October 28, 2009, Updated September 13, 2012

A new Israeli government scheme is helping Arab, Bedouin and Druze shepherds across Israel computerize their herds with a new herd management system.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_SKIgu4QEI

Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture is helping to bring goat and sheep farms run by Arab, Bedouin and Druze farmers across Israel into the 21st century with new technology developed by Israeli company Afimilk.

The computerized milking system developed by the dairy herd management company cuts down milking time and increases production by up 50 percent.

The animals wear an ankle strap that contains a microchip. The chip measures and records data such as milk yield, bacteria indication and the temperature of each animal and relays it to a central computer so that the farmer can make both day-to-day and strategic decisions about the herd.

At one dairy farm in Nazareth, the owner said that it used to take up to three hours to milk the 80 sheep and goats on the farm, but with the Afimilk system milking is done in 40 minutes.

Afilmilk’s herd management system is sold to farms all over the world from Western Europe, to the US, China, Japan, Vietnam, New Zealand and Australia.

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Jason Harris

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