AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Copyright © July 19, 2020 AfiMilk, All rights reserved.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Table of Contents About this Guide and Scope.............................................................................................................................................................................................1 Applicable Documents ....................................................................................................................................................................................................1 Safety ...................
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 7.2 7.3 Understanding the Group Digestion Report .........................................................................................................................................................21 Group Digestion Report ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide About this Guide and Scope This guide describes how to physically attach and then assign the AfiCollars to the animals, and the best practices for maintaining and storing AfiCollars. This guide also provides full descriptions of the unique reports available in AfiFarm to farms using AfiCollars.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 1 Introduction AfiCollar, along with Afimilk's herd management software, provides a comprehensive system for detecting heat events, and monitoring cow and heifer health. AfiCollar measures the motion, rumination and eating behavior of cows. This data is interpreted by AfiFarm to provide updated, round-the-clock monitoring of cow health, fertility, and nutrition.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 2 Attaching AfiCollars AfiCollars are delivered as a set of 10, and are fully assembled, ready to be attached. The box and AfiCollars weight 10Kg/22Lb. Safety Warning: Take precautions when lifting or moving the box, and make sure to place it on a flat surface where is cannot fall. Before you start: • Make sure there are no protruding parts in the pens that could get caught on the collars. • Make sure the working environment is safe for you and the cow.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 3 Assigning the AfiCollar to the Cow Once AfiCollars are attached to the cows, they must also be assigned to the cows in AfiFarm. There are several methods available for assigning AfiCollars to animals: • Assigning AfiCollars using Afi2Go Pro (see Chapter 3.1), • Assigning AfiCollars by manual entry (see Chapter 3.2), • Importing data from an external source (see Chapter 3.3). 3.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide To assign AfiCollars using Afi2Go Pro: 2. Enter your Account Name and Password, then press Login. 1. Open the Afi2Go Pro app from the home screen. The Search screen opens.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 3. In the Search field, enter the cow's number. The autocomplete list opens as you type. 4. Select the Number from the list. The Cow ID card opens. 5. Open the Events list: Press .
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 6. Select Tag Assignment. The Tag Assignment screen opens.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 7. Scan the NFC sensor: Hold your mobile device close to the sensor. The AfiCollar is successfully assigned to the cow. 8. Press Save once the sensor number is displayed in the New Tag field.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 3.2 Assigning AfiCollars by Manual Entry Use the Cow ID card in AfiFarm to manually assign the AfiCollar to the animal. This procedure is best used when entering a small number of tags or re-assigning the AfiCollar to a different cow (in such situations you first need to remove the tag number from the original cow, before assigning to the new animal). To manually assign AfiCollars: 1. Attach the new AfiCollar to the animal. 2.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 3.3 Importing Data from an External Source Contact Afimilk Support to set this up and perform your initial Animals import. Then have your Support representative schedule an automatic import of data which is updated on your Herd Management software. Note: Currently, Sensor ID numbers are automatically excluded when importing cow data from an external source to AfiFarm. To include the Tag IDs during the import the default setting needs to be changed.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 4 Storing and Maintaining AfiCollars AfiCollars are encased in sealed plastic containers. After removing AfiCollars from cows, they may be washed under running water (warm or cold) before storage or before attaching to new cows. Caution: Do Not Soak AfiCollars. Soaking AfiCollars in water for hours may reduce their life expectancy.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 5 AfiCollar Based Reports AfiFarm interprets the eating, rumination and motion data measured by the AfiCollar to provide a wide range of reports for managing the dairy farm. Open AfiFarm ABC Dashboard (see below) to view new alerts and access detailed reports about fertility, health, and daily tasks (see AfiFarm ABC Dashboard User Guide).
