Technology Looks To Save Dairies Labor, Improve Milk Output

In the ongoing effort to help dairy producers improve efficiency as well as animal health and wellbeing, Merck Animal Health is out with the SenseHub Dairy Youngstock.  Erica Tessman, Market Manager for Dairy Monitoring Technology at Merck, said SenseHub Dairy Youngstock is the first monitoring technology for dairy calves from birth through the first 12 months of life.  She added the technology is similar to a Fitbit for a cow, that goes around the neck or in the ear.  It monitors key behaviors 24/7, charting a normal behavior for each individual calf.

“And then when she shows an abnormality in that behavior; she's in heat, she's dropping in rumination, she's starting to get sick, things like that," Tessman said.  "That detection, typically before visual signs appear, that detection of these animals that need our attention for whatever it may that day is all done with the monitoring system.  So when we give employees, the breeder a list, ‘breed these cows today’, or we give the herd managers or the veterinarians, ‘check these cows today for potential health issues’, it takes a ton of that guesswork out of it, subjectivity out of it, and its objective data coming right from the cows.”

Technology Has Many Applications

Tessmann said producers that have used SenseHub Dairy Youngstock have enjoyed great success in a variety of areas.  She says the technology can help with repro, allowing you to know which cows should be bred, or identify animals that need a little help to stave off sickness or illnesses.

“And then if you think about adding sorting gates and milking points, you can add daily milk weights to this animal behavior," she added.  "So, that it could influence breeding times, voluntary wait periods and culling decisions. So, that's a huge value.  And then if you have the touch free sorting, you can essentially eliminate head locking cows that don't need it, which just is the ultimate cow comfort. They can go to the bed, they don't have to be worried about lock getting locked in a stall, they're not on their feet unnecessarily. You can take a lot of those management tasks, reduce the time necessary to do them. And then at the end of the day, more milk in the tank.”

Tessmann added the technology is not about cutting labor but rather utilizing employees.  Click Here to learn more about SenseHub Dairy Youngstock.

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