Software
Minimum Computer Requirements
| Type | RAM (GB) | Processor | Free Space on Hard Drive (GB) | Serial Port | CD-ROM | Internet Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DC 305 | 4 | Intel i3 or equivalent | 5 | No | No | Yes |
| Dairy Comp Analyzer (DCCON) | 4 | Intel i3 or equivalent | 5 | No | No | Yes |
| PCDART | 4 | Intel i3 or equivalent | 5 | No | Highly recommended | Yes |
| ParlorComp | 2 | Intel i3 or equivalent | 2 | Yes | No | Yes |
| FeedWatch | 8 | Intel i5 or equivalent | 20 | Yes | No | Highly recommended |
All software requires the current supported version of Windows.
Activity Monitoring
Allflex Livestock Intelligence monitoring systems collect and analyze critical data points. Allflex systems deliver actionable data on every individual cow and groups - delivering the heat, health, nutrition and well-being insights farmers need, when they need them. Data is collected real-time from either a collar or ear mounted sensor from anywhere on the farm. The data provided by the cow monitoring and milking automation technologies provides farmers with scalable management systems that enables intelligent actionable information, for efficient and profitable herd management. This unique set of tools links with third party programs to enable an integrated solution.
Crop Management
Manure Application Recording
- Trimble and John Deere Easily and accurately keep track of nutrient applications in Fields and Crops by automatically importing manure applications by Fields and Crops directly from your Connected Farm or My John Deere account.
- Other Screens Fields and Crops will take data from your Manure application screen through a simple file transfer method.
Manure application mapping Maps of location and volume of application are available in Fields and Crops. Click here to request more information about manure application mapping. Manure Application Interface Form
Planting and Harvesting Interface
Planting
- 20/20 Precision Planter Import planting date, variety, and average seeding rate back into Fields and Crops from your 20/20 screen.
- Seed Star Allows for moving the planting date, variety and average population from Seed Star into Fields and Crops Manager.
Harvesting
- Apex Transfers total yield for each field into Fields and Crops Manager. If dry matter or moisture values are available, this information will also get transferred.
- Ag Leader Transfers total yield for each field into Fields and Crops Manager. If dry matter or moisture is available, this information will also get transferred.
Weather Station Interface
The Vantage Pro Weather Station interface helps you manage all of your weather data. In addition to measured weather data specific to your area, it will automatically log the forecast each day, including rainfall, wind speed and wind direction.
Feed Management
FeedWatch
What is FeedWatch?
FeedWatch is a feed management software designed to help you accurately and easily manage your feeding systems. FeedWatch monitors feed usage, sales, purchasing, intake, and costs, and can even interface with Dairy Comp 305 herd management software for detailed information on pens and individual animals.
FeedWatch can be used with mixer trucks and wagons, or with stationary mixers and delivery trucks. It also uses wireless communication between the trucks, tractors, and the office.
Increase Profitability
Prices of feed ingredients are continually increasing. With the cost of feed being near double what it was just a decade ago, capturing the feed value of every pound of dry matter purchased is an essential part of dairy profitability. FeedWatch allows you to track ingredients and manage inventories. Inventory projections can then be used to manage ingredient deliveries, saving time and money.
A unique feature of the FeedWatch system is that cleanout/refusal amounts can be automatically deducted from a pen’s previous day dry matter total. This feed is then utilized as an ingredient or as the flexible filler amount in a load. Tracking feed refusal/weighback and using it to create a ration helps to better utilize inputs and maximize feed usage.
A touchscreen scale indicator is mounted on a feed truck or wagon and uses proven radio frequency (RF) technology for live communication between the mixer and office. User friendly software monitors feed use, sales, purchasing, animal intakes and cost. The package combines feed management, inventories, and feed labor for better control of your overall feeding system. Other features include the ability to customize and graph reports, provide user security levels and forecast and track feed inventories.
Software for Optimum Feeding Information
- Develop and monitor multiple rations
- Forecast and track inventories
- English/Spanish language capability
- Customized reports
Advanced Technology
- Military-grade, wireless radio communication
- Super-bright LED exterior display
- Simple-to-use, one-button scale indicator allows all feed adjustments at the scale
FeedWatch Hardware
The FeedWatch touchscreen indicator provides a clear, easy to use screen to allow the feeding staff the ultimate in control and usability while preparing and delivering feed. The FeedWatch system gives feeders and managers the ability to handle all types of feeding scenarios, from the most basic to the most complicated.
The “high bright”, 12 character LED Feed Watch display is unique within the industry. The size and brightness make ingredients easy to see from great distances, even in direct sunlight. This allows FeedWatch to give English or Spanish instructions to the feeder using names of ingredients and even the location.
