‘SmartCow’ ends farmer’s record keeping headache

Few dairy farmers keep comprehensive records which is a major challenge for their businesses as they lack proper information on how to track their venture. However, most successful dairy ventures are keen on managing dairy records, a crucial aspect in Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).

To improve efficiency in dairy farming, a group of experts has devised an application to assist farmers effectively keep records and information about their animals.

The application known as SmartCow helps dairy entrepreneurs track their farm’s progress in real-time. The app was developed by Intersoft Eagles to assist farmers manage their farm records and the day-to-day running of their farms.

Dairy farm consultant assisting farmers using the SmartCow App, Alex Gitonga says it is a cloud-based dairy management system available as a mobile app and accessible from any device that can access internet like mobile phone, laptop and tablet which allows farmers to register their herd details and monitor the daily activities.

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One of the challenges that necessitated the app was that farmers who keep manual records often lose the records or find it hard to analyse and generate reports due to the bulky nature of manual records. “These challenges in record management lead to low productivity, poor breeding, poor feeding and planning of dairy farms, which is why this app comes in handy,” Gitonga says.

Advantages of the app

The app is programmed in a way that it manages information on behalf of the farmer and sends alerts and notifications for activities that are due such as breeding dates like heat checks, pregnancy confirmation, drying, steaming, calving among others as well as health updates such as next deworming and next vaccinations.

“The dairy mobile app monitors daily production, weight records, milk sales, feeding, calf growth, expenses and generates several reports that are very significant in decision making,” Gitonga explains.

He says the app provides the farmer with critical data such as the cow-signals; rumen fill, manure score, belly score, cud score, Body Condition Score (BCS) and cow comfort scoring.

The records are stored in cloud servers thus allowing connectivity and access from any location by devices that are authorised. The data is safe and automatically backed up thus cannot be affected by loss of the devices or gadgets used by the dairy investor. “Farmers are able to monitor and access the records on a real-time basis from wherever they are,” he says.

The mobile app is also able to give statistics of the farm’s performance within a period facilitating comparison and analysis and sends SMS notifications for any activity due in the farm.

Another advantage of the app is that it allows farmers to apply for credit facilities. For instance, farmers are able to purchase inputs from vendors at discounted rates directly through the app, to chat with experts, dairy consultants and other farmers.

“Every dairy farmer should embrace dairy ICT innovations. By so doing, it would ensure maximum profits, effective management and gaining control of the entire enterprise,” he says. To sensitise the farmers on the innovation, SmartCow has partnered with other stakeholders in the sector for an exhibition and trade Fair on June 12 at Dedan Kimathi grounds in Nyeri town.  

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