Spectacular dairy built at Tau Ke farm

Tau Ke is nestled in among a geothermal area adjoining the Poihipi Road, Taupo, and, at the time of my visit, was the most recent conversion project for the owners, Ged and Vanessa Donald.


Looking into the shed from the side yards.

Vet platform
Matt Nash from ARC Engineering explains that the new design for the vet platform is now being constructed mostly of Plaztuff rather than fiberglass. The Plaztuff vet platform is made of a plastic polymer Hytread sheet. It is light, easy to clean, durable and with a higher rating than most platforms for grip.  

Qubik Putaruru installed the new 60 bail rotary shed, the auto plant and vat wash, as well as installing the full water works for the cowshed, which included all the pipe work, hot water cylinders, wash down pump, cooler pumps and also the chilled water pipes, plumbing and pump.

They have installed quality DAB and Grundfos water pumps. A 10hp Grundfos variable speed wash down pump was set up in the shed. The cooler pump is a DAB pressure system, which supplies low pressure water on demand.


The Moa milking platform.

Fast milking
Moa Milking from Taranaki manufactured and installed the orbit concrete platform. Servicing the dairy industry for more than 20 years, concrete rotary platforms have a well-earned reputation. They have been designed specifically to integrate seamlessly with Waikato Milking Systems and accessories, Orbit platforms are well featured and known for strength and engineering integrity.  

The Orbit rotary platform design has provided the milkers with a clean fast milking environment, easily accessible milking equipment and excellent cow flow on and off the platform.  

Standing to the side of the yard, in the tanker track area, is a BCL grain silo. BCL Feed Systems from Matamata supplied and installed the meal feeding system which consists of two 16 tonne silos, an auger feed line into the cow shed and continuous stainless steel trough. Each cow gets the same ration of feed.

New dairy sheds are a huge investment, and in my opinion it is so important that these assets are looked after properly and kept clean and tidy. This farm and the Tau Ke shed are certainly being well cared for, which is a credit to owners and workers alike.


Blair Atkinson from Gibson Construction in front of the calf shed.


0 Comments

There are no comments on this article.

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to make a comment. Login Now
Opinion Poll

We're not running a poll right now. Check back soon!