At the 1976 Israel Agritech tradeshow, Mr. Eli Peles, a member of Kibbutz Afikim, demonstrated to visitors the world's first electronic milk meter, a revolutionary product designed to replace the cumbersome jars used by milk parlors up until that time. It transpired in due course that Eli Peles was a decade ahead of his peers compared to what was happening in computerized dairy farm management around the world at the time. He preceded large-scale industries that were employing large numbers of professional personnel in development of advanced milking parlor products. Eli was also the first to implement, under field conditions, a method for diagnosing mastitis (udder inflammation) and measurement of milk electrical conductivity while the milk was still in the milk meter, an invention for which he was granted an American patent. At the same time, SAE Afikim became a primary source for the commercial pedometer, a product used to identify individual cows in heat.
In 1979 SAE Afikim launched the first electronic milk meter commercially, followed a few years later by a full dairy farm and herd management system, which in addition to the meter, included an ID tag (pedometer) and accompanying software. 1984 saw the launch of the Afimilk, a computerized system that until today is at the forefront of innovative and highly sophisticated milking products. Designed to raise efficiency and increase farm profitability by providing all the modular applications required for daily and year-round follow up of milk production, animal health, fertility, genetics and reproduction, management and herd culling. To date, 3000 Afimilk computerized management systems, 115,000 milk meters and over one million pedometers have been sold and installed in over 50 countries worldwide.
The R&D team at SAE Afikim has continued to refine the electronic milk meters and the accompanying software which has led to a new generation of more accurate and more compact meters, containing more advanced electronics and communications: the Afiflo 2000, Afilite Plus and the Afifree. The virtuosity of the milk meters has expanded, and today the meters measure the milk flow for each cow in real time during the milking as well as the handiness of the milkers and the overall performance of the milking parlor. Management and control of the herd's activity level has also been expanded, and a flush water temperature sensor will soon be added.
SAE Afikim has also specialized in the development of external controls over the gates and over the of cows' traffic (Afisort), the allocation of a concentrated feed to individual feeders (Afifeed) and automatic cow weighing (Afiweigh). Afilab, an add-on to the Afimilk milk meter is currently in Beta sites in Israel and Europe. Afilab is aimed to be the world's first milk analyzer that detects blood, calculates in real time the concentration of fat, protein, lactose, and soon also, somatic cells in each cow's milk.
The latest integrated version of Afifarm, the Afimilk software, includes new modules for planning milk production according to quotas, yield prediction, culling of cows from the herd, analysis of events and veterinary treatment, and coming soon, economic analyses and summaries.
Recently SAE Afikim has launched AfiEnterprise and AfiShepherd, the former a unit for providing comprehensive solutions for the entire spectrum of the dairy farm, from site location and sheds to milking parlor and computer management software; and the latter an advanced innovative computerized management system for goat and sheep herds.
For more information contact:
SAE Afikim, Marketing Department
Tel. 972-4-687 4616
Fax. (972-4-697 1862
market@afimilk.co.il
www.afimilk.com
