New Feed Efficiency Service Helps Dairy Farmers Make Informed Decisions that Reduce Feed Costs and Cut Methane Emissions

AfiCollar feed efficiency service provides feed intake, feed efficiency and income over feed data on each cow to aid in breeding and culling decisions that increase profitability.

Dairy automation company, Afimilk, announces the release of their new feed efficiency service – a first of its kind technology that accurately measures individual cow’s feed intake. Combined with production data, it can identify the most profitable cows and then be used to cull high-cost cows and breed a more genetically-efficient herd.

Given that feed costs account for over 60% of total farm costs, and feed costs are increasing, the potential cost savings for farms is significant. Recent estimates indicate that an improvement in herd feed efficiency from 1.55 to 1.75 would equate to a savings of $470 per cow per year, contributing about $1.2 million dollars to the bottom line of a 2,500-cow dairy¹.

Feed efficiency has also become a key environmental focus area as it is highly correlated with methane emissions, a high impact greenhouse gas released by cows. Studies have shown that highly feed efficient cows produce less methane than low feed efficient cows, even at the same milk yield. A gain of 20 points in feed efficiency, as mentioned above, equates to a reduction of ~22 tons of methane per year on a 2,500-cow dairy – the equivalent of planting 9,240 trees or providing electricity to 110 US homes for a year².

The feed efficiency service is based on the AfiCollar cow monitoring solution by Afimilk. By providing individual feed intake, alongside milk production, it can calculate feed efficiency for each cow and enable the dairyman to breed to efficiency instead of high production in order to improve profit rather than income.

“We see this as the next evolution in dairy farm profitability,” said product manager, Veronica Shabtai. “When we look at dry matter intake data from our FE customers, we learn there is a great variance in feed consumption between animals that are giving average milk production, even if energy corrected milk is considered. That means that breeding according to production, is missing a lot on the profitability.”

“By combining data from production and feed intake, you’re able to make more informed decisions that will not only translate to quick improvement in profit, they also resonate far into the future of the herd. An efficient herd is both profitable and sustainable.”

Afimilk has a history of introducing cutting-edge technology to the dairy industry as the creators of the first ever heat detection sensor, the first milk meter, the first milk analyzer of milk components, and now – the first feed efficiency sensor.

¹Progressive Dairy magazine, December 2023

² EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator