Claudine Quinquis

“The temperature and mastitis alerts help us target the cows so we can intervene as early as possible in case of infection.”

At GAEC des Charmes, a dairy farm in Plouarzel, France, Claudine Quinquis milks 170 cows. Since installing smaXtec, she has been impressed by how quickly the system highlights issues that would otherwise slip through: “The temperature and mastitis alerts help us target cows, so we can intervene as early as possible in case of infection.” Heat detection improved dramatically as well: “We inseminated 22 dairy cows that were only detected to be in heat thanks to smaXtec.”

Why smaXtec was the right choice

For Claudine Quinquis, the main reason why they chose smaXtec was the depth of monitoring it provides. “For us it was the importance of monitoring reproduction – but also rumination and health tracking. We also appreciate the value of group rumination monitoring for feed management.” Above all, smaXtec’s continuous monitoring of the internal body temperature gives them a level of precision they didn’t have before.

She also highlights how the system improves their daily work. Thanks to the continuous monitoring, they now “realise more quickly when water troughs are dirty,” allowing them to act before performance drops. Another practical feature that supports them is the detection of magnets: “It prevents placing new ones in cows that already have them.”

Targeted health management from day one

Although the system has only been installed since June 2025, it has already helped during a challenging period: “We vaccinated against BTV-3 and BTV-8 and suspected a viral outbreak at the same time. The temperature alerts did not go unnoticed and allowed us to closely monitor the most affected cows without necessarily treating them.”

smaXtec fulfils a crucial function in the early disease detection. “Especially when everything seems fine, we sometimes miss certain cows. The temperature and mastitis alerts help us target those cows, allowing us to strip the first milk jets and analyse them, so we can intervene as early as possible in case of infection”, Claudine Quinquis explains.

Early reproductive benefits

Even with just a few months of data, smaXtec already influences the reproductive results positively. “Out of 108 artificial inseminations, 22 were carried out on cows detected solely by the smaXtec system.” Before using smaXtec, ultrasounds regularly revealed at least one cow already pregnant from a previous insemination, meaning an unnecessary insemination had taken place. Claudine Quinquis expects that these costs will decrease with smaXtec: “This unnecessary expense will no longer occur if cows show a false heat when we observe them, and smaXtec doesn’t detect them as being in heat.”

Calving management also became more focused: “We get an alert about 15 hours before calving. This makes it possible to “delegate” a bit and only monitor the cows that are actually going to calve, rather than the entire group of cows close to calving.”

A clear advantage

What Claudine Quinquis values most is the completeness of the system: “The detection of numerous parameters is what convinced us. Moreover, since all possible events are recorded in the web application, we no longer worry about forgetting anything.” For other farmers who are thinking about getting smaXtec, her advice is clear: “choose smaXtec, especially because of the continuous monitoring of the internal body temperature.”