increase font size
LIC chief executive Wayne McNee says the Afimilk collars are among the best in the world.
Herd improvement and agri-tech cooperative LIC has formed a distribution partnership with Israeli-based Afimilk to market its hi-tech cow collars in New Zealand.
Afimilk is one of the dairy industry's leading producers of cow behaviour sensors, farm management software and milk meters, and supplies cow collars internationally.
Afimilk and LIC were in discussions earlier this year regarding a potential investment by LIC in Afimilk which didn’t proceed after failing to get approval from farmer shareholders.
LIC chief executive Wayne McNee says as sector leaders, the parties remained in contact and recently reached a new agreement regarding Afimilk’s cow collar technology.
“We are working to build an integrated, collaborative technology ecosystem that makes it as easy as possible for farmers to adopt new technologies. Farmers need to be able to choose the technology and products that are best suited to them. Our role is to ensure that proven technology can integrate with LIC’s existing systems and herd management software into the future.
“The AfiCollars are among the best in the world and, we believe, well suited to meet the unique challenges of New Zealand’s pastoral dairy environment.
“Our proven work in genomics, reproduction and animal health is enabling farmers to be more efficient and their herds to be more productive each year. Cow behavioural monitoring devices like the AfiCollar will deliver complementary on farm benefits such as more accurate heat detection and animal health and welfare monitoring.
“AfiCollars will integrate with Protrack, LIC’s farm automation technology, which will allow for increased efficiency and faster, more informed decision-making on farm. There is already strong demand for cow wearable technology by our farmers, and for it to integrate with LIC’s farm automation systems.
“The ‘connected cow,’ wearing this technology, will shape the future of the dairy industry and help New Zealand maintain its world leading edge in precision farming. LIC is looking to work with other leading New Zealand and international technology providers to continue to offer the very best options for our farmers wanting to utilise new technologies coming to market.”
Afimilk CEO Yuval Rachmilevitz says he is excited to be cementing a new agreement with LIC for the distribution of AfiCollars.
“We share a combined commitment to enabling farmers to continually improve on-farm productivity through new technology and it is exciting to be further enabling this in New Zealand.”
AfiCollar, a robust & effective cow neck collar, is an advanced yet easy-to-use technology developed by Afimilk to assist dairy farmers in monitoring cow rumination, eating, and motion, in order to enhance and improve the health, fertility and nutrition of their animals.
AgriZeroNZ, a joint venture fast-tracking emissions reduction tools for farmers, is pouring $5 million in a biotech company to develop a low emissions farm pasture with increased productivity gains.
Two long-standing LIC farmer-elected directors are stepping down later this year.
Herd improvement co-operative LIC is combining its DNA parentage testing and genomic evaluation services into one convenient service to help farmers identify their highest genetic merit animals.
A bacterial contamination is the likely cause of a semen quality issue that impacted 1,127 herds in October last year, says LIC.
LIC chair Corrigan Sowman believes the company is well placed to support farmers to meet Fonterra’s scope three emissions target.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
