First-ever Dairy Farm Tech map released
Flashing ear tag wins award; genomic results now integrated into popular herd management software platform
IFCN and I recently created the first-ever technology logo map for the global dairy industry. We unveiled the poster at a webinar held Jan. 18, 2023. A low-res version of the poster is below. (If you’d like a high-resolution version, please email me at cowtechreport@gmail.com for a PDF format.)
The main takeaways that my co-host Torsten Hemme and I observed from the poster’s creation process and the live event – where over 400 people attended live – were:
More than 190 dairy farm tech companies worldwide were identified. Some are still coming forward, so that number will continue to grow. Watch for an update to the poster in about a month.
We conservatively estimate that more than $1 billion has been invested so far in dairy farm tech globally based on extrapolating the data to all 190 companies from available public funding announcements for just 60 companies.
One-third of the companies on the list are headquartered in North America.
Applications of technology in farm/business management, health and feeding held the top three slots for number of companies proliferating in the dairy tech space.
Software, automation and sensors were the most prominent technologies being deployed.
During the webinar, someone asked me what the biggest dairy tech challenge of the next decade will be. My opinion is that data ownership and data usage rights will be the battleground over the next 10 years.
We plan to hold this event annually, as this first event was a wild success. More than 90 percent of participants rated the content “good” or better.
In the meantime, join the “Dairy Tech - A Global Platform” LinkedIn group to be notified of future global dairy tech events.
Note: If you subscribe to this newsletter and your company is not on the poster, shame on me. Email me and I’ll right that wrong.
Global animal health company’s flashing ear tag wins award
A tag made to assist cattle pen riders identify sick cattle earlier recently won S&P Global Animal Health’s best new food animal product award. It’s the fifth year in a row the company’s technologies have been recognized with awards.
The company claims its product, Sensehub Feedlot, provides real-time data to detect potentially sick cattle earlier, more efficiently and more accurately than visual observation. The ear tag is equipped with sensors to monitor an animal’s temperature and movement.
“Our product features an illuminating LED light that makes it easy to identify and sort cattle needing attention with less labor and minimal disruption to other animals,” says Jeroen van de Ven, DVM, vice president, Technology Solutions, Merck Animal Health. “It is the only automated monitoring ear-tag product on the market for use in feedlots as well as stocker and backgrounding production systems.”
Genomic results now integrated into popular herd management software platform
The most common U.S. dairy herd management software recently announced a collaboration to bring in a herd’s genomic data results and display them in the software’s platform.
VAS has integrated their Pulse and DairyComp products with Zoetis’ Clarifide product. The companies say that the integration will enable producers to easily view genomic and herd data in one place for more efficient management. They assert this integration makes recording, submitting and evaluating genetic test data seamless. Producers using the integration can create lists of cows to locate for sampling and synchronize genomic test values.
The integration is one of 40 integrations offered by the herd management software company.
Large dairy tech company release digital booklet about industry digital transformation
The technology company Ever.Ag recently released a 17-page booklet with suggestions for producers and dairy industry professionals about managing change in dairy farming’s digital transition. “Digitizing Dairy: A Guide to Digital Transformation for Dairy Businesses in 2023” offers tips for navigating on-farm labor shortages with automation, addressing cyber security processes and driving sustainability.
To read the book, go here and download it.
Dutch dairy innovation company launches new feeding computer
Feeding precision is the goal of a new product from Hanskamp. The SpiderManual has two different ways to operate the new system: 1) the customer can program up to four feed buttons with different feed amounts. Once programmed the user need only touch a button and feed the entire left or right side of a barn in one go. OR 2) the customer can also put in a cow number and feed each cow individually.
The SpiderManual feeding computer can be used on a mobile phone, tablet, laptop or desktop. Customers have access to all the feeding data generated for each cow, including lactation days and the amount of feed delivered.
Learn more here.
Antitrust claims filed between two dairy tech companies in U.S. court
A start-up company breaking into the software market for milk cooperatives and processors filed antitrust claims in federal court in the Eastern District of California against Dairy LLC (which operates Dairy.com, now rebranded as Ever.Ag) under Section 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act.
Milk Moovement, Inc., a Canadian company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that is partnering with one of California’s largest co-ops to deploy its technology in the U.S., seeks to stop Dairy LLC’s alleged abuses of its monopoly power, which Milk Moovement says has caused substantial harm to the multibillion-dollar milk market.
The counterclaims come after Dairy LLC itself sued Milk Moovement for allegedly misappropriating Dairy LLC’s purported “trade secrets,” after Milk Moovement convinced some of Dairy LLC’s customers to abandon Dairy LLC in favor of Milk Moovement. Milk Moovement has said that Dairy LLC’s lawsuit was not to a remedy to any actual injury but was instead a tool to harass Milk Movement and to unfairly prevent it from competing against Dairy LLC on a level playing field.
Milk Moovement claims that Dairy LLC’s contracts wrongfully claim ownership and control over customers’ data, which then locks them into being a Dairy LLC customer forever.
Dairy profit projections from ZISK
Projected profitability for the next 12-month for two dairy herd sizes HAVE DECREASED in recent profit projections from ZISK.
ZISK is a profit-projection smartphone app that tracks individual dairy farm profitability based on current CME board prices. Projections for a 1,000-cow dairy producing an average of 80 pounds of milk per cow and a 2,500-cow dairy producing an average of 85 pounds of milk per cow are provided.
12-month dairy farm profit projections (as of Jan. 27, 2023):
1,000-cow dairy = $259,000 (DOWN about $242,000 since the end of 2022)
2,500-cow dairy = $1.406 million (DOWN about $640,000 since the end of 2022)