Feeding cows on a dairy is probably not something a consumer thinks about every day. But for Amelicor this is a science that could be likened to an Olympic athlete with a team of nutritionists, trainers, and coaches. Dairy cows quite literally have a diet that is designed by nutritionists to keep them at an optimal state of health and strength. Well cared for and healthy cows are the most productive cows. There is a team of people on a dairy that work hard every day to keep the nutritional requirements of a dairy cow at peak levels at all stages of their life.
Most consumers probably don't realize that the two-dollar gallon of milk in the store is backed by multimillion-dollar farms where feed is the largest expense. 50-60% of all expenses on a dairy farm go to feeding cows. Some of our large dairy farm clients spend over $2,000,000 every month feeding their cows. Can you imagine having that grocery bill?
One of Amelicor's main software products is EZfeed, which helps owners, feed managers, nutritionists, and feeders plan, purchase, inventory, and mix a host of ingredients to deliver optimal energy to dairy cows. The ability to track and evaluate what is fed to cows every day is vital for a dairy farm to consistently turn a profit—especially in a market where milk is sold at such low prices to the consumer.
The EZfeed Tablet
Over the last couple of months, Amelicor has been installing a new tablet computer on a couple test farms to try out and improve the latest EZfeed software that was announced at the Herd Management Conference in October. The new EZfeed software was built from the ground up to take advantage of the latest technologies now and into the future.
The new tablet computer has a larger, brighter display, is extremely rugged, and can be used with gloves - even in wet conditions. More importantly, the new tablet allows EZfeed to run faster and allows feeders to see more information on the display so they can be more efficient in their daily tasks. One great improvement that test farms have been excited about is the task performance feedback that is given to the feeder after each load. Delivering the right amount of feed to thousands of cows multiple times a day is really an art and science. EZfeed helps reduce errors so that a dairy cow's Olympic-like diet is consistent, allowing them to optimize the amount of milk they can produce. Since a feeder can get a report after each load about how they delivered the feed, the feeder can adapt their performance and make improvements multiple times each day.
To view a video about the EZfeed software and tablet, feel free to check out the tablet webpage.