Lauderdale Farm

“With smaXtec, we are catching sick cows much earlier than we did in the past.”

Dan Lauderdale is a fourth-generation dairy farmer located in Elkhorn, Wisconsin and installed smaXtec in September 2021. After looking for a monitoring system for his 135 Holstein cows for a couple of years, he is very pleased with the results the smaXtec system has delivered within only a few weeks’ time: “The biggest benefit to having the smaXtec system is that we are catching sick cows and problem cows much earlier than we did in the past.” he reports.

“Herd health is of the utmost importance.”

For Dan, having all health data in an easy-to-read and easy-to-follow interface on his cell phone has proven very helpful: “It is exciting technology. Now that we have it, I couldn’t imagine going without it. smaXtec is a constant source of information – and it is accurate.” says the dairy farmer about the system’s reliability. “We’ve had two cows calving and both calves arrived 15 hours after the calving alert showed up.”

Early detection gives you a head start

smaXtec’s health alerts allow famers to act sooner and treat their cows right away. “When a cow is low on calcium, we can administer calcium before she becomes a down cow. If we can catch a cow right as she is getting sick, we can head off the big problem, where you need the vet to come out to assist you.” he adds. In day-to-day routine, smaXtec helps dairy farmers to stay on top of cow health: “One of our pregnant cows got tipped on her side on the bedding pack and couldn’t get up. Although she wasn’t due for another week, the system sent me a calving alert because she had all the symptoms. Had it not been for this alert, it would have been another 6 to 7 hours before I found her.”

Cost savings and peace of mind with smaXtec

“smaXtec is always keeping me up to date.” Dan explains. “It’s always good to know that you are doing the right things at the right time.” In terms of cost, he is confident that the system will soon pay for itself, thanks to less cost for antibiotics, mastitis treatments, fertility management and better insemination efficiency: “As far as breeding is concerned, I think that smaXtec will save us a lot of money on the drugs that we would use for ovsynching cows. When we can breed with natural heats and can get cows pregnant right away, we can save on semen cost if we can inseminate our cows less. I would definitely recommend smaXtec to anybody looking for activity and rumination monitoring system like this.”

“My big goal is to eventually carry on the farm and have my boys be the fifth generation of dairy farmers in our family. If the smaXtec system keeps our cows healthier, happier, and more productive, that’s only going to help our plans for the future.”