The health of dairy cattle has long been managed by traditional health management methods of farmers and dairy owners. Even though these conventional methods have been practised since the inception of dairy farming, they do not have the provision of detecting and preventing potentially lethal diseases in dairy farms. These diseases not just lead to mortality and reduced productivity in the dairy herd but also represent a risk for human health.
To address this situation, smaXtec came into existence. Spearheaded by Dr Stefan Rosenkranz, Founder, and CEO, and Dr Stefan Scherer, CEO, the company introduced a revolutionary solution to the traditional sector of dairy farming.
In the following interview, leaders of smaXtec talk in-depth about how their high-tech solution is changing the way traditional cattle farming used to operate.
Please brief our audience about smaXtec, its USPs, and how it is currently positioned as a leading player in the Animal health space.
smaXtec provides professional dairy farmers with a premium health system that avoids diseases in dairy herds. Results are significantly higher milk yields for the farmers and increased animal welfare in the competitive environment of industrial dairy farming. Since its foundation in 2009, smaXtec has continued to develop its products and technologies. Today, smaXtec is monitoring the health data of 100,000 dairy cows and counting.
The system meets modern requirements by offering an easy and user-friendly plug & play solution (smaXtec Base Station). Dairy farmers receive valuable information, dashboard lists, and alarms onto their mobile phone (smaXtec App) and computer (smaXtec Messenger software).
Shed some light on your offerings and how are these making an impact on the industry and your customers?
The smaXtec system offers the most precise and robust direct measurement of health parameters core body temperature (+/- 0,03°), activity, and rumination, which is measured by a bolus inside the reticulum of the cow. This allows for earlier detection of diseases, reduced antibiotic use, and prevention of milk revenue loss.
Being an experienced leader, share your opinion on the impact of the adoption of modern technologies on the animal health and nutrition space and what more could be expected in the future?
Since the company’s foundation, innovation has been at the very centre of our endeavours. While other agricultural sectors have already seen a considerable increase in the adoption of modern technologies, industrial dairy farming requires a careful balance between animal welfare and farmers’ production success. smaXtec’s proven technology and motivated team is set to create added value for farmers and bring long-term positive change to the dairy industry.
Considering the current pandemic, what initial challenges did you face, and how did you drive your company to sustain operations while ensuring the safety of your employees at the same time?
As a global and technology-driven company, working remotely and keeping in contact with colleagues and customers over long distances via telephone or internet has been an important part of smaXtec’s operations ever since its foundation. With its focus on direct sales and continuous technological development, smaXtec was able to introduce its revolutionary TruRumiTM TECHNOLOGY in 2020 and consistently maintain its growth strategy.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the animal health and nutrition market?
Despite its technologically advanced approach to monitoring animal health and ever-growing software expertise, smaXtec always remains in close contact with farmers, veterinarians, scientists, educational institutions, and agricultural stakeholders to identify wants and needs. Consequently, entrepreneurs should always strive to improve their knowledge about markets and relevant fields beyond their individual business strategies.
How do you envision scaling smaXtec’s operations and offerings in 2021?
smaXtec’s recent introduction of its smaXtec TruD™ cloud solution, which utilizes artificial intelligence and smaXtec TruRumiTM TECHNOLOGY, has created the foundation on which the company will reach and soon exceed its ambitious goal of 1 million cows under monitoring. Additionally, smaXtec focuses on integrating its software solution in as many herd management systems as possible for ease of use and time savings in its customers’ day-to-day operations.
Exhibiting Brilliance
- “Heat detection is a very big part of why we chose smaXtec—especially, the accuracy of it. Overall, we are delighted with smaXtec. It really fits in with what we are trying to do with performance, animal welfare, and antibiotic reduction and looking forward to seeing where we can take this in the future.” – Joe Gardiner (Ireland), smaXtec customer with 300 cows.
- “Automation makes the heat detection process incredibly accurate and as easy as possible. Overall, smaXtec has easily paid for itself several times over.” – Rodney and Steph Goode (Australia), smaXtec customers with 380 cows.
- “smaXtec is great. I am very satisfied with it. The measurement of rumination activity completes the system and makes it an all-in-one package. What is very important to me is good service. And smaXtec definitely offers that. I am in very close contact with the customer support team, which always helps me with my questions” – Daniela Schönberger (Germany), a smaXtec customer with 270 cows.
- In 2020, smaXtec was awarded the Austrian Agrarfuchs prize for its innovative TruRumiTM TECHNOLOGY by an independent panel of experts: “Precise data on rumination activity is crucial for the assessment of nutrition quality and animal health in dairy cows. This is exactly what the TruRumiTM TECHNOLOGY by smaXtec can offer to farmers.”, the jury said in their statement.
About the Leaders
smaXtec is being led by CEO Stefan Scherer and CEO Stefan Rosenkranz, who also invented the technology. The company consists of a growing team of 70 people, including a premium customer service team, an outbound sales force, in-house marketing power, and top engineering teams.
