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Three decades have passed since the development of the first electronic milk meter that served as the foundation and basis for establishing S.A.E Afikim. From the very beginning, this innovative invention aroused considerable interest in the dairy industry throughout the world. Kibbutz Afikim, the owner of S.A.E Afikim, was offered a substantial sum of money for the sale of the patent. The Kibbutz declined the offer preferring to exploit this invention to lever its economic development. The electronic milk meter was indeed the forerunner of a series of technological developments with far reaching ramifications for the dairy industry. Today, these inventions are an integral part of the dairy industry worldwide, easing the farmer's work, improving the cows' welfare, making the dairy a much more efficient operation.
Over the years, S.A.E Afikim has became the world's leader in developing and manufacturing computerized systems for the dairy farm including milk meters, personal identification tags, pedometers and management software for analyzing data and decision making. There are also systems for sorting and weighing cows, and regimens for individual cow feeding.
S.A.E Afikim's vision is that the Company becomes the determining factor in all dairy farms, and sheep and goat farms worldwide. More than 1300 systems and 75,000 milk meters have been sold and installed in over 50 countries. The Company also establishes dairy farms and milking parlors in integrated turn-key projects. S.A.E Afikim's training department provides its customers with professional training to ensure the success of the investment and maintenance of standards.
Modern dairy farming is very different from traditional farming. Today, dairy farming implies dairy management that demands real-time decision making. Each liter is counted, its components are checked and registered, every kilogram is weighed and each cow is monitored. The manager that errs looses out. The contemporary farmer is a professional who must understand production economics, biology, animal behavior, veterinary sciences, management, logistics, finance and more.
In days gone by, the decisions were made by expert farmers, whose know-how was the fruit of years of experience. S.A.E Afikim has accumulated this knowledge and has developed software and hardware that supports the farmer in his every day endeavors enabling him to make quick decisions. AfiMilk™, AfiAct™, AfiSort, AfiFeed™ together make up an integrated system that provides the farmer with precise data on milk yields, mastitis alerts, improves insemination success, and better management of cows' fertility. All these factors enable an increase of milk yield and a decrease of costs.
The afimilk™ product family is based on management by exception. A standard is set for each cow. The system alerts in real-time of anomalies in milk production, electrical conductivity of the milk (showing mastitis), and cow's activity based on the number of steps (indicating heat) made in a defined period of time.
The flexible reporting system provides a wide range of up-to-date, essential data based on management by exception. These reports show real time changes for each cow, each group and the entire herd, and allow the farmer to focus attention exclusively on problematic cows. Early identification of problems saves valuable time and money. In this manner, dairy management is made much more efficient.
S.A.E Afikim invests substantial resources in maintaining its technological and innovative leadership. A strong, creative and motivated R&D team is dedicated to this mission, focusing on creating comprehensive integrated systems. These systems, allied with the experience of leading Israeli producers and academic researchers, enable S.A.E. Afikim to keep in the forefront of dairy management technology.
Recently, S.A.E Afikim took a strategic decision to broaden its activities and enter the sheep and goats market adapting its dairy farm products to this sector.
ICAR, the International Committee for Animal Recording, approved AfiFree™, the free-flow milk meter for measuring sheep and goats' milk. This is the first milk meter to receive ICAR's approval for sheep and goat milking and was granted after comprehensive laboratory and field testing in France. The approval is expected to bring with it an increase in milk meter sales for sheep and goats in Western Europe where meeting international standards is a requirement.
S.A.E Afikim is currently working on a new generation of products. One of the innovations under development is the AfiLab analyzer a revolutionary product that measures, in real-time, the components of milk taken from each cow during a milking session. The product is able to separate the milk according to its quality, and analyze its components according to the milk's lipid percentage, lactose, and protein content, and detects the presence of blood and somatic cells - all in real time.
Another innovation is the behavior pedometer, (Pedo+), a new animal tag, which in addition to its regular function also measures the frequency and number of lying periods of a cow. The tag gives birth alerts, provides a reliable indication of the cow's health condition and welfare – indicators that are growing in importance both in Israel and overseas.
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