Successful milk production requires constant monitoring of key data on performance, feeding and profitability. This is particularly essential for checking that lactation has started successfully. All available data, such as feed certificates, dairy and milk yield data or ration calculations, are sent to the farmer in paper or digital form via a wide variety of channels and programmes. The SCHAUMANN feeding programme Cow-how milk brings all the information together in one place and organises the daily flood of data. This optimises the cooperation between herd management, veterinary care and SCHAUMANN expert advice (see Fig. 1). It is also available as Cow-how beef for bull fattening farms.

Cow-how milk bundles all relevant data and enables a complete view of the herd. The direct connection of performance data and milk components from milk testing in the HDS Milk Report or from the automatic milking system in the HDS AMS Report with the ration parameters leads to success here. Knowledge of the actual feed intake and performance enables herd management to quickly identify new developments in the herd. Possible causes can thus be directly identified and resolved in a situation-specific manner. Cow-how milk also greatly facilitates communication with feed consultants and veterinary care providers.

The overview of feed analyses, feed stocks and contracts, the performance data of the dairy herd and the information on the ration fed always provide an insight into the income over feed costs (IOFC).

The amount of feed left over and the filling accuracy of the mixer wagon have a major impact on profitability. Only by filling the feed mixer wagon accurately can the animals receive the calculated ration. Cow-how milk allows you to check the mixer wagon's loading list, identify discrepancies in filling quantities and enter feed residues.

Each feeder receives their own access to the programme and the loading lists, making paperwork a thing of the past. Linking the data from Cow-how milk with the feed mixer reveals deviations from the target quantity and any additional costs.

With Cow-how milk, feeding can be coordinated between dairy farmers and SCHAUMANN technical advisors at any time and changed immediately if necessary. Using Cow-how milk therefore not only has the potential to reduce costs, but also offers the opportunity to better identify previously untapped resources in terms of animal health and performance.

Der IOFC-Wert (income over feed cost) ist die Kennzahl für die Wirtschaftlichkeit der Fütterung. Er zeigt schnell und aktuell das Einkommen aus der Milchproduktion nach Abzug der Futterkosten. So ist festzustellen, wie effizient die Kühe das eingesetzte Futter in Milch umsetzen. Gemeinsam mit dem Programm Cow-how milk und der SCHAUMANN-Fachberatung kann der Erfolg messbar gemacht werden. Das Programm ist universell verwendbar: Mit Cow-how milk können jederzeit synchron alle beteiligten Personen arbeiten, egal ob mit Smartphone, PC oder Tablet.

Fig. 1: Your business benefits from cow-how on several levels

With visible success (see Fig. 2), we already support over 4,000 farms in Germany with Cow-how milk. They keep a total of over 278,000 cows, whose milk performance data we evaluate regularly. This corresponds to almost 9 million kg of milk per day.

One of them is Stephan Specker-Dünhöft from Lower Saxony. Since 2020, he has been using Cow-how milk to calculate rations, evaluate milk yield data and document feed quantities. He reports with satisfaction: "What I appreciate about Cow-how milk is the overview of the milk control evaluation, which gives me a quick and interactive overview of the performance data. Communication with my SCHAUMANN consultant Hendrik Cordes is also easier via the platform. New rations can be quickly implemented by both me and Hendrik Cordes. By using the cloud, we both always remain up to date.

Since I document the feeding directly on my tablet, I have a good overview of the quantities consumed and greater accuracy when mixing. This allows me to identify the causes of performance changes more quickly and save costs by avoiding feed waste."

 

 

Fig. 2: Farms managed using cow-how achieve higher milk yields per year.