Nurturing herd health: A vital driver of dairy farm success
30th January 2024
Successful dairy farming is built on proactive health management. By staying ahead of health issues, farmers not only ensure their cows’ well-being and productivity but also future-proof their farm.
Prioritising the well-being of cows enables a balance between complying with regulations, meeting societal expectations, and ensuring farm profitability. Detecting diseases early is essential for efficient herd management, resulting in higher milk yields, more sustainable production, and healthier animals.
However, it’s important to acknowledge the challenges of monitoring the health of a herd, as traditionally farmers have relied on visible cues and time-consuming observation to identify emerging illnesses.
The problem lies in the fact that by the time noticeable disease symptoms, like behavioural changes in eating or drop in milk yield, become apparent, the window for early detection and prevention has already closed. Timeliness is crucial in maintaining a consistently healthy herd and securing the long-term success of milk production.
smaXtec’s bolus technology revolutionises how farmers monitor their cows, offering data on inner body temperature (with ± 0.01°C accuracy), drinking cycles and water intake, rumination, and activity from within the cow, the company says. These insights in combination with the automatic interpretation from smaXtec enable early disease detection, such as mastitis or subclinical milk fever, days before visible symptoms appear, with immediate alerts to the farmer’s mobile phone or PC.
This proactive approach often only requires milder treatments and reduces antibiotic use, waiting times and milk loss. smaXtec’s commitment to data quality and optimal recommendations for action, together with its close consulting service reshapes how farmers manage animal health for a future-proofed farm.
At the forefront of dairy farming technology, smaXtec says it distinguishes itself as a technological leader through its unique bolus technology and its precise measurement of data. The system then translates the data into actionable insights and alerts, positioning smaXtec as a “valuable partner for proactive animal health management and optimised farm operations”.
By delivering essential information from within the cow, smaXtec says it is revolutionising how farmers approach animal health, ensuring the longevity of their cows. With a commitment to ongoing evolution, smaXtec continues to introduce new technological innovations, including its latest advancement, TruAdvice, which enables even earlier action.
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