The goal of every farmer is to have a profitable farm that is run efficiently and smoothly. This goal has been around for generations, but advances in technology, specifically when it comes to cow monitoring, mean that new tools are available to help farmers achieve success.
There are 4 main insights that can give farmers the edge they need to make sure their farm is operating at peak efficiency: fertility, health, action items, and animal inventory. The AfiFarm Dashboard was built to provide farmers with the data in these areas. Read on for what each of these insights mean and how farmers’ lives can be made easier with detailed information available at their fingertips.
Fertility: The More Pregnant Cows the Better
As any dairy farmer knows, the more pregnant cows on the farm, the more milk can be produced. And the more milk, the more profit. To optimize milk production, farmers aim to maximize conception rates, primarily by tracking heat signs to determine the most fertile time for insemination.
Every unsuccessful insemination attempt translates to a financial loss, so tools that can help track – and more importantly analyze – fertility data are a game-changer for farmers. AfiFarm’s dashboard consistently updates the following key data points:
- Which cows are ready for insemination on that day, based on tracking data automatically monitored and gathered from each cow.
- When the exact 8-hour fertility window is for each cow.
- Whether any of the pregnant cows have had a suspected abortion.
Armed with this information, it becomes crystal clear to the farmer exactly what needs to be done in order to ensure the highest conception rates in the most efficient manner.
Health: Healthy Cows Means a Profitable Farm
Early detection is key to the prevention of serious health issues. However, even the most vigilant of farmers are unable to have eyes on the cows 24/7 and are likely to miss warning signs. An automatic cow monitoring system is crucial for alerting the farmer to signs of medical conditions that may need treatment.
Cows transmit signals of health and wellbeing through their behavior, activity levels, and posture (i.e. ear position). Further physiological signs such as breath, heart rate, and blood metabolites also provide a farmer with clues into how healthy a cow is. While these metrics are important, the strongest indicator of a cow’s health is rumination. By continuously monitoring and tracking rumination, a farmer can gain easy insight into a cow’s wellbeing and quickly identify signs of lameness, ketosis, and pneumonia.
The AfiFarm dashboard provides farmers with the following information:
- Anestrus – a list of cows that have completed the VWP (voluntary waiting period) but have not shown signs of heat, which is an indication for the farmers to investigate further.
- Non-Specific Health – any cows that have shown a difference in rumination or eating will be flagged so the farmers can examine them to determine why.
- Group Digestion – this will give farmers crucial insight into any overall changes on a group level, helping them understand the health of the herd as a whole.
While the software cannot determine what type of illness a cow may be suffering from, it can give the farmer the early notice needed to ensure that treatment takes place quickly and efficiently.
Action Items: Maximize Your To-Do List
While knowing the exact fertility and health status of each cow and related actions needed can be a huge boost to a farmer’s management efficiency, being presented with a to-do list of other action items for the day will really supercharge overall efficiency. By using the AfiFarm dashboard, the farmer can open his computer or mobile app in the morning and see a list of action items for the day.
This list includes:
- To Dry Today: based on parameters set by the farmer, a list will be generated of cows that are scheduled to be dried off and moved to the appropriate location.
- Due Calving: the farmer can see a list of all of the cows whose due dates are within a specified period (within 3, 7 or 20 days for example), letting him know which cows are expected to deliver imminently and need to be checked.
- Pregnancy Check: using past insemination information, the farmer will be presented with a list of which cows should be checked for pregnancy that day.
- Sorting Gate: farmers who also invest in an automatic sorting gate can save the time and labor usually required to physically go and get the cows that need to be inseminated, dried off, or checked for labor or pregnancy (or any other medical treatment). Instead, the relevant cows are automatically routed to the sort gate at the right time so that they can be brought to where they need to go, and the farmer will receive a list of which cows are being sorted.
Being handed this information every day will save farmers countless hours that would otherwise be spent manually combing through pages of information in order to determine which cows need to be dried off or checked for pregnancy or labor. This time can then be used for other tasks, increasing overall efficiency on the farm. In addition, the farmer can rest assured that any cow that needs attention will be attended to while the rest of the cows can be left alone to continue their daily routine.
Animal Inventory: The Who’s Who of Your Farm
- Cows: the farmer can see the total number of cows, the number of milk cows that are pregnant, the number of open cows and dry cows.
- Heifers: the farmer can see the total number of heifers, the number of pregnant heifers, open heifers aged 13 months and up, heifers aged 6-13 months, and heifers aged 0-6 months.
Within each category, the farmer can drill down and see more detailed information. With the information being automatically updated on a regular basis, the farmer has access to a real-time view of all animals on the farm. In addition to showing the total numbers, the farmer can also see the distribution of each category of animals as a percentage of the total. This can provide valuable information if the percentage of any category is much higher or lower than what the farmer wants or expects, it is a sign that investigation into the reasons why is needed.
Tying it All Together
The most successful farms have a set of routines that are done the same way every day. Having a dashboard that pulls together all of the key information in an easy-to-use format gives the farmer an important edge when it comes to farm management and ensuring that the farm is running at maximum efficiency.
With Afimilk’s AfiFarm ABC Dashboard, farmers have constant easy access to the insights they need. All of the data comes from Afimilk’s long-trusted monitoring collars, ensuring that the farmers receive reliable data that is refreshed continuously. Once a farmer starts using an automated system, there is no going back to the pen and paper of old – the results will speak for themselves!
