Changes in body weight reveal how cows adapt to their energy demands. CowFIT continuously tracks weight development across lactation and the dry period, identifying when cows move away from expected patterns. The goal is to avoid excessive weight loss in early lactation, excessive weight gain in late lactation, and weight changes during the dry period. In one CowFIT herd, where 52% of cows maintained stable dry-period weight, these cows produced 874 kg ECM more (12,853 kg ECM on average) in the following lactation than cows that lost 50 kg, and 1,074 kg ECM more than cows that gained 50 kg. 

The right information at the right time helps you act early. Instead of relying on occasional body condition scoring, CowFIT provides daily objective weight measurements over the entire lifetime of each cow. This helps you identify critical weight changes early and adjust feeding and management before production, fertility, and health are affected.

Knowing when cows have returned to positive energy balance helps improve insemination timing. Farmers using weight data to support breeding decisions have reduced number of inseminations per pregnancy from 2.2 to 1.8. One of the CowFIT customers reported a 90% reduction in cow mortality after using weight data to improve dry-period management, with losses falling from 10 cows before the change to just 1 afterwards. Timely feeding adjustments help improve milk yield, support herd health, and reduce mortality and involuntary culling. Together, these improvements contribute to greater productivity and profitability. 

Visual assessments can vary from person to person and are only performed periodically, making it harder to detect important changes. CowFIT replaces subjective body condition scoring with consistent daily weight data for every cow. The system has been thoroughly validated, with over 90% correlation to weights measured on scales. This objective data gives you confidence in your decisions and makes it easier to monitor trends across individual cows, groups of cows, and the whole herd. 

Optimizing weight management brings measurable results – delivering approximately €100 per cow per year in added value. This comes from improved fertility, healthier cows, higher milk production, and longer productive lives. The economic benefit is estimated under Nordic conditions using SimHerd, a scientifically validated simulation model that accounts for interactions between milk production, health, reproduction, and climate impact. The model simulates each cow over a 10-year period, with the analysis repeated 100 times to ensure reliable results.