The radio frequency (RF) modems provide a reliable wireless connection between the mixer(s) and the office computer. The Feed Watch software runs in the background and automatically coordinates this data transfer in real time.
Reports
There are many reports to choose from. They can be filtered or altered to meet your specific needs. Customized reports can also be created to meet the management style of your operation and to help you fine-tune your feed management system. Reports and graphs can be printed or e-mailed automatically on any schedule you wish (hours, days, weeks, months).
Popular Reports Include:
- Projected usage report: project future needs and cost
- Mix error report: customized error tracking
- Mix or load reports
- Employee incentive reports
- Dry matter intake report: adjusted for pen counts, feed dropped, and weigh-backs
- Feed efficiency
- IOFC (Income Over Feed Costs)
Developed and Supported by Industry Leaders
Valley Ag. Software (VAS): developers of Dairy Comp 305
Dairy One: superior customer service and support
Dairies located in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions of the United States, contact the Dairy One, Integrated Farming Solutions group at 607-375-9963 or e-mail: support@dairyone.com. Dairies located outside these areas, please contact Valley Ag. Software.
Mixer Preventative Maintenance
Your feed management software is only as good as the maintenance of your feed management system. Preventative maintenance can help you find the problems before they happen and reduce your down time.
- Schedule maintenance for a time that is convenient for your farm
- Minimize need for multiple days of service with inventory of commonly replaced parts brought to each visit
- Receive lower cost parts and service and avoid emergency charges
The program includes:
- A meter test of all load cells
- Bridge resistance, bridge balance, and load percentage test
- Thorough inspection of all cables and scale heads
- Known load calibration
- Visual inspection of the mixer
- Includes PTO guards, safety shields, draw bar, frame, etc.
The Dairy One Feed Management PM program is available for a variety of feed management softwares and systems and is not just limited to Feed Watch customers. Feed Management PM is also available for a variety of scales:
- Digi Star
- Trioliet
- Kuhn
- Knight
- Weigh Tronix
NIR4 Farm
NIR4 Farm is a small, portable NIR spectrometer with industry leading calibrations for real-time forage intelligence. This allows for more informed decisions to be made regarding feed composition and on the spot dry matter corrections. NIR4 Farm uses calibrations from the Dairy One Forage Laboratory and is supported by Integrated Farming Solutions.
Herd Management
Software Comparison
| Type | No. of cows/record limitation | Milk or heat interface compatible? | Must use DHIA? | Handheld PC/Android compatible? | Adapts to changing management needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dairy Comp 305 | Unlimited | Yes | No | Pocket Cowcard (PCC) | Excellent |
| Dairy Comp Analyzer (DCCON) | Consultant- unlimited | No | No | No | Excellent |
| PCDART | Unlimited | Yes | Yes | Pocket Dairy | Fair to Good |
Dairy Comp 305
Dairy Comp 305 is used for tracking and monitoring data on well over one million cows across the United States and is most popular on larger dairies. There is no other software available with Dairy Comp 305’s advanced capabilities, fast and flexible data entry, and dedicated support structure. The ability to be customized and adapt to a variety of large herd management needs is what makes Dairy Comp 305 the most popular on-farm software available in the U.S. today. Dairy Comp 305 can be operated along with any DHIA testing program, integrated with on-farm milk meters, or used as stand-alone herd management software.
Advanced tracking and analysis capabilities:
- Production, reproduction, treatments, synchronization programs
- Customized work lists and summaries
- Quick, easy data entry
- Integrated with all major cow identification and milk metering systems.
Dairy Comp 305 Companion Products
Companion products are available for no additional license fee with beginning with 2020 software updates.
DCShadow – a “read only” version of Dairy Comp to allow quick lookups from any other computer.
DCClient – networked Dairy Comp for data entry at multiple sites around the farm.
Pocket Cowcard – a handheld or Android version of Dairy Comp to access cow data and lists without using a PC
Getting Started
The first step is to tell us a little about your dairy business. We want to know who you are, what kind of hardware you are using and what herd management work lists and management parameters are important to you.
Please complete the questionnaire below complete and return to us with the setup fee. Once we receive your information, we will contact you to explain the next steps.
View/print Dairy Comp 305 Questionnaire
Pocket Cowcard
Pocket Cowcard is the software developed by Valley Agricultural Software (VAS) to work with Dairy Comp 305 and Dairy Analyzer.
