Farmers can be very innovative when it comes to spending money but often it is the homemade ideas that work best.

1 Water tank

If space is tight in the dairy and you simply don’t have room for wide water troughs then what else would you do other than use narrow water troughs? Some will move the dairy wall but this innovative dairy farmer decided to narrow down the wash down water troughs to make the existing dairy work.

2 Recycled buckets

Every dairy farm has white buckets all over the place but not many have a slot cut out of the lid and a label on the front saying “used needles, empty tubes”, etc.

3 Buckets for paper

Some parlours are so long that you need access to clean paper at a couple of points – not just at the top or the bottom. This farmer decided to cut a small round hole in the bottom of a white bucket and use it for storing rolls of paper in the parlour.

4 Double footbath

There is nothing like it – have just water in the first trough to wash the feet and collect a lot of the dung and then have the copper sulphate solution in the second bath. Both are bunged so the used solution can be diverted to a slurry tank.

5 Pressure washer

Whether it’s every week or every second week, having the pressure washer stored safely but yet ready for use is key. This farmer had the pressure washer stored safely in the pump house adjacent to the parlour and he had drilled a hole out through the wall so the washer didn’t have to move out every time it was needed. The hose was stored on a reel on the wall ready for action when required.

6 Blue barrel

Blue barrels that have stored detergent or sterilisers are on every dairy farm but on this farm one has been recycled for use in the pit as a bin for used paper. The lid was retained to keep water and everything else out and inside was a fertiliser bag to collect the used paper towels.

7 Cubicle access prevention

On many farms cows are walking past cubicles on the way in or out of milking. I have seen ropes or wire used to keep cows out of the cubicles but this farmer had bolted on a simple bar to the H irons to keep cows out of the cubicles.