18 minute read
Innovations
by AgriHQ
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Boosting trace elements in calves
Ed Grayling milks 450 cows on mostly peat soil that is low on trace elements, at Rukuhia, 10km south of Hamilton.
To give his young stock a good start, he has an array of management tools at his disposal, including feeding them well (including colostrum), looking after them daily and boosting trace elements.
After his vet Dr David Oertly recommended MULTIMIN® , Hi ahe used it to assist with his calves’ immunity and overall health and in older cattle, to enhance reproductive performance.
MULTIMIN® is administered to his stock fi ve times over a two-year period. Calves are injected at birth, weaning and before wintering; older animals are injected prior to mating and then before the next winter.
Oertly, from Vetora Waikato, is happy to recommend MULTIMIN® to his farmer clients, due to the research and development behind the product.
MULTIMIN® is designed to be administered to stock prior to high periods of demand, such as early life, weaning, calving and mating. It contains copper, selenium, zinc and manganese, works rapidly, is safe and most importantly, has been proven in New Zealand conditions.
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Visit performanceready.co.nz to learn more about Ed’s story and ask your vet about MULTIMIN® .
Dairy farmer Ed Grayling (right), uses MULTIMIN® to boost his calves’ immunity and overall health.
Registered pursuant to the ACVM Act 1997, No. A9374.
Enhance immunity and improve fertility.
Farmers jump at lame tech
By Gerald Piddock
Innovative technology to be trialled on-farm will help with animal health and welfare.
Anew automated monitoring system designed for the early detection of lameness among dairy herds will be piloted on 50 New Zealand farms this season.
Its creators, Dunedin company Iris Data Science had the system on display in the innovations marquee at Fieldays, where it was oversubscribed as eager farmers signed up to be part of the pilot.
“We’re really pleased; we were not sure what the reception was going to be like,” Iris Data Science’s co-founder and managing director Greg Peyroux says.
Feedback from those farmers will then be used if it needs to be tweaked before commercial release.
The pilot follows the system’s initial successful trial on five South Island dairy farms.
Called OmniEye Locomotion, it uses an on-farm camera mounted on a farm’s exit race, which collects tens of thousands of data points from every cow as it exits the milking shed.
Using AI, a computer then identifies each cow and gives it a locomotion score based on DairyNZ guidelines for lameness scoring.
The data is then displayed on a dashboard for the farmer to see. It uses a traffic light system to indicate whether the cow has a potential foot issue, with red being an obvious problem, orange being a warning and green being healthy.
“It’s all about early detection. If you get in early, you can reduce the cost massively,” he says.
Farmers receive real-time information that they can action by either automatically or manually drafting cows that need treatment, allowing for remote diagnostics for livestock by a vet.
Another product in the system – OmniEye Diary – gives visual verification of an animal’s condition over time to provide better understanding of the herd’s health.
The software was originally designed for facial recognition in the sheep industry. However, Peyroux says they soon realised there was not a huge market for the product because NZ’s outdoor farming system meant the farmer seldom saw each individual sheep.
But farmers see their dairy cows much more frequently. He spent most of last year’s lockdown ringing people to get feedback on how the technology could be best used in the dairy industry.
“The clear winner was lameness,” he says.
“We understand lameness is a huge issue for farmers in New Zealand, costing thousands of dollars each year through a loss of production and is also a major animal welfare issue.”
He hoped to have the technology installed on the farms by September and the pilot to get underway.
Peyroux says installing the system has a one-off $5000 cost and a $1 per cow per month cost to help pay for the data storage costs during the milking season.
The Ministry for Primary Industries is contributing $40,000 to the project through its Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund.
MPI’s director investment programmes Steve Penno says this new innovation could help improve important animal welfare outcomes.
“Finding an easy solution for farmers to detect lameness early on in their herd provides a huge benefit as they’ll be able to identify and treat the issue before it reaches a critical point,” Penno says. n
Iris Data Science’s co-founder and managing director Greg Peyroux at Fieldays with the dashboard OmniEye uses to display which cows it has detected might be lame.
