Top breeders and cows honoured at 2025 Holstein Friesian NZ Awards in Invercargill
Holstein Friesian excellence was front and centre at the 2025 Holstein Friesian NZ (HFNZ) Awards, held recently in Invercargill.
The Austrian-based company says the key to success is preventive health management.
It points out that smaXtec customers are already benefiting from the revolutionary and unique AI-driven mastitis model TruAdvice.
The company's research, which draws on millions of data points, has now also introduced ketosis and milk fever detection. At the same time, the new digital smaXtec assistant provides automated management lists and reports that noticeably simplify life and work on dairy farms.
"The first customers are thrilled - another breakthrough in health prevention and optimised farm operations," it says.
It says smaXtec has really taken the guesswork out of a lot of day-to-day decisions and actions on many US farms.
"I am no longer stressed, thinking that I need to get to the barn to observe the cows for health issues," says farmer Sheldon Luehmann from Minnesota.
Ryan Schleis, Wisconsin also appreciates the efficient health management.
"SmaXtec has helped make day-to-day life on the farm easier. You can look at the system from a distance and see the basic alerts that it generates every day which is great, but it has so much more information that can help you make accurate day-to-day herd management decisions."
SmaXtec says it has further developed its TruAdvice technology with new AI features delivering precise alerts for common dairy cow diseases.
"What started with mastitis is now being expanded to include milk fever and ketosis for the first time," it says.
"TruAdvice uses millions of data points and veterinarian-verified disease data to generate accurate disease indication notifications. This enables dairy farmers to act early, before a situation becomes critical."
Farmer Amber Horn from Wisconsin is enthusiastic.
"We are excited to take advantage of smaXtec's new AI features to act even more proactively.
"SmaXtec was already providing real time health monitoring but with their TruAdvice technology I get an alert that identifies mastitis a the suspected problem for a specific cow."
With the digital smaXtec assistant, farmers now have an indispensable tool for better herd control, the company chief executive Stefan Scherer says.
"The assistant generates individual management lists and dynamic reports, enabling farers to implement optimised action plans when they intervene early, thanks to TruAdvice.
"This tool is especially helpful on large farms, improving the organisation of workflws and staff resources. The digital assistant provides pre-configured templates while also offering the flexibility to tailor reports to meet the specific needs of each individual farm.
"Our revolutionary approach, shifting from simple monitoring to preventive health management, catapults farmers worldwide to the forefront of modern dairy farming.
"These are challenging times for farmers, and I don't know of any othe system that supports out farmers so revolutionarily with AI-based technology for optimal herd health."
