One Thousand Users!
Dairy Comp software reaches major milestone in Canada
When Ad and Anja Bertens of Bertens Holsteins Ltd. in Olds, Alberta (see sidebar), installed Dairy Comp 305 in January 2008, they didn't realize they were the 1,000th user. “We knew that Dairy Comp was quite popular with other herds as well as with our advisors, but didn't quite realize how many users there are out there” states Ad.
CanWest DHI knew that the 1,000th Canadian Dairy Comp user was fast approaching, but didn't quite realize they had achieved the milestone. That number is made of approximately 240 Advisors and 760 farms. According to Jeromy Ten Hag, Dairy Software Manager for DHI, “The demand for Dairy Comp and the number of new installs has been incredible lately. We figured it might slow down after a couple of really good years in 2005 and 2006, but quite the opposite, we're busier than ever with inquiries and new customers”, adding that “we were surprised that the 1,000th milestone came this soon”.
The Bertens also intend on using the registration module in Dairy Comp to register their calves electronically with Holstein Canada, as well as take advantage of the CQM Module to keep the records necessary for the Canadian Quality Milk program. Anja states, “We have to keep a lot of records. If we can do it electronically with Dairy Comp, it makes it a lot easier.”
Neil Petreny, General Manager for DHI is proud of the accomplishment. “Considering the relatively small dairy industry in Canada and the CanWest region, 1,000 users is a very significant milestone”. Petreny adds, “25% of DHI cows, which is about 100,000 cows, are managed day to day by on-farm Dairy Comp, and that number is growing rapidly. Furthermore, Dairy Comp has been particularly popular with larger herds, which is promising for future growth as herd size continue to increase”. Petreny attributes the success of Dairy Comp to the strong product features, which are backed by unparalleled support. He adds, “This is an excellent example of taking advantage of a great product and the company behind it (Valley Agricultural Software of Tulare, CA) and making it better by adapting it to the Canadian situation. We now have the critical mass in terms of number of users to generate enough revenues to reinvest in the product. It would be very expensive for us to develop our own product, and very difficult and costly to do the development necessary to keep up with customer needs and the rapidly changing industry”. Petreny concludes, “We're very pleased with how Dairy Comp has contributed to the DHI business as well as to our customers' business”.
According to Ten Hag, one of the big reasons for Dairy Comp's success has to do with the sales and service approach that DHI has decided to take with the software. He explains, “We offer a trial period and we go to the farm in person to do the installation and initial training. Instead of mailing out an install kit, or installing via a web download, we feel the face-to-face interaction to get the product installed, and the users trained, works well. We want to make sure the product will work for the dairyman and we're committed to that. For sure, the on-site installation and initial training session has been a key feature – we wouldn't do it any other way”.
For herds on DHI, at no additional cost, the software comes loaded with all the information already present in the DHI database. It's a great time saver and customers can hit the ground running right from day one without having to spend hours and hours entering herd information. Another feature for DHI herds is that herd data gets 'backed up' offsite to DHI automatically after each test date. It has come in handy on a few occasions where customers had a computer crash or had the computer stolen right out of the barn office, without a backup available at the farm. Also of note, herds don't have to be on DHI to be a Dairy Comp user. Currently about 75 Dairy Comp herds are not on DHI. “You don't have to be on DHI to take advantage of the herd management benefits that Dairy Comp provides” states Ten Hag.
The ability to work with a single product for parlour management as well as easy data sharing with advisors and DHI has been a tremendous benefit to customers. In addition, strong Product Development has kept the software on the leading edge of customer needs. Examples of such development include the option to transfer Dairy Comp information to and from a handheld device, RFID reading capabilities as well as Canadian specific features such as electronic registration of animals (ERA) to breed associations and a module to organize and track all information requirements for the Canadian Quality Milk (CQM) program.
However the one item that most customers really appreciate is the support that is provided with the product. For most dairy producers, computers and software is not their expertise or strength. DHI provides some of the tech support that is needed to make it all work and take away some of the headaches that sometimes come with technology. The Dairy Comp support staff understand that software is just a tool and means to an end, which is improved management and profitability or time savings. Ad and Anja Bertens both agree, “Support so far has been tremendous. Dairy Comp is very user friendly, but also lots of time was put up front by the support staff to get Dairy Comp customized to our specific farm needs. We're not computer experts and we're usually short of time, so it's been nice to have someone dependable to make it all work; someone that understands computers, but also herd management”.
When Ten Hag looks at the future, he believes it will not take that long to see the next 1,000 users. He comments that “Even with overall declining herd numbers, as average herd size continue to grow, more and more farms will turn to computerized records for improved management and time savings; to a large extent, we're competing against pen and paper. Software will not be for every farm, but I think that over time the majority will see the benefits of using computerized records, and we'll be there to meet that need.”
For the Bertens, being the 1,000th Canadian user has been a good experience. Ad concludes, “For us converting to Dairy Comp from our previous software was a matter of getting the right Herd Management Software to meet our needs. It's nice to know there are a large number of users out there, which probably means the product will be around for a long time and will continually be kept up to date for the future. And that's good for our farm and our industry.”
Article from the March 2008 Milk Producer
