Several years ago, Tony Louters was on a hunt. The Merced, California, dairyman wanted more information on his milking cows in order to improve reproductive protocols and, more importantly, health. The dairy was running fine, but he wasn’t satisfied with good enough.
“There wasn’t something that I necessarily had to fix,” Louters said. “It was really me wanting to get better at what I was already doing.”
Which led him to SenseHub Dairy® (previously known as Allflex dairy monitoring and SCR Dairy). Louters was looking for comprehensive, actionable data, and SenseHub Dairy’s advanced capabilities empowered him to make precise changes that raised the efficiency of his operation.
This became immediately apparent when he diagnosed the cause of a recurring metritis problem in his fresh cows. With activity and rumination data, Louters discovered a misstep in vaccine timing and dosage, which caused cows to go off feed in the move from the dry pen to close-ups. By simply administering vaccinations a week earlier, the problem went away.
“Within the first three weeks of me getting good, strong data, I realized exactly what it was,” he said. “It was a simple change, and literally overnight the problem went away. If you really use this technology, you can gain in leaps and bounds.”
“We saw a half- to one-pound of increased milk production within the months following [installation]. Now we’re at 95 pounds of milk,” Louters added. “That’s a 15-pound increase in per-cow milk production since installation.”
And with the technology completely backed by the Merck Animal Health team, he knows he has the support for whatever problem he’s trying to solve.
“The team behind everything is essential,” Louters said. “I know that I can call them up at any time and they’re going to get on it right away. It makes life a lot easier. A lot.”
See more stories like Tony’s and see the full capabilities of the leading monitoring system at SenseHub-Dairy.com.
Written by Merck Animal Health
SenseHub Dairy is the leading provider of monitoring solutions that empower users to safeguard their animal’s health and well-being, while achieving optimal production outcomes for a healthy food supply. SenseHub Dairy operates fully within Merck Animal Health. Through its commitment to the Science of Healthier Animals®, Merck Animal Health offers veterinarians and farmers one of the widest ranges of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and health management solutions and services. Learn more about how dairy monitoring can empower your operation by visiting SenseHub-Dairy.com.
