Richmond Downs

The price of leadership is being first.

For Phil Empson, of Richmond Downs Ltd at Orakau, in the Waikato, his hunger to refine animal welfare on his property – in amongst automation and industry firsts – means he is the first in the country to pull the trigger on cutting-edge technologies within a mind-blowing new facility.

It all started with deciding to install SmartShelters on an unseasonably warm October day

But, first things first. Phil’s broader why, for this herd which is moving to 600-head spring-calving cows on 200 hectares?

“I’m not a follower,” he said. “Someone said to me that I like projects, and I probably do. This is all about animal welfare for me. I was getting the cows in a few years ago and it was 10am, they were already heat stressed, and it was only October. I thought I need to do something. 

“If I was going to do it, I wanted to do it once, and I wanted to do it right. Farming is my life and it’s probably the only thing that I know, love and enjoy, so…why not?

“Some people go out and buy a flash car and a boat. For me, I thought why not put that money into the farm, so that the cows enjoy it, the staff enjoy it, and I enjoy it.”

That decision unleashed a landslide of automation, new technology, and a whole new level of different. 

“I didn’t want just a cowshed. I wanted something that didn’t look like a tin shed that everyone else seems to have. As farmers I think we need to up our game. 

“I get annoyed with people who ‘pooh pooh’ the dairy industry. There were two main reasons we went this way. We had to grow, and I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I love it, but I hate that I’m always at the pointy end of it because it’s probably the most inefficient area to live.”  

The SmartShelters – from the road – look standard. Think again. They offer the biggest clear spans available within industry [6m to 45m in width x any length]. 

There are three sheds – two for the cows built in 2023 – which are each 42m wide x 125m long (with some storage space at the ends). The calf shed – with some storage, which was built in 2025 and sited alongside them – is 85m long x 18m wide (see p70 for more detail).

The cows have four feed faces, which is uncommon and offers efficient feeding on surface area to volume. They allowed 800mm space per cow. They have a convenient six-metre concrete feed lane for a tractor through the centre to drive through and deliver feed, and then there is concrete where the cows stand to eat at the feed face (which makes it easy to clean). SmartShelters’ Brett Cottle confirmed that an estimated 70-80% of all manure is dropped where the cows eat. 

“We did the design and construction, and what makes this unique is having the tractor lane inside,” Brett said. “Most farmers would build two separate structures, but by going this way, Phil has achieved four feed faces – which maximises the feeding opportunities for this herd. He has also included some storage for hay and equipment at the ends. He’s pushing for more production and cow comfort, and this certainly addresses that.”

The cows are bedded on a compost bedding, which is an active biological mass – rated among the most comfortable natural beddings for cows internationally – when it’s well managed. Richmond Downs’ team “rip” [aerates] the bedding twice-a-day in the winter, and once-a-day in the summer to sustain its ideal 50-55% moisture level. 

The SmartShelters were the first stage of this build, which was started in 2023.

“I decided to do that because it gives them shade in the summer and protection in the winter,” Phil said. “Every month of the year is different. The cows spend anywhere from two to 20 hours a day in it.

“You do need to know what you’re doing with the bedding, but it’s been amazing for us. This whole project is about animal welfare for me. It’s about what can I do for my girls and if I was a cow, what would I want? 

“Humans have that variation on how we handle heat. The optimum temperature for a cow is 8-10-degrees Celsius, and some people aren’t aware of that. The SmartShelters decision wasn’t all about dollars and cents for me, even though we’re here to make money.”

- Article written by Dianna Malcolm

- Feature courtesy of: www.dairyingbydesign.com