{"id":89012,"date":"2025-10-20T00:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T00:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/89012\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T00:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T00:33:08","slug":"coubrough-family-uses-robotics-and-cow-collars-to-future%e2%80%91proof-tirau-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/89012\/","title":{"rendered":"Coubrough family uses robotics and cow collars to future\u2011proof Tirau farm"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd that\u2019s always been the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linda said it was an \u201chonour\u201d coming back to the multi-generational farm, despite not initially planning to come back as a farmer, and she hoped they were leaving it in a better way for the next generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything you do for the land is such a long-term goal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur input now is changing what\u2019s going to happen down the line, which is a whole different way of thinking. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd all our different backgrounds help bring up different things and what we want from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad Brett always planned on being a farmer, but \u201cgot sidetracked\u201d with electrical engineering, a qualification which saw him travel all around the world for various projects.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s come in handy back on the farm, too, where he is chief innovator and inventor.<\/p>\n

He said it was nice to be farming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a different style of life, whereas I had to deal with customers or clients, and now my clients are the cows, and they\u2019re much easier to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Linda, it\u2019s also taught him the value of taking a longer view.<\/p>\n

\" Dairy farming’s never been easier, with automation a key part of life on this Waikato farm. Photo \/ Gianina Schwanecke, Country Life<\/p>\n

\u201cWe come to the conclusion that you\u2019re actually planning for over a year ahead all the time. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve never really thought about.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re setting yourself up for the season ahead by what you\u2019re doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" The herd of 150 milking Kiwi cross wear cow collars, which provide valuable insights. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke \/ Country Life<\/p>\n

One of the ways the family has tried to prepare for their future is by investing in wearable technology and automation on-farm.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad\u2019s an extraordinaire in creating things and adjusting things and automating as much as we can,\u201d Linda said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur shed, it\u2019s push a button and it does everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Brett’s experience off-farm has been instrumental for today’s operations and helping automate many of the jobs on-farm. Photo \/ Gianina Schwanecke, Country Life<\/p>\n

Automation in the cowshed includes automated drafting gates, cup removers, systems cleaning, and calf feeders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s set up now for a one-person operation – we still milk with two people – but it can be done,\u201d Brett said.<\/p>\n

Eight years ago, they also invested in AllFlex\u2019s cow collars to help with heat cycling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re quite unique in that we\u2019re one of the few smaller herds that has cow collars on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data they get from the cow collars has helped improve animal welfare, and each year the technology gets better.<\/p>\n

Some things the father and daughter still prefer to do the old-school way, like shifting stock themselves on foot or in the side-by-side.<\/p>\n

– RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAnd that\u2019s always been the plan.\u201d Linda said it was an \u201chonour\u201d coming back to the multi-generational farm,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[95,138,67194,67193,5276,2109,3233,67195,25689,111,139,69,13810,25690,67196,61,7188],"class_list":["post-89012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-and","tag-business","tag-collars","tag-coubrough","tag-cow","tag-family","tag-farm","tag-futureproof","tag-gianina","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-robotics","tag-schwanecke","tag-tirau","tag-to","tag-uses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}