Timing it right
By Samantha Tennent
The amount of time farmers spend in the milking shed can be streamlined now, thanks to a clever new device to monitor the length of time it takes to milk the herd.
Research has shown that 80-90% of New Zealand dairy farms are operating well below the efficiency potential of their dairy. With up to 50% of staff working hours on a dairy farm spent milking cows, there are real opportunities to make efficiency gains in the dairy shed.
Milking efficiency research has been going on for several years and programmes like MilkSmart through
DairyNZ have been supporting farmers to identify where their gains could be made. But there has been a lack of service providers available to support farmers to implement changes, which makes it difficult to maintain new milking routines.
“I was finding the demand for assistance was more than I could handle and after getting farmers efficient and operating a comfortable milking routine, they just weren’t able to maintain it,”
QCONZ director of farms and technology
Josh Wheelie, who has been heavily involved with MilkSmart, says.
“It became apparent if people could see actual row or rotation time then they would be more aware of what’s going on and figure out what’s creating the inefficiencies and then they’d be more productive.
“It would also make it easier to implement efficient milking strategies.”
He came up with an idea to create a simple device that could help provide some direction to farmers so they could implement and monitor efficient milking routines in both herringbone and rotary sheds, and develop a consistent milking routine.
Teaming up with Innovag, they have created the Milking by Time (MbT) device.
“People think we’re trying to work people harder and faster but when you watch the videos of farmers using MbT, you can see it’s all about being consistent and in most cases, they’re going slower than they were before but getting a better result because they’re getting better consistency,” he says.
The MbT concept employs a timer with a large digital display in the dairy shed that milkers can watch and know when it is time to take the cups off in a herringbone or complete rotation in a rotary. It enables farmers to implement the maximum milking time (MaxT) strategy, where cows are milked to a predetermined time based on their milk volume.
The timer has the ability to count down or up and will change to green at the set time when they should be starting a new row or rotation; it will show red if they go overtime or yellow if the rotary is rotating too fast, which allows people to evaluate their milkings and make changes.
“I think a big part of the problem is we don’t have procedures or systems on farms that support milkers to make the milking routine easy to implement and maintain. And, once they are milking there has been nothing available to help during the milking process.
“Once that’s in place everything is easier and in a sense that’s what MbT does, it creates the system so you know what you’re trying to achieve,” he says.
The device works with an app that records milking sessions so farmers
QCONZ director of farms and technology Josh Wheelie has developed the Milking by Time device to help farmers manage their milking times better.
and their teams can download them to review. The aim is to have consistent milking times so everyone finishes at the same time, no matter who is milking. And having a set row or rotation time based on production means milkers no longer need to second guess when to take the cups off or finish a rotation.
“It’s applicable to any size herd or dairy. We have 180-cow farms to 1000cow farms using the MbT. And farmers milking twice-a-day, once-a-day and 3-in2 are all finding it beneficial,” he says.
“The MbT allows farmers to consistently achieve the full potential of cows milked per hour in their dairies and it’s not the device as such doing that, it’s the efficient milking strategies that are implemented like MaxT.
“Understanding where the time is lost is key. In a rotary, the platform speed might be set to an eight-minute rotation, but it could be taking 12-14 minutes on average, with all the stopping and starting.
“So by bringing in the visual aid, people start to realise what the cost of stopping and starting is to them and can try to keep a constant speed and not worry about any missed bails and just focus on filling the next bail to get more cows per hour milked.”
One of the principles of MaxT is there is a maximum time as well as a minimum time, which is particularly important in spring when herds are in peak production. So the MaxT calculator determines the time needed between cups on and off.
“That was another reason the device was developed; some of our early adopters with MaxT weren’t monitoring whether people were going faster than they should. The device records and stores the last 32 milkings, so farmers can review and keep an eye on what is happening,” he says.
