ANIMAL WELFARE AS AN ECONOMIC EARLY-WARNING SYSTEM: SMAXTEC SETS NEW STANDARDS IN DAIRY COW HEALTH MANAGEMENT
The global dairy industry loses an estimated USD 65 billion annually to diseases such as mastitis and ketosis [1] . Health issues cost milk yield, fertility, and productive lifetime. To give farms greater room to act, smaXtec has further developed its health management system. The Agtech pioneer is expanding its existing behaviour analysis to include standing and lying times: the new feature reveals how the behaviour of herds and groups changes over the course of the day, showing lying and standing times as well as rumination while lying and while standing. This gives farmers an additional basis for detecting changes early and making more targeted housing and management decisions. In 2027, continuous respiration rate measurement directly from the reticulum is also expected, based on current plans, to become commercially available for the first time – as a new parameter for the early assessment of heat stress and other health changes. Together with smaXtec’s proven parameters, this creates a more comprehensive picture of herd health. In addition, smaXtec is announcing its first benchmarking feature: with the enhanced smaXtec Health Index, farmers can now assess their herd health against anonymised comparative data from similar farms. Special recognition: for its commitment to animal welfare, smaXtec, together with Lock GmbH, can also look forward to receiving the Innovation Award EuroTier and the Animal Welfare Award this year. Standing and lying times: new feature in behaviour monitoring
With a new feature, smaXtec makes visible how much time cows spend standing, lying, and moving – at group level, over longer periods, and in historical comparison. For the first time, it is also possible to assess whether a cow ruminates while lying or while standing. This allows farmers to detect changes in their herd’s daily routines earlier and gain an additional basis for decisions on barn workflows, lying stalls, and group management. Customers will receive the new feature this year via a software update to the bolus already inside the cow; no hardware exchange is required.
The new data provides a concrete basis for action on the farm: cows need sufficient lying time to ruminate optimally, recover, achieve their full milk yield potential, and relieve strain on hooves and the musculoskeletal system.
A practical target value is 12 to 14 hours per day [2] . If groups of animals fall below this or their usual patterns change, this can be an early indicator of heat stress, overstocking, unsuitable lying stalls, or disruptions in barn routines.
The economic leverage is considerable: studies show that each additional hour of rest can be associated with up to 1.5 kg more milk per cow per day [3] . The new feature thus combines animal welfare and profitability in a decision-making basis that can be used directly in day-to-day farm operations.
Respiration rate: a globally unique new parameter
As its next development step, smaXtec is working on continuously capturing cows’ respiration rate directly from the reticulum.
To do this, smaXtec uses the motion data from the 3-axis accelerometer integrated in the bolus. The new feature is expected to be available in 2027 via a software update to the bolus already inside the cow; no hardware exchange is required. Based on current plans, smaXtec will thus be the first company to offer this parameter commercially for dairy farming.
A key use case is the Heat Stress Manager: respiration rate helps detect early when heat stress begins, how severely individual cows are affected, and when they recover. The effect is considerable, as severe heat stress can cause milk yield to drop by up to 25% [4] . In anonymised field data analysed by smaXtec, the difference between the most and least affected animals already amounted to 1.4 kg of milk per cow per day.
This allows farmers to use cooling or additional water supply more specifically, objectively verify its effect, and save on energy costs at the same time. In the long term, respiration rate measurement opens up further potential, for example for the early detection of respiratory diseases. smaXtec is already working on this as well.
Health in direct farm comparison
The enhanced Health Index positions the development of herd health in direct comparison with similar farms and combines key health parameters into a compact overall score. A new reference band shows the middle 50% of a matching comparison group, for example farms of similar size or with comparable regional conditions.
The comparison is based exclusively on anonymised and aggregated data; conclusions about individual farms or their results are not possible. This allows farmers to see at a glance how their herd is developing, where they stand in comparison, and what potential for improvement exists.
Lock SmartSolutions and smaXtec: award-winning innovation for greater animal welfare
With SmartCalving, Lock SmartSolutions and smaXtec present a joint innovation: When the smaXtec bolus detects an approaching calving, on average 15 hours [5] in advance, the farm-management technology (SBE-App) from Lock SmartSolutions automatically puts the barn into a protected, draft-free state and returns independently to automatic operation once the calving is confirmed.
This eliminates the need for the nightly walk to the barn to manually close gates, curtains and deactivating fans, giving farmers valuable rest time, while cow and calf are protected exactly when hypothermia and drafts are most dangerous. The partners are being honoured for this with the Innovation Award EuroTier and the Animal Welfare Award
Charlie Sheppy, CEO smaXtec says: “As one of the technologically leading AgTech companies, we are consistently looking at ways to bring technological innovation, animal welfare and performance together. That’s why we continuously develop our system further, always with farmers’ needs and the concrete benefits for their operations in mind.
“Especially in light of the extreme weather events like last summer’s heatwave and ongoing price volatility, farmers need reliable decision-making tools. Intelligent, hardware-based technologies that combine real data directly from inside the animal with artificial intelligence that transfers it into clear health management recommendations offer great potential here. Our goal is to support farmers with relevant insights early on and give them more room to act.”
smaXtec press hour: Wednesday 11 November, 2026 | 9:00 – 9:45 a.m.
Hall 11, Stand B22
smaXtec is delighted to present all the innovations at our stand at EuroTier and to exchange views with you on your questions and observations from the industry.
Your contacts on site:
Charlie Sheppy, CEO smaXtec Stefan Rosenkranz, CPO/CINO and Founder smaXtec Partner: Tobias Jäggle, Head of Sales SmartSolutions Lock GmbH Please register at: [email protected] by 2 November 2026.
Source: industry press release.