Software collects information on every cow in the country and it is shared with other dairies to improve management
Finding ways to increase milk production while cutting costs is the name of the dairy game.
Israel, a small country that faces land and water shortages, has managed to average the world’s best milk production at 12,083 kilograms per cow last year.
“What we lack in physical re-sources, we more than makes up for in innovation and collaboration,” said Ron Shani, chief executive officer of AKOL Israel, a software company that manages a vital part of the Israeli dairy industry.
Members of a kibbutz in southern Israel developed AKOL Software in 1978. The company has since begun running a database that monitors the input, output, health, genetics and fertility of every cow in the country.
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Microsoft joined the project three years ago and helped develop the new technology on the Microsoft cloud.
The Israeli Agriculture Commission has been keeping track of all milk production since its inception nearly 70 years ago.
Farms began using AKOL In the 1990s, before the internet, to collect data and develop an application to allow the commission to collect data.
Everyone involved in milk production is now connected on the same network.
“We collect every piece of data on the database,” said Shani.
“For example, if you wanted to sell a cow, you put the ID number of the cow and the history for the cow. You can place your offer into the application and the application does the research and finds you the best buyer results.”
The same goes for every part of the operation from feed to veterinary pharmaceuticals. Farmers can go from the application to the company that sells the medicine to the veterinarian who will keep an eye on administering it.
“We have a wi-fi in every dairy and we collect info all the time about the condition of the cow,” said Shani. “If one cow is sick and we can’t milk her, the system will not allow her to be milked.”
The fact that the entire industry is connected makes it possible for farmers to easily share their experiences.
Shani believes the sharing component comes from the kibbutz background.
A kibbutz is a collective community often based on agriculture. There are more than 250 kibbutzim in Israel.
“Because in the kibbutz community everything was shared, it became natural for them to share the data,” said Shani.
“All the research was shared together, collecting it and analyzing it.”
The national monitoring system initially looks like one dairy farm with a database of every Israeli dairy cow — all 25,000 or so of them. Everyone will learn from the experience when someone finds something to improve an individual business.
The quota system works similar to the one in Canada, and the only way that a farmer can earn more is through better management practices.
The system also helps farmers find the best milking genetics because of the thousands of cows from which to choose.
Shani is constantly looking to find new markets for his company’s services, from Vietnam to the recent acquisition by China’s vast Bright Food conglomerate of Israel’s biggest milk and milk product company, Tnuva.
Entering the North American market will depend on finding a good partner.
“We’ll be happy to share our know-how. It was the lack of natural resources that led Israel into the IT field, a field we’ve excelled at, creating completion and value added and infusing life into many different economies.”
