If cows could talk Dairy cows at Tulare Union High School Dairy don't need to say "I'm sick" even if they could.
The local high school dairy is one of a few schools in the country with its own dairy. They have joined forces with DVM Systems to closely monitor the health of its cows using an electronic capsule that the cow swallows to send hourly core body temperatures for each cow to its TempTrack software. The system automatically sends health alerts to a smartphone or other wireless device providing up to 3 days advance notice of potential illnesses often prior to any visible symptoms. Students at the school will be the first in the nation and probably the world to use the latest technology to identify when their cows are getting sick helping to reduce the severity of the illness and allowing earlier treatment. DVM Systems is also planning to launch additional software modules using the same equipment to advise dairies of when cows are ready to breed and to notify them of a 24 hour period when a calf is likely to be born.
Jennifer Sousa, a teacher and Future Farmers of America advisor, along with Chris Van Dyk, the dairy manager, will be working with 55 students on programs designed to teach animal science in the agricultural oriented Dairy, Biology and Ag1 classes at all grade levels of the school. The dairy provides an opportunity for over 900 students per year to experience a dairy first hand.
DVM Systems, a Greeley, Colorado company that developed the sophisticated software and SmartStock, a Pawnee, Oklahoma company that designed the temperature monitoring equipment, teamed up to donate their software, equipment and services to help make the pilot program a success. The same system on a larger scale has been installed at commercial and university dairies in close to a dozen countries across the world. For more information, email DVM Systems at info@dvmsystems.com, online at www.dvmsystems.com or visit them at the 2015 World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, February 10th through 12th at booth 6335 in the Farm Credit Dairy Center building.
2.10.2015