New 'cow patty' picker launches in the Netherlands
Two companies merge to focus on 'back of the barn' tech
New ‘cow patty’ picker launches in the Netherlands
The company that won a gold medal innovation award this year from EuroTier for its cow toilet announced another new invention this week. Hanskamp’s new bedding cleaner can pick up and separate cow patties deposited in light bedding material, such as grain hulls, flax or coarse sand. The PTO-driven implement picks up cow patties from the ground, screens out the solids and brushes the bedding surface smooth as it passes.
In the company’s demo video, the unit is used to clean bedding in a free-range barn – basically a shallow-bedded pack. The farmer who has tested the equipment in his facility says the barn, which has no concrete surfaces cows must walk on, has seen hoof health and environmental benefits. European farmers are looking for innovations, such as this one, that keep cow urine and manure separate. Doing so avoids the creation of ammonia, an emission with increasing regulatory scrutiny in the EU.
Check out the new product in action below.
Two companies merge, tackle tech for the ‘back of the barn’
A ventilation company that late last year announced a pivot towards integrating IoT technology into indoor cattle housing has acquired another major equipment provider for cattle environments. The new organization was created by the merger of VES and Artex this week. The company will be named VES-Artex and is owned entirely by Turntide Technologies. Turntide’s Smart Motor System has been called the “world’s most efficient and connected motor system.” VES and its cow fans were including the smart motors in its new fans, and the company most recently integrated them into a cloud-connected, smart barn system know as DairyBOS.
“The future of dairy, and of the entire food ecosystem, is in connected technologies that allow farms to demonstrate the conditions in which they produce food, that animals were provided optimal care, as well as an environment that encouraged health, comfort and wellness,” said VES-Artex CEO Ed Paradowski.
During the merger announcement, both companies emphasized the importance that technology will play in proving to consumers the dairy industry’s advancements in animal welfare and sustainability. The company hopes to be a leader in technology for the ‘back of the barn’.
“The front of the barn is saturated with technology. People are investing dramatically in robotics and automation and capital equipment to bring efficiencies, to scale and to remove the labor requirement from the front of the dairy. The back of the dairy seems still fairly immature,” Paradowski said about opportunities for technology advancements in cattle barn environments.
“We’re building a sales channel as a path to the marketplace to use our hardware kind of like a Trojan horse. The dairy industry already knows it needs hardware … Inside our Trojan horse is technology,” Paradowski said. “I’m amazed at how many software companies are focused on the dairy space. They have great intellectual property, great ideas. But they're trying to develop their own channel to the market. And that seems just wildly inefficient, ineffective and costly. How about we work together?”
Learn more about the new VES-Artex here.
New live technology showcase launches for the dairy industry
The newest addition to Professional Dairy Producers (PDPW) Business Conference will provide a showcase for the most innovative and groundbreaking ideas and technologies to improve processes, sustainability and profitability in the dairy industry. The inaugural Nexus stage will be part of PDPW’s Business Conference at Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wis., March 17-18. It will provide five companies with an opportunity to present in-person to leading-edge dairy farmers in a facilitated forum.
On the Nexus stage, each selected company will have 15 minutes to present an overview of their innovative ideas or product, then an additional 5 minutes to take questions from dairy farmers in attendance.
Online applications are due February 1, 2021. A selection committee will determine the five companies to present in-person during the NEXUS showcase. The five finalists will be notified by February 15.
NOTE: I’ve personally been involved in the planning of this event, and I intend to facilitate the presentations by the winners live in Wisconsin later this spring. Many of this report’s subscribers are involved with technologies that should definitely be applying to participate. Check out the application here.
New monthly webinar features real-life robotic milking experiences
A new webinar series about robotic milking hosted by University of Minnesota Extension will launch next week. Each episode will feature a dairy producer who is milking with robots.
The first webinar will be held Thursday, Jan. 21, at 11:30 a.m. Central U.S. time (5:30 p.m. GMT). Future episodes in the webinar series will be held at the same time every third Thursday of the month.
Dairy Extension Specialists Marcia Endres and Jim Salfer will co-host the show, which they have named “30 Minutes: Robotic Milking Edition.” Participation in the monthly virtual event on Zoom is free, but pre-registration is required.
Go here to register to participate.
Happy New Year to everyone!
My New Year started off with a jolt – literally and figuratively.
First of all, my apologies for missing a report last week. I was the victim of a car accident last week. I’m thankful to be present this week to write this report. I’m feeling a lot more grateful for life and the prospects of 2021 these days.
Secondly, thank you to all of our new subscribers. More than a hundred of you have joined us since the last report. Thank you for your trust and support that I can provide valuable insight about cow technologies sent to your email inbox regularly. I aim to make this report well worth your time.
Here’s to a prosperous New Year for all!
Profit projections from ZISK
Projected profitability for two dairy herd sizes have DECLINED since the end-of-year holidays in 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. 15, 2021):
1,000-cow dairy = $174,195 (DOWN about $184,450 since the end of 2020)
2,500-cow dairy = $1.14 million (DOWN about $456,000 since the end of 2020)