Meter Monitors Cows and Milk

October 4, 2009

Normally farmers would take a sample of milk from “each cow, once a month, and send that sample to the lab,” says Noa Yonish, an AfiMilk rep based in Kibbutz Afikim (communal settlement) near the Sea of Galilee. Obviously, such tests require a lot of manpower and are not altogether very accurate. If there is a problem in the milk, it’s never isolated at the right time, allowing room for contamination to spread before a farmer is alerted. Not knowing what cow is sick, and when, is another reason why farmers opt for mass injections of antibiotics, even if the entire herd isn’t ill.

The new AfiLab system, which is about the size of a baseball glove, can catch a number of problems as the milk passes from the teats to the cartons in real time. It can alert farmers of any potential health or feeding problems before they go untreated. Connected to computers, the mini testing lab not only protects a herd of dairy cows from disease, but it also allows farmers to see if any early symptoms of illness appear in the herd and can increase milk production efficiency. Protein levels, fat percentages, and delaying factors essential to the cheese-making industry can also be viewed online. The company expects it to go on sale next year.

For a herd of about 2,500 cows, the system will cost between US $100,000 to $200,000, depending on the price distributors in the United States set. For more information: www.afimilk.com, 972-4-675-4812.

Excerpts from an article by Karin Kloosterman, www.israel21c.org

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