Farmers have a range of new tools in their Dairy Diary toolbox following a major upgrade.
The Co-op’s digital Dairy Diary has been a mainstay of farmers’ toolboxes for the past six years. In that time a lot has changed in the way of regulations, reporting, and data captured. To make life as easy as possible for farmers, the Co-op has given the Dairy Diary a major upgrade, updating the platform and creating new features that our farmers have asked for to make recording easier.
Enrich spoke to Tui Williams, Digital Innovation On-Farm Excellence, and Vanessa Markwell, Change Lead and Co-op farmer, to find out more about the update.
“Over the years we’ve had feedback about the need to add features such as being able to input multiple treatments to an animal or combinations of drugs. Around six years ago, we digitised the paper version of Dairy Diary to enable farmers to record and store records digitally,” says Tui.
“Now, no matter where you are, on-farm, in the shed, out and about, you can record and view on-the-go. We’ve listened to feedback and focused on key improvements to make recording on-the-go easier. Additionally, we've added features to use the information you record to pre-populate your farm dairy records. A key new update is the ability to take photos and use them as evidence to help streamline the Farm Dairy Assessment.
“Now that we have moved to this new platform and technology, these new features are just the beginning of what’s to come with this tool.”
What’s been updated?
The Dairy Diary update has been two years in the making and has involved substantial farmer feedback. Essential features of the update include:
- A new technology platform (solving the problems encountered by Android devices, and future-proofing the app)
- Improved method to record non-restricted veterinary medicine (non-RVM) treatments – this is crucial for compliance with NZCP-1; Multiple treatments can now be recorded easily, even when used intermittently over several weeks
- Dedicated space for non-RVM products like metabolic bags and teat spray – streamlining workflow
- Farm records monthly numbers – at the end of the season, the app pre-populates farm dairy records.
- Record multiple animal treatments in one go (rather than one-by-one)
- Changed navigation to support new features and technology
- Extended photo evidence section – allowing you to store and categorise receipts and other documents on-the-go. Photos are categorised by document type making them easy to organise and find, without the hassle of managing physical copies throughout the year.
Vanessa says the new functionality unlocks some real time saving opportunities for farmers.
“The ability to take photos for evidence and capturing information on-the-go rather than having to remember where you’ve stored it is a major improvement. We’ve never had this functionality before and it enables so much more for the work the Co-op is doing to simplify compliance for farmers,” she says.
“With my farmer hat on, I’ll definitely take advantage of on-the-go recording. Whether it’s an email coming in or whether it’s something on-farm, just take the photo, tag it, and it’s done. The new functionalities are too valuable not to give it a go.”
Farmer feedback a key part of the process
Farmer feedback has been crucial to the Dairy Diary update. During the project, new functions were tested by farmers to ensure the features were fit-for-purpose and practical when used on-farm.
“With this new platform, we are better able to react to farmer feedback and add new features to the app. During the testing process, farmers reported they found the new flow quite easy and simple. Other features, such as the concept of recording on-the-go and those that support compliance have all been well received. Of course, there's always room for improvement and we will continue to improve over time.”
Improved technology for farmers
The Co-op has moved all three Farm Source apps from Hybrid to Native technology.
“The old platform was more than nine years' old and, a bit like an old tractor, it had become unreliable. Native apps are fit-for-purpose to work specifically on top of the operating systems of Apple (iOS) and Android. It's a lot less costly to maintain and it's more adaptable to handle the improvements that our farmers are asking for,” says Tui.
“We can now isolate any issues that emerge. There might be an issue on Android but not on iOS or vice versa and we can deal with it quickly. Farmers will notice the app reacts a lot faster. Screens and information load much quicker and the whole app feels more modernised.”
How to access the new Dairy Diary
The Dairy Diary app will update automatically, provided farmers have the “Automatic Updates” function loaded on their phone. Alternatively, farmers can manually update the app.
On iPhones and iPads (iOS), open the App Store app, tap the My Account button at the top of the screen, and scroll down to see pending updates. Tap ‘Update’ next to the Dairy Diary app.
On Android devices, open the Google Play Store app, tap the profile icon at the top at the top of the screen, tap ‘Manage apps & device’ > ‘Manage’ > Tap ‘Dairy Diary app’ > Tap ‘Update’.
The Farm Source Dairy Diary can be downloaded on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. How to Guides are available on the Farm Source portal.