28 November 2018

3 minute read

Europe

Through live presentations and an interactive booth, Zoetis will demonstrate the benefits of the herd health monitoring system for rumination behaviours, fertility management and early detection of diseases. The event will place a special emphasis on digitalisation in modern livestock farming this year, with a ‘Digital Animal Farming’ hall. The special section will explore areas such as data management and digital herd monitoring, providing a fitting platform to showcase the innovative Smartbow cow monitoring system.

Delivering pioneering technology for farmers in Europe

With the support of veterinarians, Smartbow aims to help farmers improve the health and productivity of their herds by providing early detection of health issues and paving the way for individualised treatment and care. The system integrates the use of radio frequency identification tags and data analytics to enable three functionalities: rumination monitoring, heat detection, and real time localisation for adult dairy cattle that are housed indoors. The three functionalities help dairy farmers monitor their cattle’s location on the farm, as well as their heat and rumination behaviours. As a result, farmers can use data generated by the system to improve the fertility parameters of each cow and identify animals with health issues at a very early stage, which leads to overall improved farm productivity.

Zoetis acquired Smartbow GmbH earlier this year, building on experience the company gained with the Smartbow system through an exclusive distribution agreement in several countries over the past years.

Supporting farm productivity via enhanced herd health monitoring

Laurent Monnerat, Senior Vice President, Germany, Central and Eastern Europe, highlighted the benefits of the new technology. “Zoetis added pioneering technology when it acquired Smartbow GmbH. The system’s sensor technologies integrated with data analytics are playing an increasingly key role in sustainable livestock production. “We are proud to participate in EuroTier this year to share the opportunity the Smartbow technology present for farmers. We hope they are inspired to seize it!”

Feedback from farmers who have already adopted Smartbow technology has been positive. “Smartbow clearly helps me monitor my herd more efficiently with its impressive data collection and analytic capabilities,” said Richard von der Landwehr, a dairy farmer in the Hanover region. “With the real-time localisation, rumination monitoring and heat detection alerts, I have better surveillance of my animals, while improving my work-life balance. I am still learning the system, but I feel very positively about this investment. It’s definitely worth it!”

​Andreas Tschuor, Director, Precision Livestock Farming, Commercial Development and Lifecycle Innovation, who is coordinating the commercialisation of Smartbow for Zoetis International Operations, explained how the technology fits strategically into the continuum of care: “The cow monitoring system helps farmers detect disease earlier, allowing them to involve veterinarians more quickly and accurately. The ability to identify health issues in animals at an early stage results in faster recovery and improved overall wellbeing.”

“Precision Livestock Farming is fast becoming an even more important segment of animal health with farmers and veterinarians seeking new solutions to improve the health and productivity of their herds while increasing the profitability of their businesses. Zoetis is on the leading edge in this space.”