Innovations contribute to dairy farmer returns

The growing size of dairy farms makes it increasingly difficult to maintain the attention for each cow. CowManager's innovative monitoring system provides peace of mind and control, thanks to the unique combination of ear temperature and cow behaviour. 'By innovating continuously, we want to provide optimal support to livestock farmers.'

CowManager monitors the livestock of entrepreneurs 24/7. As an entrepreneur, you don't miss anything anymore, which benefits the welfare of the cow and production. "What makes our system so innovative? We are in the cow's ear and were the first to do so." These are the words of Koen van Meurs, head of Research & Product Development at CowManager.

Complete behavior
"By measuring the ear temperature, you gain very good insight into how the cow is feeling. In addition, in this way you can accurately map the movement of the head, and therefore the cow's behaviour. An animal that has health problems does not "We can see that in his behaviour, but also in his ear temperature. By combining this in the health module, we can see that something is wrong with the cow up to 2 days earlier. That makes timely intervention possible and limits the consequential damage."

In behavior, eating, ruminating, rest and activity are important indicators. The system issues a notification if the behavior deviates from what a cow normally does. "With the feeding module, we link the cow's behavior to groups of cows. This allows us to delve deeper into the transition period, among other things, so that you as a farmer can analyze very well how your cows behave during this important period. The right care in the transition period ensures a good start to lactation."

With the fertility module CowManager can accurately tell when a cow is in heat and how far along it is. "As a farmer, you can choose the insemination time very precisely," says Van Meurs. "In addition, in the module we combine fertility data from our sensors with data from other management systems. This makes it possible to detect, for example, animals with disrupted cycles or rejecters more quickly. This contributes to a herd with a low number of days in lactation and a short calving interval on average. ."

Combine data flows
CowManager has established links with management systems all over the world, so that farmers only have to enter information in one place. "By combining 2 data streams, additional information is also made available with the CowManager alerts, such as the calving date or the moment of insemination. This makes a faster diagnosis possible."

CowManager wants to further intensify the cooperation with external parties. Van Meurs explains why: "Livestock farmers, for example, have little time to retype a list of cows in heat every day in their selection gate. By working with suppliers of selection gates, we can automatically send attention animals to selection gates. Without the intervention of the farmer, these cows separated after milking."

We often realize innovations of our system in response to questions from the market. "We take input from our customers very seriously. With regard to controlling the selection gates, we have made extensive filter options at the request of customers, such as the possibility to select specific sick and in heat cows. By literally working together with farmers, we can continue innovate and develop products that catch on."

Plug and play
Convenience and accessibility are paramount. The sensor is easy, quick and safe to apply. When a cow leaves the farm, the sensor is easy to remove and apply to another cow. Everything must work according to the principle of plug and play, without cumbersome installation. "It is not necessary to pull cables in the barn," says Van Meurs. "Our system runs on the existing computer. The costs for peripherals are also low."

CowManager is easy to scale up and simple to maintain. Updates are free and run automatically. "All our hardware, including sensors, can be updated remotely. Farmers don't have to do anything for this. In addition, we update our web application and mobile app every 2 weeks, translating the wishes of customers into improvements in our software. this is free of charge and customers do not have to do anything." 

family business
Innovation is in CowManager's genes. Van Meurs has experienced the development of the company first hand. Ten years ago, he worked with 10 colleagues on the development of an innovative monitoring system. A system that is now used worldwide. As a result, the workforce has grown to 50 employees at the company in Harmelen. "But we are still a family business," says Van Meurs.

Directly behind the office is a dairy farm. "This is also one of the barns where we extensively test all our innovations. We leave nothing to chance. The advantage of developing these innovations is that many colleagues have their roots in the agricultural sector and understand the needs of a farmer. ."

More data and connections
In time CowManager expects to be able to measure even more from the cow itself. "With smart algorithms it is possible to show this to customers in a clear way. We already have a huge database with data from the cow and believe that we can extract even more connections from it. It is not about the amount of data, but to distill the right information from it. By presenting that information in a clear manner, we can support livestock farmers even better and contribute to their return."

In December, CowManager elected winner of the Agribusiness Awards 2019† The jury spoke of a 'special product that makes effective use of complex data.'

For more information, go to http://www.cowmanager.com or follow CowManager on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. For any questions, please contact our dealer AgroVision.