Interest in measuring silage piles by drone is increasing
Dairy industry commits to net zero by 2050 ... in case you missed it
[PODCAST] Dairy tech still in the spotlight
AgriTech Capital President Aidan Connolly joined the Progressive Dairy podcast for an exclusive Global Dairy Tech Startup Spotlight post-event interview. He talked about how livestock operations and cow tech companies can get on the same page to accelerate tech adoption. He gave his opinion about the role cow tech will play on farms over the next five years.
Listen to the 20-minute interview here.
Interest in measuring silage piles by drone increasing
Alltech On-Farm Specialist Derek Wawack published an article in Progressive Forage about using professional ag drone pilots to measure the quantity of forage in a silage pile. The Cow Tech Report confirmed with the author that the service is in use on 200 farms that are feeding 400,000 cows. It has been available for the last year. The feed company flies commercial drones in pre-scripted routes and takes pictures of piles, which are then used to calculate forage inventories.
Wawack suggested that interest has been high this summer and fall.
“I expect our numbers to double, and we will be adding more pilots over the coming year,” Wawack said.
Read more from Wawack here.
Source: Progressive Forage, 2020Dairy industry commits to net zero by 2050
The dairy check-off announced an initiative this week to be carbon neutral by 2050. The initiative is endorsed by farmers and industry leaders. The industry-wide effort will help U.S. dairy farms of all sizes and in all geographies implement new technologies and adopt economically viable practices. The first to support the effort is Nestle. The global dairy company will contribute up to $10 million over the next several years.
No doubt this will open the door for more sustainability-focused start ups.
Researchers work to simplify disbudding, 3D print with milk components
The University of Wisconsin’s Dairy Innovation Hub for cow technology released its first-ever annual report. Two interesting projects that have already received funding are: 1) a novel method of applying disbudding paste safely and effectively on newborn dairy calves and 2) the use of casein proteins from milk for 3D printing.
While the hub is just getting started with a $1 million investment this year, $7.8 million is budgeted for next year.
Read the full report here.
Nedap and VAS further integrations
An activity monitoring company with units on 1 million cows worldwide announced that the data from its sensors will now integrate with VAS. Nedap says the new integration allows heat and health data generated by its sensors to be presented and evaluated within VAS applications. Simultaneously, data from VAS programs flows into Nedap software.
VAS said that the enhanced integration will “allow [farmers] to manage their herd efficiently through one portal.” The integration will also enable producers with Nedap’s technology to deploy VAS’ ParlorBoss product.
Read more here.
Profit projections from ZISK
Thanks to partner ZISK, Cow Tech Report readers will now get a weekly glimpse at dairy profitability for the next 12 months. ZISK is a profit-projection smartphone app that tracks your dairy farm’s profitability based on current CME board prices.
Projected profitability for two dairy herd sizes will be provided – 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.
12-month dairy farm profit projections (as of Oct. 15, 2020):
1,000-cow dairy = $474,832
2,500-cow dairy = $1.88 million
Source: Zisk