Waikato Milking Systems has announced the addition of Aaron Galligan to its growing team.
From Cavan, which is at the centre of his new sales territory, Galligan began his tenure as Sales Manager Ireland – North at the firm earlier this week.
The drystock farmer brings “extensive” sales experience in the dairy industry to his new role with his previous term with JFC Agri selling its Evolution automatic calf feeder.
Waikato Milking Systems was founded in the heart of New Zealand’s dairy industry, the Waikato region, in 1967. Although the company was born in New Zealand, it has been developed for the world, and its innovative products are now used in 30 countries.
Its portfolio includes products for animal management, hygiene, feeding, milk storage and cooling, a milk room, milk handling and milking (including rotary milking systems).
Prototype award
Meanwhile, Waikato Milking Systems’ ErgoPOD Prototype won the 2023 Prototype Award at the Fieldays Innovation Awards.
The invention is a cumulation of close to four years of extensive work in research and development.
ErgoPOD provides a step change in milking and revolutionises the way cups are presented and managed in the milking shed, according to the judges.
“It exemplifies what can be achieved when solid design is combined with innovative idea generation, deliberate simplification, and effective root cause analysis.”
“With just the right amount of automation, the ErgoPOD reduces injury risks, halves the time to apply milking cups, removes multiple hazards for a cow entering and leaving the milking platform, provides opportunities for precise measurement and control of milk quality, and even speeds up the process of a cow exiting a rotary milking platform.”
“The end result is an internationally viable product that enables faster, safer milking by a wider labour pool.”
The firm is now in a great to push on through the remaining stages of development over the next 18 months towards a “game-changing market entry”.
Waikato Milking Systems’ executive chairman, Jamie Mikkelson, said:
“We started on this journey about four years ago. We had this crazy idea that if we were going to be the most admired company globally for milking efficiency if a single operator could milk a thousand cows in an hour, that would be a game changer,” he said.