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 6 Identifying Possible Sick Cows Identifying unwell cows is critical for quickly and effectively diagnosing and treating the issue and limiting its impact on the cow. Healthy cows display stable eating and rumination behavior. Drastic changes to these aspects of a cow's behavior may indicate that she is unwell. AfiFarm uses eating and rumination times measured by AfiCollar to indicate that such a change has occurred.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Detailed Report The Detailed Report displays the following: Data Description Cow Displays the cow number. Grp. Displays the group the cow is assigned to. DIM Displays the number of days the cow is in milk. Status Displays the current status of the cow as one of the following: • Milk • Dry • Heifer Current Rumination (%) Displays (in percentage) changes in rumination time, compared to the cow's normal rumination time for the last 24 hours.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Graph Clicking a specific cow/row in the Detailed Report opens the following graph. The graph provides a visual overview of the relationship between health (as indicated by eating and rumination activity) and yield. • Purple Legend – Accumulated daily rumination time. • Green Legend – Accumulated daily eating time.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 6.2 Setting Non-Specific Health Report Alert Thresholds AfiFarm uses eating and rumination times measured by AfiCollar to indicate that a significant change in a cow's eating/rumination has occurred. Increase or decrease the Non-Specific Health report thresholds to change its sensitivity and, consequently, the number of cows flagged with potential health issues, and included in the report as a result. To configure deviation thresholds: 1. Open the Non-Specific Health report.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide The Non-Specific Health Report parameters are divided into the following: • General, • Combined Rumination and Eating, • Only Rumination/Only Eating. General Data Description Hours in report Sets the length of time the cow is displayed in the report after she no longer displays signs of illness.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Combined Rumination and Eating Sets the combined decrease in both rumination and eating that is required to include the cow in the report. Data Description Rumination Deviation (%) Rumination time deviation threshold. Eating Deviation (%) Eating time deviation threshold. Hours between deviation An alert is created if the hours between the decreased rumination and eating events exceed the set amount.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Only Rumination/Only Eating Higher deviation values for either one of the two parameters (rumination/eating) may also indicate a problem. This table allows you to include cows if only one of the parameters spikes. Data Description Deviation (%) Deviation threshold. Consecutive deviation in hours Sets the length of time (in consecutive hours) that the deviation must occur in order to include the cow in the report.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 7 Identifying Group Feeding Problems Eating and rumination are critical aspects of a dairy cow's life. Any deficit of this activity directly, or indirectly, indicates that a problem has occurred. Rumination/eating deficits can occur for many reasons, some examples include: • Late distribution of feed, • Change in the size or composition of feed, • Feed is out of reach, • Defective/moldy feed.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 7.1 Viewing Group Digestion Report A value in the Group Digestion line on the dashboard represents the number of groups with a Feed alert. To view the Group Digestion Report: 1. On the ABC Dashboard, click Group Digestion. The Group Digestion report opens. 2. Click a row to open the detailed report or graph view (see Understanding the Group Digestion Report below). 7.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Group Digestion Report The Group Digestion Report provides the following data for the last 24 hours: Data Description Grp. Displays the group analyzed for nutrition. Status Displays the current status of the group as one of the following: • Milk • Dry • Heifer Total Animals Displays the total number of animals in the group. Rumination last 24 hours Displays the total average rumination time for the group, for the last, finished daily sessions (usually 2 or 3).
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Eating (%) deviation per session: 1/2/3 Displays the deviation percentage for the group, for each specific session. Alert Displays one of the following alert types when a deviation is detected: • Decrease in rumination time or eating time. • Increase in rumination time or eating time. • Low daily rumination or eating time. • Data is not available or there is not enough data for the calculation.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Graph View The Graph View displays the daily eating and rumination times of the group over a set period (default = last 30 days). The Graph view displays the rumination and eating times for the selected group as follows: • Green legend – indicates the average daily eating time for the group. • Purple legend – indicates the average daily rumination time for the group.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 7.3 Setting Group Digestion Report Thresholds AfiFarm uses eating and rumination times measured by AfiCollar to indicate, directly or indirectly, that a substantial change in eating/rumination has occurred at the group level. Increase or decrease the Group Digestion report thresholds to change its sensitivity and, consequently, the number of groups flagged with potential feeding issues, and included in the report. To configure deviation thresholds: 1.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Alert type The Alert type is used to set the thresholds for creating an alert. The Sensitivity of the report depends on the sessions times (minutes) of the group's rumination/eating: • Increase the threshold for the alert level if the report is too sensitive – (it includes too many alerts [false positives]), • Decrease the threshold for the alert level if the report fails to indicate a problem.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Data Description Alert type (eating) Displays the following columns: < 70 – upper and lower deviation thresholds for eating times that are less than 70 minutes on average per group, for a particular session. 70-100 - upper and lower deviation thresholds for eating times that are between 70 and 100 minutes on average per group, for a particular session.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 8 Troubleshooting Problem Indication Reader is not receiving any collar messages. • Status LED is blinking • PC COM LED is ON • No new messages appear for collars in AfiControl Rumination/Eating/Motion data from collars looks strange. All other problems 10 Days graph reflects abnormal or strange activity that is inconsistent with the animal's actual activity. Suggested Solution 1.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide 9 Certification and Licensing FCC Statements This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user’s authority to operate this equipment.
AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide IC Statements This device contains licence-exempt transmitter(s)/receiver(s) that comply with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s licenceexempt RSS(s). Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause interference. (2) This device must accept any interference, including interference that may cause undesired operation of the device.
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AfiFarm | AfiCollar User Guide Afimilk Ltd. Kibbutz Afikim, 1514800, Israel | Phone: +972 4 6754811 | www.afimilk.
