Electronic feed system produces dramatic results
By Doris Crowley
Computerized management is
one of the newest technologies to
be applied to dairy farming. In a
move to strengthen its research
efforts and provide additional
information to local dairy farmers,
in January 1984 the University of
Delaware Agricultural Ex
periment Station installed an
electronic feeding and milking
system on its Newark farm.
Each cow in the Delaware herd
now wears an electronic tran
sponder on a collar around her
neck, as do most of the young
stock. Through a computer located
in the farm office, this transponder
automatically identifies the
animal in the milking parlor and
controls her access to high energy
feed supplements in the univer
sity’s large free stall barn. It also
provides a continuous record of her
performance and activity.
According to extension dairy
specialist Dr. George Haenlein, the
new system makes it possible to
individualize herd management
and eliminate many of the
production inefficiencies which
cost dairy farmers money.
Benefits of computerizing the
university herd have been
dramatic.
In the milking parlor, the new
system features the latest
technology in electronic milk
metering, milker back-flushing,
automatic milker take-off, quarter
milking, milk precooling and milk
monitoring. Flashing signal lights
tell personnel if a cow has been
treated with antibiotics and should
be milked separately. The system
also informs the herd manager if a
cow is off her feed and may be sick,
or if she’s coming into estrus and
should be bred.
Information on each animal is
routinely stored in the computer,
where it is readily accessible for
study. Herd manager Jim Wolfer
says it takes him about 15 minutes
a week to update feeding in
formation on the herd. And thanks
to mini-terminals beside each stall
in the milking parlor, he doesn’t
even need to go to his office to
check up on individual animals.
Since each cow identifies herself
on the system through the tran
sponder around her neck, there’s
also no chance for human error in
the form of oversights or mistakes
in identification. This guarantees
accurate record-keeping.
The computer is the key to the
whole system. It has been
programmed to provide printed
copies (routinely or on demand) of
the following information; sum
maries of milk produced and grain
fed through the two automatic
feeder; a list of all cows giving less
tan 85 percent of their normal milk
production; a list of all cows eating
less than 90 percent of their
allotted gram; a report on cows
currently needing special attention
for breeding purposes or
pregnancy checks; a breeding
report on the entire herd, listing
each cow as either bred ot open,
when due to calve, when ready to
be bred, stage of lactation and
when she should be dried off; a
summary of milk produced and
feed consumed by each cow since
calving, including her feed/milk
ratio; and a complete report on
each cow in the herd.
This information is useful for
both research and making routine
management decisions.
The system’s two electronically
activated feeders make it possible
to deliver prescribed amounts of
feed supplement to each cow based
on her production record and in
dividual need. The transponder
around her neck permits her to
access her daily grain ration in a
minimum of six meals over a 24-
hour period. She receives only a
handful or so of feed each time, so
she never gets a chance to overeat
or to steafanother cow’s ration.
“Instead,” says Haenlein, who is
an authority on dairy nutrition,
“she becomes a nibbler, using
what she gets more efficiently,
with none of the digestive highs
and lows common in most open
barn arrangements where more
aggressive animals often eat more
than they should.” With intake
spaced out in several small meals,
rumen fermentation and digestion
are spread more evenly over the
24-hour period and so become more
efficient. Leveling out con
sumption also helps eliminate
metabolic disturbances such as
ketosis and milk fever.
The electronic feeders have had
another, unexpected benefit.
Because each cow gets only her
allotted ration, pushy eaters have
no incentive to crowd out more
timid ones. “As a result,” says the
specialist, “we’ve eliminated the
bossy cow-one of the main
behavior problems in today’s open
barn management system. ’ ’
Another benefit of the feeders is
that the daily computer printout of
the herd’s activities identifies any
cows which aren’t eating all of
their allotment. This makes it
possible to detect potential
problems early. “Otherwise,” says
Haenlein, “it may be another 24
hours before someone notices a
cow’s off her feed. By then, her
milk production will also be down.
Under our new electronic system
we can treat sick cows sooner and
more effectively.”
Haenlein believes the adoption of
computer technology is essential to
dairy farm survival, since it
permits farmers to retain the
labor-saving advantages of open
bam or group management while
again giving cows the individual
attention they got years ago in the
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It is too soon to determine the
economic impact of the univer
sity’s new electronic dairy system,
but it is already proving its worth
as a research and teaching tool, as
well as an aid to herd
management.
“Based on my own experience
with the University of Delaware
dairy herd and my observations of
other herds using computer
feeders, I believe the savings will
be at least as great and the payoff
period possibly even shorter, if
there was free-choice grain
feeding before,” the specialist
says. “Two added benefits of this
new computer technology are the
greater ability to put weight back
on a cow after she calves, and to
maintain per peak production
longer.”
OBA-GEK3Y
Haenlein points out that coir
puter feeders won’t solve all dair
management problems
“Producers still must stay on to]
of all those additional records th
system will generate if they wan
to get the greatest possible ef
ficiency by dispensing the righ
amount of feed to the right cow a
the right time. And they still neei
to test forage to be sure the propei
balance of nutrients is available
This may require altering the
feeds offered in response tt
changing forage test results.”
He also points out that electronic
equipment needs special treat
ment to operate properly without
breakdown. “It’s quite a change
from the days when dairy farming
was mostly a pitchfork operation,"
he says. “Let’s .hope this new
technology will return to the dairy
farm those profits which presently
are so hard to find.
C 19*5 OtwGawy Corpontdoa
Cib«-G«i*>, A* DMoa. Rot 18.100. OrMMborai NC ZMI9