Capitals = Areas of Future Potential Study
The proof
You’ll see it on your own cows before you measure it.
On trial, every test cow wears a bright green sleeve, on purpose. Set her against the penmate you picked to match her: up at the prompt time, at the feed barrier, chewing her cud. Milk shows last. This page goes in that order, from what you can watch to what the farms’ records later showed.
Recorded on working US dairies, 2014–2017. Captions cover the narration and the founder.
Watch it first
2 cows, 2 sleeves, 15 minutes apart.
Before anyone tells you what they saw, the film shows it: 2 cows wearing devices in pink and green sleeves, with prompting scheduled 15 minutes apart. Each cow is the other’s baseline. Watch which cow goes to the feed, and when. Sleeve colours told the cows apart during development; on a UK trial, every test cow wears bright green.
What you can watch
Give her a week. A fortnight is the outer edge.
Every observation is the green-sleeve cow against the penmate picked to match her, in the same pen, at the same moment. Beside each one: the vet’s or herd manager’s own account from the farms that used it, and the research where it exists.
At the prompt time
Up, and on her feet
She gets up and moves, while her matched penmate stays lying down.
she gets up and moves around
Dr Kerry McGehee, Veterinarian · the step 3 film, 3:17
Straight after
To the feed barrier first
She heads for the feed barrier, and for water.
The first thing a cow usually does is go to the feed trough and eat an extra bite of feed.
Dr Kerry McGehee, Veterinarian · the step 3 film, 3:17 · on feed and water: R.T. Barcik, Founder · the step 3 film, 6:48
At the barrier
Staying longer
More time at the barrier than her penmate, visit after visit: an extra meal between milkings.
get her up and get her to go to the feed trough and eat an extra meal
Dr Kerry McGehee, Veterinarian · the step 3 film, 4:34 · Feeding time changed most consistently ahead of disorders: González et al. 2008 · UK
Between milkings
Chewing her cud
Lying down chewing her cud while her penmate stands idle.
a lot more cud chewing
Jeremy Setters, Herd Manager · the film above, 1:55 · Rumination in the 21 days after calving was lowest in the cows whose Milk fell furthest below prediction: Kemel et al. 2025 · Netherlands and Belgium
In the pen
From the back to the front
A fresh cow hanging back at the rear of the pen moving to the middle, then up to the front.
You’ll notice them start moving towards the middle of the pen, then they’d be up in the front
Jeremy Setters, Herd Manager · the film above, 1:17 · his observation, not measured
On the walk to the parlour
Among the first in
Her place in the line at milking, week on week.
the first ones to come in
Jeremy Setters, Herd Manager · the film above, 1:17 · his observation, not measured
On when to look: Usually within the first week you’ll see the results in them.
Jeremy Setters, Herd Manager · the film above, 2:34
How the comparison was made
Every cow carrying a device was set against a cow chosen to match her, matched as closely as possible, so that the device was the main difference.
6
US commercial dairies, conventional and organic
10+
years of commercial use
100s
of fresh cows carrying a device, set against matched controls
Milk as a lagging indicator
Milk, like Body Condition and Fertility, is a late sign of recovery.
What you are looking for first is Behaviour. Her intake rises with the time she spends at the feed barrier, and everything after that follows from what she eats, in this order.
When
What shows
What records it on your farm
First · days
Behaviour: more visits to the feed barrier, more time there, more cud chewing
González et al. 2008 · UK · Kemel et al. 2025 · Netherlands and Belgium
Pedometers (getting up, steps, lying) and collars (cud chewing, eating time), minute by minute around the prompt times you decide
Then · weeks
Body Condition held, rather than borrowed against
Roche et al. 2009 · New Zealand, France and Ireland · Bédère et al. 2018 · France
Body Condition scoring or BCS cameras
Then · the lactation
An earlier, higher Peak (its height and its timing), then Fertility (back in calf) and Herd Life
McArt et al. 2012 · USA · Sheldon et al. 2009 · UK
Parlour meters or AMS for Peak; herd software for first service, conception and culls
Last to fully show
Persistency, and more Milk per cow, per lactation
Measured on 6 US dairies: +10% floor to +16% ceiling. DMI Impact commercial observation, not peer-reviewed: anecdotal until scientific studies verify it.
Milk recording, parlour meters or AMS: Persistency and Milk per lactation, however long she milks
“If we can decrease the body condition scores loss in this early lactation, and cows get up to eating full feed on their ration, then we should be able to get them pregnant sooner and be closer to maintaining a 12 to 13 month calving interval.”
Dr Kerry McGehee, Veterinarian · the film above, 6:57 · legacy US footage, quoted as he said it
Milk is a lagging indicator, not the goal in itself.
There are many lagging indicators of a cow’s Health across her year. Milk measures like Peak, its height and its timing, come early. Persistency and full-lactation Milk are measured at the end. In between, Body Condition and Fertility follow her Health too. We track Milk per lactation, the way you plan it, and your dry-off and cull decisions stay yours, whichever group a cow is in.
You see the first rung yourself. Your own kit records every rung after it.
Speakers in the 2014–2017 films are quoted in their own words and named; our own words on this page follow UK rules.
A percentage increase is anecdotal until scientific studies verify the correlation and the causation.
What the farms’ records later showed
Measured Milk increase of test cows over control cows: +10% floor to +16% ceiling.
6 US commercial dairies, conventional and organic, over more than 10 years. Commercial observation, not peer-reviewed. Behaviour came first: more visits to the feed barrier.
A percentage increase is anecdotal until scientific studies verify the correlation and the causation.
The evidence behind this page · 8 sources
The milk figures are DMI Impact commercial observation, not peer-reviewed, and anecdotal until scientific studies verify the correlation and the causation. Jeremy Setters’ figures are his own record of one cow, shown as he gave them, with the conversion written out. The research beside the ladder is published and held in full.
- DMI Impact commercial observation, six US commercial dairies, conventional and organic, over more than ten years: measured milk of test cows over matched control cows, +10% floor to +16% ceiling. Not peer-reviewed, and anecdotal until scientific studies verify it.
- González LA, Tolkamp BJ, Coffey MP, Ferret A, Kyriazakis I (2008) Changes in feeding behavior as possible indicators for the automatic monitoring of health disorders in dairy cows. J Dairy Sci · UK · doi.org/10.3168/jds.2007-0530
- Kemel C et al. (2025) Association of artificial intelligence-predicted milk yield residuals to behavioral patterns and transition success in multiparous dairy cows. J Dairy Sci · Netherlands and Belgium · doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-26134
- Roche JR et al. (2009) