Healthy cows are essential for good milk production. Among the companies represented in CEMA, the European Agricultural Machinery Association, are manufacturers that develop advanced equipment for both harvesting and livestock management, supporting innovation on farms across Europe. In some cases, some cows require the administration of medicines as part of a treatment plan prescribed by the veterinarian. When medicines require a withdrawal period for milk and/or meat, it is crucial that the related health treatments are registered correctly to prevent potential food safety issues. Digital farming solutions can enable such sustainable livestock practices.
Farm management platforms like Lely Horizon, which accompanies Lely’s automated milking systems, can help farmers keep track of all applied health treatments and medicine records, allowing them to create customized health treatment protocols. If necessary, Lely Horizon will automatically separate milk for the necessary withdrawal time according to the selected treatment plan and rinse the milking system to eliminate any possible residues.
These established protocols are intended to help the farmers follow a step-by-step approach, reducing the risk of errors and omissions and increasing their peace of mind.
The farm management platform will show the incidence of the most common diseases over a reference period compared to the previous year, and it links to an incidence analysis page where the results can be filtered by disease category, disease name, treatment plan, number and stage of lactation. It also displays monthly incidences sorted by the desired criteria, and it is possible to directly retrieve the list of all treated animals in a given month based on the selected filters.
This way, the farmer gains access to information that can also be very valuable for advisors and experts such as the veterinarian, who can more easily identify potential areas of attention and improvement in the herd’s health status. Through Lely Horizon, the farmer can create a treatment plan after consultation with the veterinarian. The treatment plan is linked to a disease library containing an extensive list of diseases classified according to the official international ICAR code.
After entering a health treatment, all the actions to be performed appear at the right time in the farm management platform. Re-treatment or additional treatment are shown as tasks, the cow is routed to a treatment pen, milk separation is automated and the system is systematically flushed after a treated cow was milked.
Health treatment management is essential for maintaining herd health and productivity. Innovation in sustainable livestock practices such as Lely Horizon supports farmers in optimizing treatment protocols, streamlining administration, reducing communicational errors and bringing analytical tools and overviews on diseases and treatments on the farm.
The agricultural machinery industry, represented by CEMA, continues to develop smart and connected tools that equip farmers to make data-driven decisions, improve animal welfare, and enhance the overall sustainability and efficiency of their operations.
