Accurately tracking dry matter intake is critical for dairy farmers, and a new app from Trouw Nutrition aims to make that easier and more efficient.
One of the app’s early adapters, Clinton-area producer Evan Klaver, says it’s working out pretty much as advertised.
Why it matters: Information technology companies see opportunities in marketing to the agricultural sector but farmers need to know those IT innovations will work well on their farms.
Read Also
BinSentry sensors reduce feed-bin outages
BinSentry sensors mean fewer feed bin outages and more efficient deliver for feed mills.
Operator of the 75-head Frontier Holsteins herd, Klaver recently told Farmtario that he particularly likes the DNA Connect app’s ability to adjust ingredient amounts in his rations to respond to changing dry matter percentages in his forages.
“It will add more water to the mix if a new bunk is drier than the one you just finished up. It’s pretty slick that way … Before, you had to do a bit of math” to determine ingredient changes.
David Coates of Hensall Co-op is among the early adopters of DNA Connect on the client support side.
DNA stands for Dairy Nutrition Advisor, which is also Coates’ position at Hensall.
He said the app was developed for Trouw Nutrition as a value-added product to be offered to dairy producers using Trouw’s (and Shur-Gain’s) Newton ration balancing software.
DNA Connect was introduced earlier this spring and Coates admits that, in its early stages of introduction, “the app … is a little bit limited in terms of its power.” But he has heard from producers including Klaver that it is handy and convenient.
The ultimate goal, Coates said, is to have DNA Connect as part of a total farm management program that would range from keeping accurate track of feed inventories to tying feed intake to the number of litres of milk shipped.
“Everything it does is going to be targeted towards increasing efficiency and profitability.”
Promotional material from the company says the app “allows producers to monitor, track and keep record of their total mixed ration formulations to improve accuracy, performance and return on investment. Producers can change their TMR dry matter and update their diets in real-time on their mobile devices with the click of a button.”
Klaver began using DNA Connect in early April.
“I’ve always wanted to have a better way of tracking how we feed,” he said. Accuracy and consistency of feed mixing is important regardless of which manager or employee is doing the work.
When he talked to Coates and Trouw Nutrition about it, “they talked about other things that are coming down the road” which also interested him. Since starting with the app, he has tracked feed ingredient inventories and the return on feed for different rations and feed ingredients.
It is also set up to track refusals. Cows might not eat as much if it rains and forages get wet. Frontier Holsteins find they sometimes provide more feed than necessary when this happens. DNA Connect, by tracking refusals, could help them tackle this challenge differently.
Coates has the advisor’s version of the app; there are also “employee” and “owner” versions. Before DNA Connect, he would send a pdf to a producer showing the balanced ration and they would add ingredients accordingly. This “has a little more flexibility to it.”
“What helps me most for doing my job of helping the farmers is that the farmers are now much more inclined to keep track of forage dry matters,” he said. Even if they don’t have a dry matter tester, they’re more inclined to take a sample and get it tested. From those results shared with Coates, adjustments can be made to rations and entered into the app.
“Dry matter (percentage) and dry matter intake, if you don’t know those, you don’t really know anything,” said Coates. “I think (the new app) helps them realize how important it is to them.”
Previously entered information is retained on the app’s internal wifi but when changes are made or the producer needs to switch from one ration to another, an internet connection is needed. Frontier Holsteins has internet in part of the barn but not in the feed room, so an iPad is kept for employees and owners to use the app.
It’s a bit of a challenge, Klaver noted, but “I often just hot-spot my phone (when he needs internet for the app in the feed room), which works.”
