"Thanks for the new Batt-Latch, that's much appreciated. Having another one with the extended timer up to two weeks also helps.

I believe your Batt-Latch market is not primarily associated with milking cows going to/from the cowshed..there is a large amount of grazing and fattening of cattle including dairy heifers..
I believe (in growing grass) the important management tool is rotational grazing. That means frequent shifting of stock, so that the grass has the optimum time to recover without being trampled, and there is control over what is eaten depending on the time of the year. Frequent shifting onto new grass also means the stock should fatten quicker.

The Technosystem is the modern term used for designing such systems. There are other benefits in keeping down weeds and improving the quality of the grass. It's a bit like mowing your lawns frequently, they look much better but you also get more grass off them! A very useful aid in achieving frequent rotational grazing is the Batt-Latch, especially when there is distance involved for the farmer.

One Batt-Latch being used for grazing halves the number of visits to a mob of stock and means the stock shift themselves quietly without running all over a paddock and possibly further pugging it up. We use multiple Batt-Latches to fresh grass every few days depending upon the of the paddock and mob. Incidentally, I have never had any problem with stock finding a gateway released by a Batt_Latch".
    Frank Usmar, Feilding, New Zealand 

"We would be very happy to supply you with lameness data, but unfortunately we have changed 2 parameters at once. It is probably only anecdotal significance that we attribute our drop of lameness partly to the Batt-Latch use, but it couldn't be counted as scientific data since we changed to all season once-a-day milking at the same time. The combination of unpressured cow movement, reduction in race walking per day, and less time on the yard has seen our lameness average of about a dozen cows (over the course of a season in a herd of 200) drop to 2 in the first year and 0 in the second. (the current season has seen a rise as we altered the shed and the contractor used blue sharp rock on the shed approaches!)

The farm has been set up for 12 hour grazing, so rather than re-fence, we use the Batt-Latch to go paddock to paddock in the afternoons. In the mornings the Batt-Latch enables another half-hour in bed while with multiple races we can milk as they drift in, sending them out on a different exit and this means they spend less time on concrete and are more relaxed in their milking order. It doesn't mean much difference in bike use, as we still tend to go out at the end of milking to check the paddock and pick up the Batt-Latch for the day paddock.

Incidentally I also teach part-time for DexcelVT, and lameness is obviously a significant topic in our health classes. I have used the above figures to get students to think about stock movement and lameness. Not all have persuaded their bosses to buy an automatic gate timer, but the figures have encouraged them to slow down on the bike and let the cows choose their own pace".
    Stuart Burns, Cambridge, New Zealand 

"Our first experience with the Batt-Latch was in the early 1990's. We thought it would help get the dairy cows out of the paddock and into the milking shed. We had one of the original Batt-Latches made from a dolphin torch. This was just the first model, a prototype, and a lot of work had gone into making this unit. Although this did work, it was limited with the number of settings. The next model was a purpose built unit which was more robust and more user friendly. This has been further refined with the new model now, which has many extra settings/options.

We have now moved down Southland where we run a two dairy herd system with two Batt-Latches. They are programmed for each herd for their individual times. Once set, there is no need to adjust them. They are just shifted to the next paddock gateway and no settings need to be done. This means any staff member can take one to the next paddock gateway with no settings to worry about. Simple.

This latest Batt-Latch also has the feature of being solar powered, so there is no charging required. The cows come out of the paddock at their own pace which means no pressure and no feet problems, which equates to lower vet bills.Occasionally if they don't come out we have a trolley with a bit of palm kernel at the cowshed and this encourages them to come out themselves. Another advantage is our staff can have an extra half hour sleep-in, which is vital if you are getting up at 4.00am in the morning.

We have used the Batt-Latch during the day to feed summer turnips, say opening at 1.00pm-  they walk to the crop themselves, which frees up the staff to do other things.

We wouldn't be without our Batt-Latches. The journey through the models over the years is a fine example of a New Zealand company persevering and fine-tuning a product to fit the demands of the farming sector. Thank you Novel Ways".
    Ross and Cindy Gatenby, Gore, New Zealand