A South Island agricultural institute is offering its state-of-the-art training cow Matilda to people in the dairy industry looking to train staff ahead of the calving season.
Made of skin-like rubber with a pliable plastic uterus in a plywood framing, Matilda has been modelled in the form of an anatomically correct cow. She also has rubber teats which can be changed for teat maintenance.
Agri Training training adviser Warner Cottrell said she could be used to replicate the real experience of birthing a calf as well offer practical hands-on teat care.
Matilda is the only one of her kind in the South Island; a similar model was used by veterinarians during their training. She has been with the training organisation for the past couple of weeks.
