The revolutionary smaXtec bolus technology is much more than a regular heat detection system. Thanks to the unique position of the measurement device and direct measurement of inner body temperature, activity, rumination and drinking behaviour, the system provides unrivaled data from inside the cow.
You receive precise insights into the health, reproduction and feeding status of your cows, enabling you to improve your farm’s success. Knowing the time of calving is crucial in dairy farming: Production, reproduction as well as animal welfare, workload and economic success are all closely related.
Continuous monitoring of the calving process is of great importance in enabling you to closely follow the stages of calving and quickly identify and correct any signs of complications. Customer experience shows that the smaXtec system notifies you on average 15 hours before calving and gives you enough time to take necessary measures.
Read below about how smaXtec supports you before, during and after calving and helps you identify typical disease around calving earliest possible.
How does smaXtec detect calvings early on?
With smaXtec you do not only monitor your cows’ health in the critical phase around birth, you are also informed when calving is imminent.
How it works? Inner body temperature decreases considerably when the calving process starts. This commonly accepted and scientifically proven indicator for calving is reliably detected by smaXtec.
Based on the characteristic decrease in inner body temperature, the smaXtec system notifies you between 36 and six hours before calving. In addition, rumination data enabled by smaXtec’s latest innovation – the TruRumi™ technology – gives you additional information on the start of the calving process.
You are able to observe your animals very closely during the critical period around calving. This allows you to take all necessary measures to ensure a problem-free birth at an early stage.
You can take your animals to a separate calving box, administer calcium boluses to prevent milk fever if necessary, assist the cow as needed at the right moment, contact your vet if needed and save the life of cow and calf in an emergency.
The best thing about automatic calving detection with smaXtec? You have no additional work to detect calving, e.g. mount a sensor upfront, while also getting informed about health and oestrus.
Before, during and after calving – smaXtec supports you reliably
Thanks to the continuous monitoring of the key parameters inner body temperature, activity and rumination, you are able to keep a close eye on your animals. By taking the right action at the right time, it is possible to reduce stillbirth rates, the number of post-natal problems, as well as shorten the time between calvings.
smaXtec has definitely made calving a lot less stressful for Michael Colwell, smaXtec customer from the UK, and his cows.
He said: “Calving cows in the calving shed instead of the cubicles and scrape passages is far more preferable! We use less straw and need less space in the calving shed as we now only have the cows that are calving in the next 36 hours in there.”
smaXtec also pays off financially. According to Michael Colwell, the yearly savings related to calving are about £1,500 thanks to the reduced number of dead calves and another £1,500 due to the reduced amount of straw used.
During the calving process, you are ready to support the cow and calf if necessary. The right assistance can help to reduce the number of dead-born calves.
In case of malposition or other complications, you are able to inform the vet early and thus might save cow and calf. Additionally, you can decrease the risk of retained placentas and uterine infections.
Thanks to the additional health information, you immediately know if any diseases occur post-calving, e.g. if the cow suffers from milk fever. The proactive health management helps to improve fertility and reduce calving intervals.
smaXtec application example: Milk fever
If a cow falls ill with milk fever shortly after birth, inner body temperature, movement activity and rumination drop noticeably.
The continuous measurement of these three parameters using smaXtec boluses enables you to detect milk fever early on. This way, you ensure a shorter treatment period, sooner recovery as well as stable milk production on your farm.
As the disease progresses, the cow lies down and does not get up again. This is exactly where the smaXtec system provides the best possible support. Through continuous measurement of inner body temperature and activity, signs of parturient paresis (milk fever) can be detected quickly.
See for yourself in the following example: Calving was confirmed on February 21. Shortly afterwards, a reduced inner body temperature (blue curve) and activity (red curve) are measured.
Further information
Contact smaXtec and implement the most comprehensive system for monitoring health, reproduction and feeding in dairy cows on your farm and start improving your key success indicators today.
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