“And we already know from the research there isn’t a greater risk of mastitis by implementing a MaxT strategy. In fact, it can be less due to less chance of overmilking and shorter milking times.”
They have also found once farmers can visualise time they tend to be more relaxed at milking as they realise how much time is needed before the first cow is in position or rotation finished, whereas before people were rushing.
Faster milkings save time and give farmers opportunities to get other tasks completed, or just be home that bit earlier every day.
The Milking by Time device works with an app that records milking sessions, so farmers and their teams can download them to review.
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Knowing the way
By Samantha Tennent
An online tool, with step-by-step instructions accompanied by videos and images to help people carry out farm jobs, is just one of the new innovations showcased at Fieldays.
Frustrated by having staff continuously calling to ask how to do something,
Tasmanian dairy farmer Grant
Rogers found it too difficult to explain over the phone.
So putting on his thinking cap, he decided to write an instruction manual for the farm but then thought better of it and found a solution that will help other farmers beyond his farm gate.
“I’m lucky I never started the manual as I realised two things: no one would actually read it and it would never be where anyone needed it,”
Grant laughs.
He came up with a concept called Knowby, which he describes as a nimble, stepby-step instruction-sharing tool that allows anyone to open the instruction they need and get the job done.
“I knew it had to be short and sharp and broken into steps to show people how to do something,” he says.
“Giving people the ability to flick past the things they knew, but they also didn’t have to rewind the bits they didn’t understand.
“It’s essentially the next evolution. Companies originally had manuals but more recently, they’re all making ‘how to’ videos and this is the next step to help people understand how to get things done.”
Knowby works by scanning a QR code, or opening a link from text or email, and provides a step-by-step guide that has been created for the specific task. It can be a mix of very short videos and images, accompanied by a description for each step.
After Grant came up with the idea, he connected with a contact who had developed a GPS mapping programme called Where’s my cows?, to learn the process he went through bringing that idea to life.
“He connected me with a business accelerator programme with Sprout Agritech back in New Zealand, and there was no issue that I’m based in Tasmania, but I did need to set up a New Zealand company and find a business partner,” he says.
Grant lived in Timaru prior to shifting to Tasmania 18 years ago, so he had a good network back in NZ to help get things going.
But being a sideline gig, with his farming business taking priority, as well as several hiccups along the way, he has been frustrated with the lack of progress with Knowby in the past few years since the initial Sprout accelerator. But last year he took part in another programme that identified some gaps.
“On the first day, they uncovered that we didn’t truly know who our target market was,” he says.
“It was hard to swallow at the time, but it was worthwhile as we went out and interviewed heaps of businesses and uncovered our predominant market is the hardware industry.
“I would have never guessed that, but it makes sense. They need support tools to help people put stuff together on the factory floor. And they’re regularly dealing with distributors, so they’re relying on someone else to fit and install products and service them.
“And then you get the enduser, who could be a farmer ringing up the distributor because they don’t know how to do something.
“There are a lot of questions that filter back and with Knowby they could fire a link to answer the query and provide support for their team answering customers’ concerns.”
Through the original Sprout programme, Grant met Dion Cawood from programme sponsor LIC. Cawood has been a big believer in the Knowby concept from the start and he pushed Grant to connect with DairyNZ, which led to some project work creating Knowby to support farmers.
The 550-cow farm in the Derwent Valley, southern Tasmania, owned by Grant Rogers. Knowby founder and dairy farmer Grant Rogers has developed an online step-bystep guide to doing various things on the farm.
Knowby is an easy-to-use online tool that has been developed with LIC. It can be accessed out in the field with instructions, videos and photos to show how to do a particular task.
Cawood also encouraged Grant to come to Fieldays and enter the Innovation Awards.
