At Green Croft Farm in West Cumbria, Mark Allison farms alongside his brother, Simon. The family farm continues to grow and develop in a wet climate that brings its own challenges. With around 650 cows and a new milking system making the milking process faster, the family wanted a system to help them manage the herd.
“We were looking for a device that was going to assist our management. With our new milking system, the milking is a lot faster. And with less time to monitor the cows, we wanted a technology that was going to help monitor the cows whilst we’re going through the milking process.”
Why a faster milking system called for continuous herd monitoring
For Mark, the greatest advantage of smaXtec is the early detection of diseases. “The greatest advantage we found with smaXtec has been probably the mastitis alerts and the really early detection of mastitis before you see clinical signs. That gives us a head start on the treatment.”
The system also helps the team detect possible milk fever and ketosis, giving them an opportunity to investigate and act at the very first immune response. “You can carefully monitor milk fever, ketosis, that sort of thing. And you can get in there with a treatment well in advance of probably what you would pick up just by sight.” This change is also reflected in the farm’s figures: “Our antibiotic use was down by about 20%. Our involuntary cull rate has also reduced significantly. We’ve gone from about 5.5% to around 2% over the first 12 months of using smaXtec.”
Using health data to investigate problems before they become chronic
When Mark sees an internal body temperature spike, he uses the data as a starting point for further checks. “The first thing I’ll usually do is a California Milk Test. If that comes out clear, I’ll probably be watching the cow’s breathing to see if there’s a pneumonia that could be going on. You’re basically hunting out what is causing it.”
The data also supports conversations with the farm’s vets. “smaXtec really works well alongside the vets. The vets never use the thermometer on the farm anymore, because we’re showing them a cow with a graph, which is far more than what they would be able to get.”
For Mark, the focus has shifted towards prevention and closer monitoring rather than waiting for chronic problems to develop. “We’re probably not buying as many antibiotics and we are training ourselves to monitor things more closely and stave off the chronic problems before they become established.”
More focused calving management with around 15 hours notice
Calving alerts have helped the team manage the herd more precisely. Mark says they typically receive advance notice and can move cows into the calving area closer to the actual event. “We get about 12 to 15 hours’ notice before a cow is going to calve. We can log that alert, keep monitoring those cows and move them at the last possible moment before we leave on an evening. I would say the calving alerts are about 95% accurate.” This approach helps the family concentrate on cows that are actually close to calving and use the calving boxes more efficiently.
A clearer 24-hour view of a large, busy herd
The biggest difference, he says, is the insight the system gives him at the start of each day. “It’s like having a sixth sense. You’re coming in on a morning, you look at the computer and you can get a sense of how things are going.” His recommendation for smaXtec therefore comes with one important condition: “You have to use the data. You have to get into a routine of looking at the data, acting upon it, and if you need to make management changes, that’s what you’ve got to do.”
For the Allison family, that combination of preventive health management and practical action has made smaXtec a valuable part of their growing farm business. “For us, the way our system runs, we’ve got a lot of cows and there’s a lot going on. That monitoring 24 hours a day and drawing our attention to where the problems are is invaluable.”
