Precision Farming to Enhance Farm Productivity

VIV MEA – Feb. 5-7th 2018 - Abu Dhabi

Presented by:Thomas Nivert tnivert@allflex-europe.com

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Agenda• Introduction

– Allflex & The Animal Intelligence

• Precision Farming & Big Data

– It’s a lot about accuracy and timing

– Proactiveness & benchmarking

• Change routines

– For the cows… alternative to synchronization

– For the staff… follow the screen

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Animal Intelligence by ALLFLEX

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Philosophy

If you can’t measure it…

…you can’t manage it!

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What is ‘Precision Farming’ about?

• Better monitoring of calving diseases

• Early detection of health issues

• Measuring effectiveness of vet treatment

• Ability to monitor effect of nutrition changes

• Insight into environmental influences on cow wellbeing

Healthy, well-fed and stress-free cows will produce more milk!

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Why monitor individual cows directly?

• Modern farming – No personal contact

• Milk recording only – Drop in production is only a symptom

• Visual observation – Possible? Practical? Accurate?

A herd is a sum of its parts. Each cow influences overall herd production. But each cow is an asset – rather than removing non-

producers from the herd, it is better to realize that individual cow’s maximum potential, to maximize overall herd productivity.

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Heat & Activity

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Complete view in one systemActivity and rumination – the diamond shape

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A short window of opportunity for AI

Hours from Peak

8 160

Ovulation

28-3026

Best AI Time

AI Time

Activity Peak

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Co

nce

pti

on

rat

e

Hours from peak of weighted activity to insemination

Insemination timingInserting semen when it counts

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15

25

35

45

-8…0 0…8 8…16 16…24 24…36

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Farm 1 (365)Farm 2 ( 363)Farm 3 (320)Farm 4 (5302)

Source: SCR research

Lost Milk

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Disqualifie d by

Breeder

False Positive

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Cystic cow

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Pregnancy Check

Suspected

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Health & Rumination

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Rumination Monitoring 24/7 insight into the herd’s health, reproductive and wellbeing status

Rumination…

• Is the result of what the cow has eaten and how well she has been able to rest

• Serve as a very early indicator of future calving diseases

• Can be an early indicator for diseases like mastitis, lameness

• Provides excellent, immediate feedback on the effectiveness of medical treatment

• Provides an additional tool for monitoring feeding-related issues

• Is an effective tool for detection of heat stress and other aspects of wellbeing at the farm level.

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Health ApplicationEfficient monitoring of veterinarian treatment effectiveness

Effective Treatment Ineffective treatment

Source: SCR research

Antibiotics 1Antibiotics1

Antibiotics 2

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Panting monitoring

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Heat stress

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You don’t have to be there..

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Health application: Prediction & early detection of post-calving disorders

Daily rumination time of healthy and (later diagnosed) diseased cows in the first week after calving

Source: SCR research

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Feeding accurate ration: the key for profitability

Every 5-percentage-point decrease in variability in percent long particles (average percent long = 19.8 ± 6.5; CV = 16.1 ±6.9%) in the TMR was associated with 1.2 kg/d greater milk yield and a 2.6% increase in efficiency of milk production.

These results demonstrate the importance of ensuring TMR consistency to maximize DMI, production, and efficiency.

J. Dairy Sci. 97 :562–571

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150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

550

DIM

Da

ily

Ru

min

ati

on

Tim

e(m

in)

Group1

Group2

J. Dairy Sci. 2009 92: 3364-3373

After calving groups

were fed different

rations (same fiber

content but with

different length of the

fiber)

Fiber effect on rumination

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SCR Heatime® – Simple User Interface

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Change routines

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Our customers

“Drug and semen savings cover three-fifths of the SCR system cost. DA-related savings – surgery, selling and replacement – cover the remainder. I’m confident it will pay for itself in 18 months.”

--Trent Bowman, Co-Owner, Bowman Dairy Farm

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Our customers

“If cow health is important to you, the rumination monitoring will make the system pay for itself – and that’s without even considering the heatactivity part.”

--Karl Funk, Co-Owner, Funk’s Midway Dairy

28 THANK YOU