Innovative technology helps farmers improve animal welfare – and productivity
Over recent decades, the dairy industry has undergone significant change. In the face of increasing costs, demand and regulations, many dairy farms have either intensified their production or consolidated with other, larger farming operations. But with farmers now having less time to monitor their animals, the industry is seeing an increase in cow sickness, decreased life expectancy of high-yield animals, reduced fertility rates, and lower per cow productivity. The EU-funded ProDairyWelfare project is helping dairy farmers tackle these modern-day challenges by providing them with a tool for gathering and interpreting herd data. “The project’s main goal was to create a powerful tool for monitoring dairy herds, with the aim of increasing animal welfare and producing milk in a cost-efficient and sustainable manner,” says project coordinator Mr Mario Fallast. An enhanced smaXtec system smaXtec, the project’s lead partner, markets an innovative, sensor-based system that lets farmers continuously monitor the heat, calving, health and feeding of dairy cows. By conducting intense field research, the ProDairyWelfare project further developed this system into a comprehensive decision-making tool that farmers can use to produce milk in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. The enhanced smaXtec system consists of both hardware and software that, together, enables easy monitoring of dairy cattle. Installed in the cow’s rumen, the system’s smart sensors automatically measure such critical data as body temperature. This data is transmitted wirelessly whenever the animal is within the vicinity of the system’s read-out devices. The results are then analysed by a cloud-based tool and converted into clear calls for action that are made available to the farmer via PC or mobile device. “Within the project, we significantly improved our data analysis capabilities, which help farmers proactively manage their dairy herds,” explains Fallast. “The improved data analysis results in clear recommended actions, and the system’s new intuitive dashboards provide the farmer with a perfect overview of their operations.” Surpassing the competition Unlike competing systems, the smaXtec system can be tailored to the individual characteristics of the farm, thus providing farmers with powerful, customised insights. By monitoring group behaviour, the system only alerts farmers when an animal acts out of character. There is also an app that lets all pertinent stakeholders (veterinarians, feed experts, etc.) access relevant data at any given time. “The smaXtec system is truly a ground-breaking achievement as we are the first to continuously measure rumen motility – an important parameter in analysing cow health and feeding,” adds Fallast. “This opens up a whole new range of functionalities and services for the future.” Another major part of the project was the development and implementation of new business models, including a monthly payment model that significantly reduces the risk to farmers. A promising future Thanks to the support of the ProDairyWelfare project, the smaXtec system recently won an Innovation Medal at EuroTier, the world’s leading trade fair for animal production. “This award is testament to the fact that we have built a great product for farmers, one that we can use to create the solutions that will help revolutionise the dairy farming of tomorrow,” says Fallast. “In other words, this project has laid the foundation for a promising future for both our company and our industry.”
Keywords
ProDairyWelfare, smaXtec, dairy industry, animal welfare, rumen, farmers, dairy farmers