Dairy farmers can now tie their total ration mixing to their farm management software, bringing richer detail to daily feeding of cows.
Lactanet has brought FeedComp to Canada, which ties to DairyComp, the dairy herd management software, via cloud-based software.
FeedComp replaces FeedWatch, a program linked to hardware and software on individual farms that couldn’t easily interact with other farm management software.
Lactanet launched FeedComp at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show, where it was given a silver innovation award for the software.
Cows are creatures of habit and people assess things differently, so many farms prefer one person to mix the feed for consistency. Software like FeedComp makes it easy for someone else to make the ration the same way the usual worker does.
When a farmer mixes feed, the software indicates exactly how much to add to the mixer, based on the number of cows in a pen, expected dry matter intake and specific feed ration details. Each user has a profile, so the ration can be the same, even when farm workers speak multiple languages. The FeedComp program is multilingual.
That makes the ability to feed cows more dynamic, says Wanda Williams, who works in software market development for Lactanet.
She talked to farmers about the software at the show.
“The farmer or feeder has either a tablet or cell phone in their tractor, and it’ll show up with all of the next ingredients,” she says.
The software provides a countdown as an ingredient is being added to a mix, and tolerances can be set for when there’s enough in the mixer.
Williams uses the example of a mix that needs 800 kg of haylage. The farmer dumps the haylage in gradually and watches the countdown to zero, showing the correct amount being added. Farms can set tolerances; for example, the mix is good to go even with a 20 kg variation in the haylage.
With a supplement, however, it might need to be within five kg of the total, which can also be set.
Additionally, a per-pen countdown for the kilograms of feed required prompts the feeder when to move to the next pen and the system tracks errors; for example, if 50 kg extra is added, it notes it and lists the cost of the error.
Advisor access
Advisors can help monitor the system for issues and help a farm correct errors.
Dynamic dry matter intake management helps make sure cows get exactly the feed they need.
If an operation feeds its refusals to heifers, when the mix is added back into the mixer for the heifer pen, the software recalculates the actual dry matter intake of the milking herd. Those calculations could have been done with scales in the past, but the amount of work meant it wouldn’t usually happen.
A direct link between feed rations and milk production management makes it easier to trace feed impact when milk production declines or understand how feed affects production increases.
The system’s components connect via Bluetooth, so no wiring is involved; however, the TMR mixer’s scales must be Bluetooth-enabled too.
FeedComp is made by VAS, the same people who make DairyComp, the farm management software sold by Lactanet. It’s available for both self-propelled and pull-type TMR mixers. Farmers currently using FeedWatch won’t have to upgrade unless they wish to.
