Searching for an answer to rising costs?
Look to Cow Locating
Look to Cow Locating
Many dairy farmers are searching for ways to control costs without compromising cow comfort, health or performance. Activity monitoring systems 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 Bert Uninge, Application Manager at Nedap. “Using an activity monitoring 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.”
“We see that mainly dairy farms with milking robots use Cow Locating due to the significant efficiency advantage,” says Uninge. “Robot farms have between 2% and 10% of cows that do not go to the milking robot on their own. From experience at other farms, we know that it saves an employee 40 minutes per day (245 hours per year) on a farm with 320 cows, if they know the exact location of the cow in the barn and do not have to search within the group.” At an average hourly wage of $19 for an employee[1], this results in savings of $4,652 per year.
Find cows in 37% less time
Cow Locating makes it also possible to keep more cows in one group. “Dairy farmers usually maintain a group size that matches the capacity of a maximum of three milking robots because otherwise, it becomes unmanageable to find cows within the group,” explains Uninge. “With Cow Locating, you can easily expand the group size to four milking robots, which provides more flexibility and operational security in case of malfunctions.”
Additionally, in situations involving new construction or renovations where it is not possible to create a separation area in the barn, Cow Locating offers a solution. Veterinary or insemination visits become much more efficient. With large animal veterinarian hourly rates totalling over $66 per hour in 2024[2], making efficient use of veterinarians’ time on-farm through precise Cow Locating can result in significant cost savings. Nedap 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 $18,5 for artificial insemination technicians[3], Cow Locating can result in breeding cost savings as well.
“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 Uninge. “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.”
In addition to labor savings, increased calmness in the barn is an important additional benefit. Cow Locating technology minimizes human-cow interactions in the dairy barn. This means less stress for the cows, less frustration, and increased safety for the staff. As a result, it enhances the well-being of cows and job satisfaction of employees. This way, Cow Locating will help you to reducing labor costs and provides more time for you to spend growing your business or enjoy more time with your family and friends.
