Shot-delivering robot nearly a reality
Two cow tech companies partner, announce new herd management tech
Video: Watch this robot arm practice delivering shots
The dairy start-up that emerged during the pandemic last year now has a prototype to show the world. Pharm Robotics recently posted a video of a sample robot arm working inside of its concept cattle handling chute. The company aims to create a robotic arm and handling chute to automate the delivery of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and reproductive shots to dairy cows.
The company is crowd-funding its development. The current funding round is still open, if you’re interested in getting involved.
“We're well on our way and pumped as a team to complete development on our robotic health center,” the company’s CFO Alika Chuck posted on LinkedIn.
Check out the sample robot arm in action here.
Vertical fodder company announces second system in Colorado
Utah-based Grōv Technologies recently announced it signed agreements with Colorado-based Hunter Ridge Dairy to build 10 of the company’s vertical fodder towers as part of a new indoor feed center. The 10 units will produce 60,000 lbs. of fresh, sprouted grain per day, year-round. As configured, the to-be-constructed feed center will sit on approximately one-third of an acre, yet it will produce the equivalent of 350 to 500 acres of field-grown fodder using less than 5 percent of the water.
Learn more here.
(Sorry folks, this one was announced last month, but I missed including it until now.)
Accelerator program accepting applications to award up to $450K to ag start-ups
A leading commercialization program for early-stage companies is looking for innovations in the ag sector for its fourth accelerator program. In the cow technologies category, F3 Tech is encouraging alternative feed and agricultural biotech start-ups to apply.
The program requires no equity from participants, a unique value proposition for many early-stage companies. Up to $450,000 in funding and professional services will be available to companies in this year’s program. They will receive:
Funding to expedite commercialization
Executive support and coaching to prepare each company for potential investment
Executive guidance for potential acquisition and/or commercial launch
Connections to industry clients, investors and customers
The deadline to apply for the F3 Tech Accelerator Program is June 30, 2021. Finalists will be announced in August, and the program will start Sept. 7, 2021. To learn more or apply, visit here.
Two cow tech companies partner, announce new dairy herd management technology
Waikato Milking Systems and Nedap recently announced a new partnership and two new products. Waikato recently introduced its new cow monitoring system, CowTraQ, and its new TracHQ automation platform, both of which will be powered by Nedap.
The two new products offer dairy farmers the following advantages: real-time and relevant alerts, to-do lists, reports and barn maps to help manage and control the herd. A single collar combines animal identification, heat detection, health monitoring, herd performance trends and cow locating to improve herd performance.
“Nedap’s widely proven and integrated platform drives herd management technology such as CowTraQ and TracHQ to automate everyday tasks and deliver complete and user-friendly insights to dairy farmers to help make informed decisions,” says Bertino Verstege, Nedap Livestock Management managing director.
Visit the companies (waikatomilking.com or nedap-livestockmanagement.com) to learn more about these new cow monitoring systems and herd management technologies.
Herd management software company starts text-based customer service
The company expanding the a cloud-based version of its herd management software now offers weekday text support. VAS recently announced the new feature on its LinkedIn page.
“Yes, you read that right, we now offer text support through our regular call line. However you want to reach us – call, email or text – the same great support team you’ve come to know is here to help.”
Check out this post to learn more.
Who’s reading The Cow Tech Report?
Arnold van Leeuwen, Business Unit Manager, Hokofarm Group B.V.
I have been working with the Hokofarm Group since 1982, and I have been at the forefront of all kinds of developments of automation systems in the dairy, beef and swine sectors.
These developments have included RFID systems, activity registration systems, concentrate feeding systems, roughage intake control systems (known as RIC or the Insentec system), automatic milking systems, milking parlor automation systems, animal weighing systems, selections system and user-friendly farm management software.
In the swine industry, they know my name and our company, as the first company in the world with an electronic sow feeding system (ESF) and for our IVOG system for the performance testing of pigs.
Where are you located?
Marknesse, Netherlands
What do you do in the cattle or tech industry?
The Hokofarm Group concentrates on the development and sales of highly qualified mechanics, optics, animal identification, electronics and management systems for international agri- and nutri-businesses.
An international network of authorized OEM’ers, distributors and dealers are an important part of the success of the Hokofarm Group. Our company philosophy is: “Bringing your ideas to life.” We emphasize the central role of the end user.
Which cow technology interests you most?
We develop, sell and install all kinds of applications based on individual animal RFID, to be able to feed, milk, weigh, select, measure activity and collect data to make the individual management of cows and individual feed/water intake research possible.
But I would say what interests me most is our recent market introduction – the RIC2Discover system. It is the next generation RIC system. The previous version is already seen and respected all over the world as “the gold standard for individual feed intake research.”
What do you think would further accelerate cow tech adoption?
Research. We are continuously working on new smart sensors and technology combined with smart software (deep learning) to make new applications for research purposes but also for the commercial dairy and beef farmer all over the world.
Profit projections from ZISK
Projected profitability for two dairy herd sizes went DOWN since the beginning of May 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 May 28, 2021):
1,000-cow dairy = $246,620 (DOWN about $88,000 since the beginning of May)
2,500-cow dairy = $1.345 million (DOWN about $94,000 since the beginning of May)