Heat stress is an enormous burden for dairy cows and has a significant impact on productivity and animal health. With smaXtec, you can accurately detect heat stress and take immediate action to help protect your cows.
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Beat the heat and protect your herd with our limited-time offer! Install smaXtec by September 30th and receive a free Climate Sensor worth £ 340 with your order.
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Temperatures above 16°C near the upper limit of a cow’s comfort zone. Cows react sensitively to rising temperatures and humidity but the point at which heat stress occurs depends on the combination of various factors. In fact heat stress can occur at moderate temperatures, especially if the humidity is high – with major consequences on health and milk yield (2).
With smaXtec, you can detect heat stress because the system measures the inner body temperature of all cows and records the external climatic conditions in the barn with the Climate Sensor.
The smaXtec bolus continuously measures important health parameters in the reticulum, such as inner body temperature (± 0.01 °C), and thus recognizes the physiological effects of heat stress at an early stage.
The Climate Sensor measures external factors of the barn climate that promote heat stress, such as ambient temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure in the barn. The THI (temperature-humidity index) is calculated automatically.
The system also uses the temperature group metric to detect changes at group level, enabling even more targeted intervention.
The smaXtec Bolus measures inner body temperature (± 0.01 °C), water intake and drinking frequency, rumination, and activity of each individual cow. All these parameters are monitored continuously and enable early detection of heat stress. The system reliably detects heat stress symptoms such as:
The smaXtec Climate Sensor SX.2.1 measures ambient temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure in the barn and automatically calculates the THI (Temperature Humidity Index) from the data. The THI is an indicator of heat stress and is calculated from the ambient temperature and relative humidity factors. At values above 72, heat stress begins for the cows (2).
At a humidity of 70 %, which is common in temperate latitudes, mild heat stress begins for cows at an air temperature of 22 °C, and performance losses can be expected from 24 °C (2).
If the THI is increased and there is a risk of heat stress, smaXtec provides information so that immediate action can be taken to improve the barn climate, including the optimal use of cooling methods such as fans. Thanks to the accurate information, cooling can be used in a targeted and energy-efficient manner, resulting in reduced power consumption and optimized costs.
The example shows the rising THI (green curve) and several heat stress alarms that the farmer received from smaXtec.
To make the individual temperature reports even more accurate, smaXtec also calculates the group temperature of certain animal categories. In this way, rising outdoor temperatures and temperature increases due to vaccinations or feed changes are taken into account and included in the messages. The group allocation also makes it visible if, for example, lower-ranking animals are increasingly affected by heat stress because they are perhaps prevented from drinking sufficiently by higher-ranking animals. The group metric temperature thus enables even more targeted intervention in case of heat stress.
Using the artificial-intelligence-supported TruDrinking® application, smaXtec is the only system that provides reliable information about the amount of water consumed and the drinking cycles of each individual cow. This gives you an early indicator of milk production, allows them to treat sick cows even faster and optimise water supply. Especially on hot days, it’s essential to track water intake to detect early signs of heat stress and act fast. The result: a more stable milk yield, optimised management and healthier animals that are fully supplied with water.
If dairy cows suffer from heat stress, this not only has a massive negative impact on animal welfare, but also on milk yield, fertility and animal health.
increased risk of ketosis in high-performance animals (3)
despite sufficient supply, cows drink too little in hot weather (3)
by 16 - 30 % (3)
as a result of a decline in feed intake
due to lower ruminating activity (5)
in milk because concentrate is preferred and too little roughages are eaten (5)
cows do not show clear signs of oestrus and pregnancy rate decreases (3)
such as mastitis, laminitis, and rumen acidosis with prolonged heat (3)
In the case of very severe heat stress, serious problems can occur. In the worst case this includes death. (1)
Only smaXtec continuously and precisely measures all the important internal and external factors for detecting heat stress, giving you the opportunity to recognize the problem at an early stage and react accordingly.
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Sources:
1) STÖBER, M., 2002: Hitzschlag/exogene Hyperthermie, in: Dirksen, G., Gründer H.D und Stöber M. (Hrsg.): Innere Chirurgie und Medizin des Rindes, Parey Verlag Berlin, Wien, 1163-1165
(2) https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(08)71054-3/fulltext
(3) https://raumberg-gumpenstein.at/jdownloads/Tagungen/Nutztierschutztagung/Nutztierschutztagung_2014/3n_2014_gasteiner.pdf
(4) https://www.journalofdairyscience.org/article/S0022-0302(19)30357-1/fulltext
(5) https://raumberg-gumpenstein.at/forschung/forschung-aktuelles/hitzestress-in-der-rinderhaltung.html