EasyDairy Drafting Gate

Introduction

The EasyDairy drafting gate was first designed and release in Australia by EasyDairy themselves. In 2022, Senztag, who at the time was the sole distributor of CowManager, started selling the EasyDairy drafting gate as another offering to farmers in New Zealand.

Towards to end of 2024/start of 2025, the EasyDairy drafting gate was separated from Senztag and started selling under Herd Automation.

The drafting gate is a hardware product that is installed on farm to help streamline and automate the cow drafting process. The system is linked to either a laptop in the farm office, or a in-pit screen, allowing farmers to input cow number to draft, see what is going to be draft, or see what has been drafted (this includes what has walked through the gate).

Having the gate on farm means a task that would have normally needed two people to perform, and cause stress to the cows, is now a task that does not require anyone to complete, only requiring cow data to be inputted in.

How it works

The EasyDairy Drafting Gate will be placed in the exit race of the cowshed, funnelling cows into a single file line as they walk through. The gate is equipped with an RFID reader, which will read the EID tags that are in the cows ear to figure out what cow is walking through the gate, and based on the inputted farmer data, will draft or not draft the cow.

The gate used pneumatic rams to control both shutter gates and drafting gates, allowing cows to be drafted or right, and making sure that only the required cow is drafted, and not cows behind that are not needed.

The gate then uses photo eyes (invisible, non-harmful lasers) which help ‘track’ the cow through the gate. When the cow walks between the photo eyes, the laser is broken, and the gate will make the decision to close the shutter gates, close the drafting gates (the cow is drafted into the required pen) or set the gate back to its default (straight through).

Gate Information

Price Packages: Essentials, Most Popular, Delux

• Essentials: $37,499 (excluding GST)
  • Includes:
    • Easy Draft Gate
    • Control System
    • Touch-screen software
    • Easy Draft Laptop
    • Easy Dairy auto pairing remote receiver
    • Water resistant cordless remove for operating Draft Gate manually
    • 12 Month direct replacement warranty on supplied components
    • 12 Month Easy Draft software upgrades
      
      
• Most Popular: $40,699 (excluding GST)
  • Includes:
    • Everything in the essentials package
    • Easy Dairy industrial 19” touch screen computer
      • Laptop is remove from the package as the touch screen replaces this
        
        
• Delux: $44,199 (excluding GST)
  • Includes:
    • Everything in the essentials package
    • Easy Dairy industrial 19” touch screen computer
      • Laptop is remove from the package as the touch screen replaces this
    • Back Spray Unit
      
      
• All Options:
  • Drafts using EID tag (HDX only)
  • Integrates with Cow Wearables
    • CowManager
    • Halter
    • Nedap
    • Smaxtec
  • Installation time: 1-2 days
  • No app currently available for the drafting gate - Have heard this is in production
    
    
• The gate does have a yearly fee (Note: First year is free):
  • 1-499 cows: $800 exc GST per annum
  • 500-999 cows: $1000 exc GST per annum
  • 1000+ cows: $1200 exc GST per annum

Photo by Herd Automation

Advantages/Disadvantages

Advantages:

• Smaller foot print meaning it will suit smaller sheds
• High draft accuracy
• Drafts off EID tags
• If a cow backs out, she will stay on the ‘draft’ list until the session ends
• Designed for a quiet operation
• Robust construction
• Easy to use

Disadvantages:

• Cannot draft cows that have a missing EID
• Does not draft off wearables

Additions needed that are not included

• Compressor (50-litre tank+)
• Compressor airline to the gate (12.5mm or half inch)
• Mains power to the gate (230V)
• Building modifications (out-of-scope engineering)
• Internet broadband connection
• Data cable to the gate (CAT6)