Yield and quality sensors added

That’s the opportunity available to farmers if they install two inline milk sensors now available on monthly subscription from leading monitoring and automation brand SenseHub® Dairy, powered by MSD Animal Health.

Data from both sensors is collected as each cow is milked and automatically transferred to the SenseHub Dairy system which presents it via standard or customisable reports.

Data on yield, and the percentages of fat, protein and lactose is collected for each cow by its MilkPlus Sensors which also detects the presence of blood and calculates its conductivity to monitor for signs of infection.

Somatic Cell Count (SCC) data is collected from each cow by SenseHub Dairy SCC Sensors which automatically performs a Rapid Mastitis Test within two minutes of cupping for each cow.

SenseHub’s North Island Automation Sales Specialist, Shaun Killalea, says the inline milk sensors are the logical next step for the SenseHub Dairy offering, after the successful introduction of its cow monitoring collar technology. 

“Farmers are telling me the data collected by the sensors is allowing them to zero in on individual cows, and make more informed decisions about culling, drying off and feeding.”

The two sensors can be retrofitted in either herringbone or rotary sheds and 22 farmers can choose to install one or both, depending on their management priorities.

“Every farmer I meet has different things they want to achieve with their herd. For some, they are chasing improvements in fat or protein levels so they can make more informed mating decisions while others are more focused on reducing a somatic cell count challenge, so it varies a lot.”

Taranaki dairy farmer Ed Whiting was an early adopter of SenseHub Dairy collars and says adding the sensors has transformed the management of his herd.

“For me, I think SenseHub Dairy is like the Apple of collar technologies. It lets you create a farm system that suits you and it changes the focus to farming individual cows, not mobs of cows,” he says.

MSD Animal Health Automation Manager Warren Carlsen says the sensors are empowering farmers to raise their herd performance.

“These two sensors really open all the doors on the management side of getting the most out of every cow in a herd,” he says.

“Being able to rank all the cows in a herd on a single milk quality component, or look at daily, weekly or seasonal production, means the quality of decisions around feeding, culling, drying off or treating cows are just so much better because you’re dealing with live data.”

Carlsen says when paired with SenseHub Dairy collars, the MilkPlus Sensors offer massive opportunity to fine tune feeding to improve milk production and to make better decisions later in the lactation when drying off becomes a more informed decision for individual cows, rather than a mob-based call.

Data collected at every milking also means farmers can see the immediate impact of feed regime changes and use that information to selectively feed groups of cows, particularly during the vulnerable phase after calving until they enter the main milking herd.

He says the SCC Sensor will appeal more to farmers running herds with a history of high cell counts as the software allows for the option of real-time drafting of cows requiring a health check, based on their SCC.

For more information, chat to your Technical Sales Representative or visit sensehub.co.nz