“The ADF System is a no brainer”

One of our earliest customers Doug Turner from Rakaia Island Dairy can’t recommend the ADF System enough. “The ADF System provides total cow health. Our somatic cell count is consistently lower, and we have seen a reduction in clinical cases of mastitis and antibiotic use,” says Doug. Udder health and teat condition also improved not long after ADF was installed. “Now good teat condition is just what’s to be expected with the ADF System.”

Doug originally installed the ADF automated post-milking hygiene system on his internal rotary dairy back in 2004. He has six farms in Leeston which have a combined dairy herd of 8,500 cows. All six of the Rakaia Island dairy farms have the ADF System installed, so we know we must be doing something right! Every farm milks their cows twice a day and they are producing an average of 420kg of milk solids every year.

The reason for installing ADF all those years ago was to improve cow and udder health. “We also wanted to use less antibiotics and ensure that our dairy is proactive rather than reactive. Our cows are healthier which means that they are living longer.”

“ADF gives us peace of mind with regards to keeping our cows healthy. In larger herds if there is a mastitis outbreak, there is comfort in knowing that the problem is contained due to the liner rinsing between every cow.”

Doug has also seen time saving benefits of the ADF System. “We have saved considerable time by not having to manually teat spray every cow and not having to deal with clinical cases of mastitis. It’s hard to say now what amount of money saving benefits we’ve seen as we have had the ADF system in for a long time, but earlier on we saved money through reduced antibiotic use.”

Doug highly recommends the ADF System to other farmers. “The ADF System is a no brainer – especially when the industry is under pressure to reduce antibiotic use, and to have excellent animal health and best practice.”