Many dairy farmers are searching for ways to control costs without compromising cow comfort, health or performance. Activity monitoring systems (AMS) with Cow Locating can help achieve cost savings by streamlining everyday tasks and reducing animal care costs“We’ve seen dairy farms of all sizes turn to activity monitoring systems with Cow Locating to help offset production costs,” says Tara Bohnert, business development manager at Nedap Livestock Management. “Using an AMS tag, you can track your cow’s location and movements in real-time on mobile devices. Knowing the exact location of each cow means you can cut management costs and ensure every cow gets needed care.”
Make the most out of your veterinarian and AI technician’s time
Cow Locating technology makes social distancing possible within the confines of the dairy barn while also helping to reduce animal care costs. With large animal veterinarian hourly rates totaling over $50 per hour in 2018,[1] making efficient use of veterinarians’ time on-farm through precise cow locating can result in significant cost savings. Cow Locating makes it possible to boost efficiency with pregnancy checks and ultrasounds and with as little interaction as possible.
And, with an average hourly wage of $28.53 for artificial insemination technicians[2], Cow Locating can result in breeding cost savings as well.
Enhance labor efficiency
Cow Locating can help counter rising labor costs and minimize unpaid labor by reducing the amount of time that daily animal checks require. Labor costs continue to increase for dairy farmers. From 2008 to 2018, the cost of hired labor per cow increased from an average of $118 to $316 per year.[3] Additional unpaid work logged by dairy farmers and family members averaged $28,668 in 2018 and carried additional opportunity costs.[4]
“A lot of variables impact how much time dairy farmers spend on animal health checks in barns and free stalls each morning, but Cow Locating has cut time requirements in half for some producers,” says Bohnert. “Activity monitoring systems generate lists of animals in need of health checks, and Cow Locating enables you to find those cows’ exact locations with one simple click.”
Reducing time requirements for daily animal checks by just 20 minutes a day would add up to 121 hours in saved labor in one year. At a wage of $15 per hour[5], this would total nearly $1,815 in direct savings per year. And, in addition to reducing labor costs, cow locating provides more time for you to spend growing your business, going to see your kids play sports or perform at a recital.
For more information about Nedap CowControl with cow locating, visit nedap.com/dairyfarming or contact Tara Bohnert at tara.bohnert@nedap.com.
Nedap Livestock Management is the global leader in farming automation using individual animal identification. For more than 40 years, Nedap continues to strengthen dairy farmers through the most reliable and innovative cow identification, monitoring and automation solutions. They empower managers and personnel with dependable information to make operational and strategic decisions and help dairies become more efficient, productive and successful.
For Nedap, trust and reliability in both partnership and technology are key. Leading international dairy farming companies, including genetics and milking equipment suppliers, partner with Nedap to include its technology in their systems. A publicly listed company, Nedap employs more than 700 people globally, across 11 locations and seven business units.
References:
[1] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291131.htm
[2] https://www.thebalancecareers.com/artificial-insemination-technician-125883
[3] https://finbin.umn.edu/FinB.dll/generate?RecId=698131
[4] https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/pdf/c1-10.pdf
[5] https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/html/c1-60.html
