5 New Dairy Innovations Debut at World Dairy Expo

The World Dairy Expo is underway this week in Madison, Wisconsin, where commercial exhibitors from all over the globe are showcasing their products at the Expo’s trade show. 

Here’s a look at five of the new products featured at the show.

Nedap SmartSight

Nedap introduced SmartSight, a new locomotion monitoring product for early lameness detection in dairy herds. This technology involves a camera and an on-farm device to analyze the locomotion of “every cow, every milking, every day,” according to Nedap Data Analyst Arnold Harbers. 

The top-view camera was designed for simple installation and low maintenance, and it can be used anywhere each cow will pass single-file with a normal gait, like parlor entrances or exits. The on-site device provides real-time, continuous processing and doesn’t have an internet bandwidth requirement, Harbers said. The fact that it doesn’t leave the farm provides data security.

SmartSight can reduce costs after catching lameness and treating it early, be used to monitor the recovery of cows after treatment, and provide insights on the locomotion scores of the full herd to drive decision making, according to Harbers.

SmartSight is commercially available in the United States.

JLG Telehandler

In the company’s first year at the Expo, JLG debuted its latest agricultural telehandler, purpose-built for farm operations. The AG619 telehandler is a mid-size machine with a 6,150-lb lift capacity, 19-ft lift height, and 10-ft 1-in forward reach. An assortment of available attachments make it ideal for stacking bales, loading feed mixers, cleaning barns, and towing trailers. 

Its defining characteristic goes beyond its technical features, according to Jamey Patla, Vice President of JLG Agriculture.

“I think the distinguishing factor, what separates us from the competition, is us being the only model that’s assembled in the U.S. and supported in the U.S.,” said Patla. The company’s well-established reputation in the construction market — leading with quality products, backed by industry-leading support in parts — holds true in the ag space, he said.

The telehandler works well alongside the skid loaders and wheel loaders that producers likely already have. “This offers something that those products do not to complement them,” Patla said.

This new JLG agriculture telehandler is now available through JLG sales representatives and authorized dealers across North America.

CowManager Find My Cow Flash

Continuing their commitment to providing producers tools to help them locate cows in need of attention, CowManager unveiled Find my Cow Flash, a light that can be activated to flash from a CowManager ear sensor for quick identification of an animal.

The tool enables producers to identify animals quickly and easily, even in crowded groups or in low-light situations. “You can turn on your hook-trimming list, your vet checklist — any animal that’s registered in the CowManager system. If you select her, you can turn it on,” said CowManager Product Specialist Tara Bohnert. 

“Any tool that we can provide our dairies to easily go out there and efficiently find their animals is a win,” Bonhert said.

Producers who sign up for the product through Oct. 3 will receive Find my Cow Flash for free for a year. 

GEA DairyProX 

GEA presented DairyProX at the show this year, a semi-automated milking system designed to fill the space between fully automatic systems and more conventional parlors.

With DairyProX, operators simply attach a unit and let the teat cups handle the rest of the process automatically. Once attached, the unit completes the cleaning, stimulation, pre-dip, and forestripping parts of the process before milking begins. After milking is complete, post-dip also takes place within the teat cup, and then the unit is rinsed for the next animal.

“Peak milk flows are much higher when we use this system. Durations shorten up dramatically,” shared James Bringe, GEA milking equipment sales specialist. 

With the faster milking process afforded by DairyProX, producers could save on labor or add more cows to a herd, for example, Bringe noted.

DairyProX will be available in North America at the end of this year for parallel parlors with a subway, according to the company website. Additional parlor types and regions will follow.

BouMatic MilkGenius

BouMatic launched its MilkGenius in-line milk analyzer at the Expo, a product that enables milk testing at every milking.

MilkGenius uses an ultra-precise laser sensor to continuously analyze fat, protein, and lactose in milk from each cow. With real-time measurements of these key components, the analyzer provides insights into milk quality and detects early signs of costly metabolic issues, like subclinical ketosis. 

Presenting the product at the Expo, Angela Kinney, staff veterinarian at BouMatic, stressed the impact MilkGenius makes in a dairy herd, including no disturbance of animals or employees, no supply usage, no need to record results, and no calibration.