Moving the herd to a higher and drier dairy twice a year will hopefully soon be a thing of the past for Karen Tieck who manages Michael Coles’ farm at Jamberoo thanks to a soon to be completed twenty-a-side rapid-release shed. Regular flooding from the Minnamurra River, which flows through the property, sees the existing dairy and surrounds submerged, necessitating a move to another dairy for up to a week at time, and often longer. Karen admits that while both the cows and staff have learnt to adapt to the required change it still brings a range of management issues from cow welfare to accessing feed.

The new dairy is being built well above flood levels on higher ground and should mean that the herd be able to be milked and fed on site in the future, even when a large portion of the river flat farm is under water.

“We are pretty close to the sea, so water does get off the farm reasonably quickly but when the dairy is out of action, we have to get the cows milked and it always takes a bit of time getting them there (to the other shed) and settling them, only to turn around and bring them back soon after. With the new shed and a bit of higher ground on that part of the farm we should be able to get them back on paddocks quicker after a flood”

Not only will the new build provide more flexible management Karen is looking forward to much quicker milking time for the 240 strong herd.

“Milking is probably around six to seven hours a day at the moment and being an old herringbone the pit is pretty narrow meaning we bump into each other a bit. I’m looking forward to this new wide pit and we’re expecting to halve milking time as well”

The project is expected to be completed around June – further updates to follow then.