“There was so much opportunity at Fieldays. I was able to connect with so many businesses. If I had tried to rock up to them on a normal day I wouldn’t have gotten past the receptionist, but at Fieldays all the big wigs were there and they were very accessible,” he says.
They have begun forming relationships with a number of businesses that recognise the value in utilising Knowby to support their distributors and customers directly.
Within the current system, companies become subscribers, which gives them access to the web-based platform and they are able to build whatever they want. They can share their Knowbys with unlimited users and they pay a monthly subscription, but the model will start changing going forward.
“Currently it’s not like YouTube, where you can go on and search for something, it’s all site-specific. But you don’t need to be a subscriber to access it if you have a QR code to scan or are sent a link,” he explains.
“For example, if a farmer called LIC with a question around MINDA, the call centre could fire back a link that gives them the answer in a step-by-step format.”
They are exploring a free version of the programme and in the future, they are planning to have the ability to search for a company and find their list of Knowbys through the website.
It has been a long road but Grant is finally feeling like they are making some headway with the concept.
“Perseverance has been key, but I think you have to be crazy to keep trying to get something like this off the ground,” he says.
“But I really do believe it’s the way of the future. Knowbys are quick to make, cheap to build and update and engaging for users.” n
Support NZ’s future farmers
By Anne Boswell
New Zealand’s world-leading competition is calling for new sponsors to support and empower the next generation of Kiwi farmers as the event experiences rapid growth.
Calf Club NZ registrations reached 220 in 2020 and organisers hope numbers will continue to increase this year, with additional support required to fulfil their mission of empowering rural kids across the country to care for and compete with their pet calves, ensuring the continued growth and development of our young farmers.
“As Calf Club NZ is growing each year, we are looking for one or two more key sponsors who would like to get behind
Calf Club NZ to create an even better experience for our young farmers,” Calf
Club marketing manager Josh Herbes says.
“If you or an agricultural professional you know would love to get behind and support, we’d love you to get in touch.”
Calf Club has a number of existing sponsors that have contributed to the success of the competition so far.
DeLaval, CRV and Samen NZ have been key financial sponsors since the competition’s inception, a relationship that Herbes says has been critical in making Calf Club NZ a possibility.
“We also have a key partnership with
GlobalHQ’s DairyFarmer magazine, with article write-ups and donated advertising placements,” he says.
“Real Experience Digital Marketing creates our marketing material, maintains our website, builds our social media presence, runs the overall event, creates our memory book and designs our ribbons each year, as well as distributing the prize packages.
“These parties are critical to the success of this valuable event.”
With huge online and print engagement, Calf Club NZ strives to support its sponsors as much as possible by getting exposure through an event that benefits the overall industry.
The digital calf club format, whereby children submit entries online and are judged on farm, was created in response to the cancellation of school calf club events in 2018 and 2019 due to M bovis.
Although school events were reinstated in 2020, Calf Club NZ has continued to run as a separate competition.
Herbes says the Calf Club NZ team has been humbled to see some amazing growth in both contestants and volunteers.
“As an industry we have developed something truly unique and empowered our young farmers from across the country to come together, care for their animals and learn all sorts of new skills that will encourage and help them grow into a successful young farmer,” he says.
“We love to see people from their first ever Calf Club experience right through to those competitive hardcore contestants. We are always amazed at what the community brings to the table.”
Kids are encouraged to register as soon as possible (www.calfclubnz.co.nz/ register), with submissions open from September 1 to September 15. Formal onfarm judging takes place during spring school holidays, from October 2-17. n
Calf Club NZ is back for 2021 and looking for more sponsors and volunteers for on-farm judging.
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For information about becoming a Calf Club NZ sponsor, fill in the form at www. calfclubnz.co.nz/support-sponsor, or contact Josh Herbes on 0279100274 or email josh@realexperience.nz If you are interested in becoming a judge please fill in this form: www.calfclubnz.co.nz/ judges-lounge or contact Michelle Burgess at burgessfarmltd@gmail.com
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