Farmer/owner: Maaïke Feenstra and Andrea Lolkama
Farm location: Wjelsryp, The Netherlands
Farm name:
Herd: 370 goats
Milking system: Fullwood 2 x 30 Side-Cap
Date of installation: December 2016
In the small Friesian village of Wjelsryp is one of the most modern goat milking systems in Europe – a Fullwood 2 x 30 Side-Cap, with automatic metering, integrated flush system and the GO15 milk consoles.
Two years ago farmers Maaïke Feenstra and Andrea Lolkama decided to start milking on their farm. But new regulations meant that milking cows was unfortunately impossible. Goats seemed like a good alternative.
Maaïke and Andrea contacted many milking system suppliers to start the research on getting the best possible parlour. Initially they looked at the rotary options but decided this was not for them – they believed this didn’t give them enough of an overview of the goats. It was then their research uncovered a video of Martijn de Kruijf from Leusden and his Fullwood Quick-Cap milking system. They were impressed with this and in particular the excellent cluster presentation and rest/ return position of the cluster.
Watching this film convinced Maaïke and Andrea to opt for the same GO15 console on their Side-Cap parlour. Director Tinus de Jong of Melkveetechniek de Jong from Gorredijk said: “the advantage of this set-up is that you have a very tidy parlour with a good view of all the goats. The GO15 Console is also suitable for upgrades to existing milking parlours.”
What is special about the parlour of the two Friese goat farmers is that two milk cups can work independently from each other therefore from each other therefore giving a perfect cluster presentation. “Because there is so much variety in udder shape and teat placement with goats, this system works much better than in traditional milk parlours”, says Maaïke.
Goat farmers Maaïke Feenstra and Andrea Lolkama have milked twice a day for over a week with the new milking parlour and are already down to only one and a quarter hours for milking their 370 goats. “And that’s only going to keep getting better, explains Maaïke.