MilkHub In-Shed Management

Easy to use and reliable

The primary role of staff in the milking shed is to milk the cows! Any management system should not interfere or distract from this primary role. MilkHub achieves this in two ways:

Firstly through using clear and simple displays to provide cow alerts only when required for the few cows per milking that need attention. This prevents staff "tuning out" because of continuous over supply of information throughout the milking.

Secondly through the use of "built for purpose" user input controls. The simplest of these is a pull cord switch. This is based on the familiar pull cord already used to start and stop the platform. Staff can signal actions to the MilkHub system in the easiest way possible using this cord. The other option is the MilkHub keypad. This has dedicated keys for all in-shed operations that take account of the current shed activity and require a minimum of key presses. The keypad is a small sealed unit that can be hung at the most convenient position for the milking staff.

What does the display tell me?

The information on the display is kept to a minimum by taking into account the plant operation. During milking the display shows alerts for any cow that needs attention such as:

• Cows likely to have mastitis
  
• Cows with low yield
  
• Cows selected by the web-based management system for attention

After milking the display shows a bulletin summary including:

• Number and type of alerts
• Poor milking and cleaning alerts

The display also interacts with the pull cord and keypad to provide feedback and prompts to the user.

What about the pull cord and keypad?

As with the display, the aim of the pull cord and keypad is to "keep it simple" by taking into account the plant operation. During milking the pull cord and keypad are used to identify and provide details of cows for drafting and treatment. This is the in-shed operation that compliments more comprehensive selection and analysis available through the web-based management system.

Other features available at anytime include turning on automatic mastitis and low yield alerts, and entering cow details including issues, treatment locations and treatment medicines.