one person operation.

The cluster set up is a Waikato 320 claw (five year warranty on the claw bowl) and the milking plant has electronic 24v pulsation with a separate filtered air line. Other features include an eight track electrical rotary gland, Fristam 1.5kw milk pump with variable speed milk pump controller and valve actuators. With these the milker can change the internal valving between milk and wash cycles without having to go inside of the rotary platform.
Saving power
A Smart Air variable speed drive unit provides up to 50 per cent power savings on running the BP400 air driven vacuum pump that powers the plant. Automatic plant and vat washing systems, along with a milk recovery system to purge milk to the vats before wash cycles begin, make the whole system very easy to work with.
The whole lot was installed by local Waikato Milking Systems registered dealers, Otorohanga based Kyle Osborne and his team from Qubik TMC Ltd. Qubik have 30 years of knowledge and hands-on experience behind them and can offer their customers a complete package – milking machines, water reticulation, refrigeration and effluent management.
The shed is not computerised, but that's provided for at a later date.
'We've done all the drafting gates so we can do it if we ever want to, all the poles and ducting are in place,” says Darrell, 'but we haven't gone there yet.”
He is quite happy drafting with the air operated drafting system installed by Qubik. This is operated by a remote control (like a garage door control) or a switch on the consul at ‘cups-on'.
A Wetit teat sprayer has been installed, along with Wetit ‘Waves' on the platform. The ‘Waves' are plastic plates attached to the milking platform directly under the udder that encourage the cow to stand with legs apart. This not only positions the udder for maximum spray coverage, it also makes it easier to put the cups on and tidier when they come off.
The wiring for the shed was all done by John Deere Electrical. Power was a problem because they only have single phase power and the shed and the effluent systems needed a three phase supply.
'It was going to cost us $100,000 to bring three phase from town,” says Walter.
'Then John put us onto a company in Cambridge that makes converters. All we had to do was bring single phase from the road and it's converted to three phase. It works a gem.”
That company was Eurotech, started by Helmut Holighaus when he arrived in New Zealand 13 years ago and saw a need to run cheaper and more efficient three phase equipment where only single phase electricity was available. Using his skill as a Power Electronic Engineer he developed a converter and now has 280 installed in New Zealand and has sent about 21/2 thousand overseas.
Morrinsville company Leask Engineering did all the welding for the railing and equipment in the yards.
No mucking around
'Those blokes just came here and got stuck in, no mucking around. They welded all the rails, gates, drafting system, the whole works in two days and gone. They were brilliant.”
Robinsons Water Services of Otorohanga were called in to install all the water reticulation needed for the farm conversion – no mean job! They also set up the shed's effluent disposal to meet today's rigorous industry standards.
A toilet for the workers is essential in a modern shed, but sewerage is a different issue to farm effluent, so Nigel, from King Country Plumbing, was called for his expert services.
'It's important to consider the sanitary drainage early as there are rules around the positioning of septic tanks and effluent beds in relation to milk storage areas,” says Nigel.
'If not thought out and sized properly, these tanks and effluent fields can have an impact on where you can lay feed pads or have metal races.”
Finally they called in Roger Farley from Modern Coatings Ltd to finish the shed with an easy to clean, hygienic, hardwearing and decorative Acraflex coat.
'Acraflex Coatings has been used and proven to be the number one dairy wall coating for over 30 years,” says Roger.
He's been applying Acraflex Coatings for 17 years and, with good reason, he is clearly proud of his work.
So how does Darrell sum up the shed?
'Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Last year it took me an hour to milk 270 by myself. This year it'll be under two hours for two of us to milk 420,” he says with a big grin as no-one, man or beast, would want to linger too long on that ridge in winter.