A quantum leap in automated dairy data collection

Technological breakthroughs and new automation are what dairy producers have come to expect at World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif., but an announcement by the world’s largest dairy equipment company during the 2010 show this week still has our heads spinning.

To put it simply, management of three of the biggest profit-draining problems on dairies – mastitis, heat detection, and subclinical ketosis – may have just became fast, easy, and accurate.

In a special press briefing February 9, DeLaval said “Herd Navigator,” a computerized in-line milking analysis system that automatically identifies cows that are in heat, cows that are about to develop mastitis, and cows that have subclinical ketosis, will become available in the U.S., but declined to specify when. How confident are they that the system is for real? Confident enough to fly in its president and CEO from Sweden and its parent firm’s CEO from Switzerland to share in the announcement.

Fernando Mazeris, D.V.M., director, Product Portfolio Dairy Management and Nutrition, said the system automatically tests each cow’s milk for progesterone to identify those that are coming into heat; for lactate dehydrogenase, an enzyme highly correlated with somatic cells; and for beta hydroxybutyrate, which is produced when cows are in negative energy balance.

Herd Navigator is already in use in Europe. Mazeris said farmers there have seen staggering heat detection accuracy of up to 98 percent and pregnancy rates of up to 45 percent. In its current stage of development the system can handle up to a double-16 parlor.

Individually, any of these three tools would be a huge dairy management breakthrough. Collectively, they are nothing short of a quantum leap. “We think so, too,” said DeLaval president and CEO Joakim Rosengren.

Activity monitoring isn't just about heats

Activity monitoring systems for cows have become quite popular in recent times. Yes, not only can you measure how many steps you take by wearing a pedometer, you can measure how many steps your cows take by attaching a simple device to their foot or collar. In a 2008 survey by Hoard's Dairyman, 5.7 percent of all farms reported using electronic cow identification. Of that 5.7 percent, one-third reported using this electronic identification for activity monitoring with the goal to detect heats. Our cows at the Hoard's Dairyman farm wear activity monitors, and a portion of our breeding is done based off of its detection.

In a recent publication by Virginia Cooperative Extension, Christina Petersson-Wolfe, an extension dairy specialist, discussed the potential of using activity monitoring as a source for predicting disease. Typically, pedometer reports are watched closely for spikes of activity as a sign of estrus. However, Petersson-Wolfe reports that in recent studies at other universities, predicting disease may be a future job of activity monitoring devices. One study reported an increase in activity 10 days prior to a D.A. The Virginia Tech dairy center recently added a new activity monitoring system to their dairy. It is their hope to that results from an upcoming study will give them activity indicators of metabolic disease. That way, if we can detect ketosis before it happens, treatment can be administered and dollars can be saved. We're wondering — what are your experiences with activity monitoring?