"The best customer care by a long shot"

Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make the biggest difference. Like when Ida, the intelligent dairy assistant, alerted South Coast dairy farmer Andrew Wiffen that his cows’ rumination rates were lower than usual. Since this alert suggested acidosis, Andrew decided to introduce a new feed, and asked Ida to monitor the effects of this change.

A week later, Ida gave feedback that the cows were ruminating and eating more, providing Andrew with peace of mind that he’d made the right decision. “It was a small feed change, but I was confident that it would pay off based on Ida’s insights,” says Andrew. “The improvement in the cows’ health led to such an increase in productivity at the time that it pretty much covered my annual subscription rates to Ida!”

Andrew hired Ida in August 2021 for his 200-cow dairy farm near Hokitika, in the West Coast region, which he owns with his wife Kate. The two-time winner of the Tasman FMG Young Farmer of the Year competition had spent six months looking for an animal monitoring solution for his cows as he knew how critical data was to improve efficiency.

Andrew heard about another farmer’s experiences with Ida, and so he started researching more. “I was considering other sensor options,” says Andrew. “Aside from Ida’s newer and more advanced technology, what attracted me most was the great communications and service from the sales and customer success teams.

“The company is agile and the team is always quick to help me reach the best possible outcomes. The setup of Ida was also smooth and easy, and she works well with my farm software systems”.

As Ida learns the herd better, Andrew is trusting her more, and stressing less. “Ida gives me reassurance that I’m making the right decisions,” he says. “Using Ida’s data, I’ll be making changes before the next mating season and I’m looking forward to a great season with her help”.