Cattle Health Monitoring Devices

The Need

Competitive US dairies are continually growing in size to achieve economies of scale.  Traditionally health monitoring has been accomplished by visual scanning of cows for signs of illness.  However, for a large dairy (e.g. greater than 500 head) visual scanning is in many cases no longer sufficient.   If illness is not caught and treated early then often stronger antibiotics are required and the milk must be withheld.  This loss in milk production results in lost revenue, while the expense associated with the affected cows is still incurred. 

The Solution

External monitoring devices have been tried, but cows are very hard on external equipment. The TenXsys SmartBolus™ product is an electronic bolus (similar in shape to a cow pill/capsule) which remains in the cow’s reticulum (stomach) recording health information throughout the day and transmitting this information wirelessly to a computer at the dairy.  This allows the dairyman to easily view an exception report each morning and address only those cows that need attention. The result is time savings and a healthier herd which in turn results in more milk revenue and less treatment expense. 

The SmartBolus™ product also is able to provide heat detection and calving prediction reporting, enabling additional savings for the dairy. Heat detection facilitates more accurate timing for artificial insemination which in turn can improve pregnancy rate.  Pregnancy rate is a critical factor in renewing a dairy’s production. 

The SmartBolus™ imminent calving alert is a new reporting capability which enables close monitoring of cows that are about to give birth.  Once you know a cow is about to give birth, you can watch more closely for any signs of difficulty, potentially saving a calf that might otherwise have died.