Joy Widerman - Farmer

Located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, JoBo Holstein Farm is currently home to 1,300 cows and about 850 head of replacements. As a true family operation, the farm is owned and managed entirely by immediate family, including owner, partner, and herd manager, Joy Widerman. This unique approach has allowed them to maintain the highest standards of animal husbandry as their herd expanded.

"Early detection provides us the luxury of being one step ahead"

Having adopted the system in February 2023, Joy and her family have seen a transition in their farm’s protocols toward more preventative measures. “This early in the process, the biggest impact has simply been detection across the board. Considering health events, calving, reproduction, and even feed management, early detection provides us with the luxury of being one step ahead and takes our response plan from reactive to proactive.”

Reducing milk loss with smaXtec

How has their move from reactive to proactive responses impacted their farm? Joy says, “the area where we have seen the quickest impact is in the treated pen, as we have been able to take gradual steps in reducing the duration of time cows need to be treated to clear an infection. We have taken steps to reduce the duration of treatment for both mastitis and metritis by 50% and are in the early phases of experimenting with moving to antibiotics with shorter milk withhold times to reduce the milk loss associated with these diseases.”

In a time where finding employees with in-depth knowledge of the dairy industry can be difficult, smaXtec has given their workers the support they need to provide excellent cow care. Joy admits, “in the past, it proved difficult to teach others to identify a sick cow based on physical appearance and demeanor.” However, “using the system has allowed us to empower our employees to learn how to go about properly diagnosing cows.”

“Investing in cow health will always pay us back.”

When it came to selecting a system, Joy describes how the process was straightforward. “When we began considering adding a herd management system to the farm, the most important thing to consider was how the system we chose would integrate into our long term business strategy. Taking a health forward approach with the herd allowed us to increase our stocking density…all those years ago. This principle that investing in cow health will always pay us back was one of the reasons that smaXtec was the right fit for us.”

JoBo Holstein Farm was selected as the 2023 smaXtec Producer of the Year. We are proud to partner with them as they continue to position themselves at the forefront of disruptive agricultural technologies.