Training heifers to a ‘phantom’ robot reduces fetching at freshening
Augmented reality for cow consultants moves forward
Dummy robotic milking boxes that have no robotic arms and only grain feeders help condition heifers to robotic milking before they freshen, new research finds.
Researchers in Germany recently tried giving Holstein heifers access to a dummy or “phantom robot” box for four weeks prior to calving. The heifers were enticed to enter the robot to consume grain, just like they would receive if using a live milking robot. Researchers found that when these “trained” heifers freshened they made a “significant higher number of milking visits, leading to the conclusion that they were familiar with the AMS.”
Senior researcher Almuth Einspanie of Leipzig University said:
The increased number of milking visits and the reduced proportion of animals that had to be fetched into the AMS for milking indicate that training on the phantom prepares the animals well for being milked in the AMS.
Read more about the research here.
Augmented reality for cow consultants moves forward
A government-university partnership recently announced an attempt to bring augmented reality to aid technicians and professionals who work cowside on the farm.
In the UK, Abertay University and Agri-EPI Centre have partnered to use the same technology used in video games to display data collected about cows within the eyesight of veterinarians, hoof trimmers and employees. Their augmented reality headset will make data about individual cows available while working with them cowside. What makes this endeavor unique from others is that it aims to retrieve data about the cow using facial/pelt recognition for identification.
“The beauty of this project is that it combines farmers’ and vet’s experienced ‘eyes’ with real-time data; technology is being used to enhance, rather than replace, human skills,” said one of the project’s leaders.
Read more about the project here.
Others, such as NEDAP, are also working to make augmented reality practical for farms. However, their technology would sync data display with identification from wearable tags.
Automated fodder growing system partners with Amazon for machine learning
Grov Technologies, which recently burst on the scene with its automated fodder-growing towers, announced it is partnering with Amazon Web Services to add machine learning to its suite of technology.
The partnership will allow the fodder system to maximize the output and quality of the feed by uploading environmental, operational and plant growth data into Amazon’s machine learning platform.
The company’s machine learning will then fine-tune the growing protocols for the fodder.
“AWS machine learning and computer vision is helping Grōv improve operational effectiveness of its tower farms by converting sensor data to meaningful insights,” Amazon announced.
Learn more about the technology stack in Grov’s Olympus tower here.
Use of a rotary parlor increases the likelihood of technology adoption
Recent research from New Zealand found that dairy farmers using a rotary milking parlor were at least 300 percent more likely to adopt labor-saving and data capture technology than those using a herringbone parlor. The research followed up on advancements by Kiwi dairy farmers during the last decade.
The types of technology adoption the researchers looked at included animal sensors and milking-related technologies, such as automated cluster removal.
Since rotary parlors are replaced about every 25 years, the researchers found the adoption of technology tends to come in chunks, for example when a farm expands or when a renovation occurs.
The researchers concluded:
These data may indicate occurrence of two trajectories to technology investment on farms, where larger farms are able to take advantage of technology opportunities, but smaller farms are constrained by factors such as lack of economies of scale, limited capital to invest, and inability to retrofit into aging parlor infrastructure.
Read more of the research here.
Ask the right question before diving into data
Progressive Dairy recently published an article about how to use data to make better dairy business decisions. The article suggests that before a dairy farm collects any data it ask the right questions because data can be misleading if the end goal is unknown. The author also suggests the importance of tailoring any cow technology to a farm’s specific situation:
Any new technology … has established standard start-up protocols and benchmarks. While they are a good starting point, you must find the right setting for your specific facilities and management style.
Read more here.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
From Editor Walt Cooley … “I’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you to all of you who have subscribed to this report in 2020. The outpouring of support has been more than I could have imagined. I appreciate your readership and hope to provide you with even more value and insights in 2021.”
Profit projections from ZISK
Projected profitability for two dairy herd sizes have IMPROVED since the beginning of the month 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 Dec. 23, 2020):
1,000-cow dairy = $358,650 (UP about $63,800 since the beginning of the month)
2,500-cow dairy = $1.60 million (UP about $160,000 since the beginning of the month)
Source: Zisk