Calf Guide
All Calf Data at a Glance
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could access all the information about your calves at your PC or on mobile devices at any time? And what about networking all the devices you use in rearing such as CalfExpert calf feeders, MilkTaxis and CalfControl animal weighing scales so that they automatically exchange data and complement each other? And if your employees could then see the alarm lists on their own smartphones or tablets and could work through tasks, all the workflows in the calf barn would be clearly defined. How would you feel about that?
This is all possible using CalfGuide, your central data and management system for calf rearing. The central CalfGuide server collects all the data from all of your feeders, MilkTaxis or WeightControl animal weighing scales and makes them available to you in a clearly structured form.
With the new CalfGuide you can also control and configure all devices centrally. And a practical export interface provides other herd management programs with the most important data after rearing has been completed.
Thus CalfGuide is the interface between the rearing management of your calves through to their further development into high-performance cows.
Current Calf Data
CalfGuide gives you a complete overview of all calf feeders
and all calves on your farm.
Calf management
Taking clear lists as the starting point, you navigate
directly to the feeding and growth curve of individual
calves. A calender function enables you to track
past incidents and plan future tasks. This makes it
easy to have a good overview or analyse individual
animals in great detail.
Health index
CalfGuide calculates an alarm index on the basis of
a wide range of data such as feeding consumption,
drinking speed, visiting frequency, weight development
etc. This allows you and your employees
to see immediately which of the calves need your
attention fi rst. In addition, abnormalities such as
illness can be recorded in an “event diary” and are
thus clearly documented.
Archive
CalfGuide doesn’t forget anything. After your calves
have been weaned, all data such as feeding quantities,
weight development, treatments etc. are saved
permanently in an archive. In other words, CalfGuide
allows you to see – even years later – how you fed
your best cows when they were just calves. This
helps you to optimise your feeding programs in the
long term.
Support Tools
All employees know what they have to do and when, and you
can keep an eye on all the working steps and development
of your calves at all times. Urgent tasks are displayed immediately.
Bidirectional control
Important calf data can be adapted and confi gured
directly in the CalfGuide program. These include e.g.
age, group assignment, feeding curves, individual
changes in feeding plans and much more besides.
Once done, the confi gurations are automatically
applied by the CalfExpert or MilkTaxi.
Task manager
CalfGuide organises your work and reminds you
what is to be done. Move to a new stall after xxx
days? Separate the male calves after xxx days? You
simply defi ne all recurring tasks once in the form of
events or ToDos, and CalfGuide will remind you and
your employees every day of what needs to be done.
Technical fault messages
CalfGuide shows you all the technical fault messages
concerning your calf feeder, even the ones
CalfExpert has resolved itself. Empty messages for
cleaning agents or an early warning system for a
low whole milk or CMR level at the CalfExpert are
sent via the CalfGuide system.
Pasteurisation Log
Pasteurisation is a particularly delicate process,
because the quality of the milk can suffer from
temperature problems in the process. With the
CalfGuide you are on the safe side, since it always
records the exact temperature profi le for you and
indicates whether any discrepancies have occurred.
Cross-System Networking
Anyone can be excused for losing track in this “big data” era.
And your calves do indeed generate a huge amount of data
in the CalfGuide network. CalfGuide processes this fl ood
of data so that you can concentrate on the most important
information.
LAN/Wi-Fi - tablet or PC
The data from your automatic feeders are recorded
and managed centrally on a server. The CalfGuide
system then provides a Wi-Fi connection in the calf
barn so that you can use all the functions at any time
e.g. with a PC tablet. It goes without saying that you
can integrate CalfGuide in your farm network, allowing
you to use all the CalfGuide functions from your
offi ce. The optional connection of the CalfGuide system
to the internet even permits external access via
the CalfGuide Cloud.
Networking of several MilkTaxis and CalfExpert calf feeders
CalfGuide is the central interface in the calf barn.
Once a calf is registered in the system through an
electronic ear tag e.g. after birth at the WeightControl
animal weighing scales, the data are imported
on to every device the calf is logged at. Even if the
calf moves from one CalfExpert calf feeder to the
next, feeding will continue at the next CalfExpert at
exactly the right point on the feeding curve and all
data already recorded are imported.
CalfGuide app
A limited selection of information can be accessed
directly on your mobile phone using the CalfGuide
app. This includes the box list with details for the
MilkTaxi or details about the calf lists on the Calf-
Expert. In addition, messages can be received and
tasks requested from the calf feeder events or
ToDos.
With the CalfExpert, this even works without Calf-
Guide, directly via the Wi-Fi interface of the calf
feeder.
CalfGuide Cloud
With the CalfGuide Cloud you can access your Calf-
Guide server via the internet. This allows you to
watch your data and information from anywhere
in the world or permit service technicians to take a
look at the technology if any problems should occur.
Communication with external herd management systems
The importance of calf rearing for the performance
of the animals in later life is well known and
described in detail in this manual. So it makes good
sense to export the most important information
about your calves to your herd management program
for cows after rearing them. CalfGuide offers a
wide range of export protocols for this.