Dairy Comp 305 can send cowcard data and lists to your pocket PC so you can view cow information anywhere, anytime. Take your pocket PC and pocket cowcard software to the next level by recording health events and vet check results to be synchronized back to Dairy Comp 305.
For those who are interested in using RFID tags for their cattle, the pocket cowcard works with a scanner and RFID technology to get cow id, and vet check results into a handheld device for later synchronization back to Dairy Comp.
The Pocket Cowcard program lets you synchronize cow information in the form of cowcards or lists over to a handheld device. Data can then be entered into pocket cowcard and synched back to Dairy Comp.
PCC Requirements
- Dairy Comp 305 with current update subscription
- Android or Windows Mobile device
- High Speed Internet Access (DSL, Cable, Satellite)
- Wireless router
- Windows 8 or newer operating system on the Dairy Comp PC
PCC Subscription Options
- Read Only
Synchronize data from Dairy Comp to your pocket PC. Look at cowcard information and lists. - Read/Write
Synchronize data from Dairy Comp to your pocket PC. Look at cowcard information and lists, plus enter health events and herd check results. - Scanner RFID capability
Includes read/write capability plus the ability to scan electronic identification tags using a wand RFID scanner.
* Currently “Read Only” and Read/Write licenses are available with the Android operating system only.
Dairy Comp Analyzer (DCCON)
With DCCON Analyzer, the consultant can view the entire “cowfile” of any herd using Dairy One records services. The cowfile contains adults, heifers, current lactation and previous lactation information on production, components, reproduction and health information. Cowfiles can be downloaded from the LOOP or provided directly from the dairy using on-farm Dairy Comp 305.
DCCON Analyzer
- Provides powerful analysis capabilities
- Is designed specifically for Consultants who work with multiple herds
- Is fully compatible with Dairy Comp 305 and Dairy One Records Services
- Allows complete access to Dairy One DHIA herd information
Dairy producers using Dairy Comp 305 provide a back up of the herd data. The consultant just “absorbs” the data into the DCCON Analyzer and they have all the information for that herd.
Menus or Commands
With both pull down menus and command line capability, DCCON Analyzer offers the flexibility to provide information from the most basic lists to the most advanced analysis functions.
Installation
- On-site installation is available for all users. Please call for a quote.
- Mail out installation – shipping charge only.
PCDART
PCDART is a dairy herd management software developed through DRMS Raleigh. It integrates quite well with the DRMS Records Processing system and is most suitable for medium sized dairies with a strong orientation toward registered cattle.
Like other herd management software programs, PCDART allows the user to enter data and retrieve work lists. There is also some flexibility in creating individual work lists as well as a number of reports to allow an overall assessment of the herd.
Other versions of PCDART are available for consultants and for those dairies who would prefer a stand alone program. Details of the program can be found at www.drms.org. If you would like a demo copy of the program, contact us at support@dairyone.com.
The pocket PC program for PCDART is called Pocket Dairy and allows information to be synchronized from PCDART to the pocket PC and back again. More information on this product can also be found at www.drms.org.
Other PCDART features include:
- A selection of over 600 database items for each cow
- Current lactation information on every cow
- Interface to most major milk and activity systems
- Comprehensive inventories, projections, and summaries
- Experienced support staff
Getting Started
The first step in beginning PCDART is to tell us a little about your dairy business. We want to know who you are, what kind of hardware you are using, and what herd management work lists and management parameters are important to you. Please complete the PCDART questionnaire and return it to us.
View/print PCDART Questionnaire
Parlor Management
ParlorComp runs on your PC along with Dairy Comp 305. A flow meter is installed in the milk line between the receiver and pre-cooler. A temperature probe is connected to the out-flow of the pre-cooler. Parlor Watch reads the meter and the temperature probe as well as Dairy Comp 305 to create a reliable Milking Parlor Monitoring System. 
Watch the dairy herd’s production, by pen, every milking
- Pounds of milk per cow and per pen for each milking
- Variation from the rolling average for each pen of animals, each milking
Watch the milking performance, by pen, every milking
- Start and stop time
- Cows per hour
- Pounds of milk per hour
- Time interval (gap) between the end of one pen and the beginning of the next
Watch the milking system, every milking, every wash
- Maximum temperature on pre-cooler outflow is recorded for every pen, every milking
- Minimum and Maximum temperatures are recorded for every wash cycle, every wash
- Duration of the wash and volume of water circulated is recorded for every wash cycle
- Faulty receiver flapper valves are identified when they begin to fail
Easy to Use Design Milkers press a single button between each pen milked. The pen counts are automatically updated from Dairy Comp 305 and a summary report is printed at the end of each milking.