Managing 8,000 Cows with Activity Monitors at Del Rio Dairy
A big question on the minds of many decision makers on the dairy is this: Should one invest more heavily in hiring highly skilled cow people or in adopting technology that can perform tasks that good cow people could do?
On the Uplevel Dairy Podcast, Nathan Moroney from Del Rio Dairy explained how leveraging technology has revolutionized cow flow, cow health and efficiency, while allowing his best cow people to focus their time for the greatest impacts.
Streamlining Cow Flow and Workflow
Del Rio Dairy, located in Friona, Texas, has experienced significant growth over the years, expanding their herd from around 3,000 cows to over 8,000. With three parlors on-site, including a recently built 90-stall rotary, the management team faced the challenge of managing a larger herd efficiently. To tackle this obstacle, they transitioned from capturing basic data from milk meters to implementing sort gates to adopting real-time rumination and activity monitoring using GEA Cow Scout activity monitoring collars.
“So we're capturing not only that ID, not only the activity information, but we're getting rumination and feeding time data,” Moroney says.
The implementation of these collars allowed the Del Rio Dairy team to focus their time and attention on cows that truly needed it. By monitoring rumination, feeding time, and activity data, the team members could identify cows at risk and intervene before the situation escalated. As a result, they have been able to reduce the number of cows in the hospital pen by a staggering 30%.
Additionally, Moroney sees the benefits to not only efficiency, but also animal welfare, saying, “There's also a lot of value in not having to just lock up a cow that doesn't need to be locked up.”
Don’t Skip the Close-Up Heifers or Dry Cows
Del Rio Dairy is continuously exploring new ways to enhance their management practices through technology. They have expanded the use of collars beyond the milking herd to include pre-fresh heifers, and cows maintain their collars all through the dry period. This gives the team access to the baseline data that can be collected for each animal before they enter stressful periods at calving and into the first few weeks post-calving. With this information in hand, deviations to a heifer or cow’s normal patterns can be identified and responded to promptly.
Enhancing Efficiency and Time Management
Besides improving cow health, the adoption of technology at Del Rio Dairy has had a transformative impact on the farm's overall efficiency and time management. By leveraging real-time data from the collars, team members can focus their efforts and prioritize tasks more effectively. The collars allow them to isolate individuals in need of attention, minimizing the need for lockups or unnecessary examinations. This streamlined workflow not only saves time but also enhances the well-being of the cows by reducing stress and handling.
Employees are less stressed as well. Moroney says that no one looks overwhelmed. Cow flow and workflow are steady, and they don’t have to stop the deck or cause a backlog on the rotary.
For Moroney, having this dashboard of data at the fingertips of his crew at Del Rio Dairy has allowed them to streamline cow flow and workflow. It's been good for the cows, the people, and the bottom line of the business.
Listen to the full episode of the Uplevel Dairy Podcast featuring Nathan Moroney here:
