Nedap’s Velos software is constantly updated and extended. Nedap Velos 2018.4, which is now released and available, empowers its users with new features and optimizations to improve daily farm activities and boost productivity.

Optimized Heat Detection user interface

Three new elements are new to the Heat Detection user interface: The addition of the start time of heat, an optimized reproduction cycle graph, and easy cow-to-cow navigation buttons in list views.

V-box warning light for urgent attentions

The red warning light on the right hand side of the V-box can be set to notify both urgent health attentions and heat detections. This way, a timely treatment is easier than ever before.

Integrate Velos with external lists

It is now possible to automatically integrate lists, such as fertility checklists, from external farm management programs into Velos. This ensures optimal system integration and eliminating double data entry, saving time and labour.

Setting multiple roles and permissions

Herd managers are now able to create multiple roles and permissions for both employees and external suppliers, such as veterinarians and feed advisors. Collaboration within Velos becomes easy, with the herd manager in charge of who accesses what information.

Easily sort and filter reports

All lists in the Reports module can now easily be sorted and filtered. Moreover, specific columns can also be toggled. This way, the farmer or herd manager can tailor all reports and its contents to his specific needs, to fit their specific workflow or farm protocol.

Simplified calibration of Cow Feeding Stations

To ensure accurate rations, calibration after each delivered feed batch is recommended. To make this recurring task as easy as possible, Velos now remembers the standard deviation of each individual station. This way, only one station needs to be calibrated each time.

Nedap Velos 2018.4 is now released and available. Discover all the novelties and their benefits in detail below.

What's new in Velos 2018.4

Inseminate more efficiently

Optimized Heat Detection user interface

Three new elements are new to the Heat Detection user interface: The addition of a column containing the start of heat, an optimized reproduction cycle graph, and easy cow-to-cow navigation buttons in list views.

1. Column ‘Start of heat’

A column containing the start of heat is added to the attention list. Multiple studies show that the optimal insemination window is 5-17 hours after the start of the heat. For some situations and semen types other time windows are used in daily practice. By showing the start moment, the farmer and his team can determine their own optimal window for insemination, according to their specific strategy. This can come in handy especially when using sexed semen.

2. Optimized reproduction cycle graph

When an animal with a heat attention is expanded, information about the increased activity is shown with historical cycle data. The graph on the left shows the complete lactation of the animal, while the graph on the right is a more detailed view of her most recent heat.

3. Cow-to-cow navigation

New navigation buttons are added to the lists Heat detection, Urgent attentions and Animals to check lists. In the top right, users can navigate to the detailed information of each individual cow with a single click. The buttons are fixed, even when scrolling through lists. This ensures a user-friendly workflow and saves time.

Spot heats and health problems earlier

V-box warning light for urgent attentions

Formerly, the red warning light Nedap V-boxes were equipped with were used to signal detected heats. With the Velos 2018.4 update, the light can also be used for signaling urgent health problems. This gives the farmer and his staff another way of telling whether there are animals that require pecial attention, without having to access Velos on the computer or smartphone. This way, the farmer and his staff are warned at an earlier stage and can give proper treatment in a timely way.

The warning light blinks slowly in case of a detected heat, and fast in case one or multiple cows need urgent attention. Urgent health attentions have priority over detected heats. By marking the health attention as Seen within Velos, the warning light is disabled. This feature can be enabled on existing CowControl systems after updating to Velos 2018.4, new systems have this feature enabled by default.

Load lists from Farm Management Programs into Velos

Integrate Velos with external lists

It is now possible to load lists generated by external Farm Management Programs into Velos. Examples of lists are cows who haven’t visited the milking robot yet and fertility checklists.

By integrating these lists into Velos, animals listed can be separated automatically. Additionally, the Nedap Cow Positioning System enables the farmer and staff to locate these cows with a single click on their smartphone, tablet or PC. This eliminates double data lookup/entry and increases automation on the farm, saving time and labour.

The right information served to the right person at the right time

Setting multiple roles and permissions

Velos 2018.4 Roles and Permission settings are expanded. The farmer or herd manager now has the ability to create multiple user roles with accompanied permissions. Users can get view and/or edit access to specific modules. This also opens up the possibility for external users with view-only rights. Think of veterinarians and feed advisors. All roles and permissions are managed by the main user. This way, the farmer or herd manager stays in charge of the data and all relevant information is only served to whom it may concern.

Optimized usability in the Reports module

Easily sort and filter reports

All lists in the Reports module can now easily be sorted and filtered. Moreover, specific columns can also be toggled. This way, the farmer or herd manager can tailor all reports and its contents to his specific needs, to fit their specific workflow or farm protocol. This way, Velos works seamlessly within the existing procedures and ensures accurate and efficient execution.

Calibrate one station instead of all

Simplified calibration of Cow Feeding Stations

To ensure accurate rations, regular calibration is recommended. Preferably at each delivered feed batch, due to differences in consistency in each batch. To make this as easy and efficient as possible, Nedap introduces a new way of calibrating in Velos 2018.4. From now on, all feeding stations only need to be calibrated at commissioning and during an annual check. After each delivered feed batch, only one of the stations needs calibrating and Velos will automatically calibrate each individual station based on the standard deviation. This is a major time-saver and enables the farmer to regularly calibrate for the right dosage, resulting in animals in the best possible condition.

Cow in Nedap Electronic Concentrate Feeding station

Velos 2018.4

Compatibility

Velos 2018.4 is fully compatible with the new Nedap V-packs, including the VP3008 and VP1007.

VPU-connections and managementsoftware interface 2018.4

Download an overview of VPU-connections and managementsoftware interface for this software release.

Download overview

Download an overview of the latest improvements released in the 2018.4 version

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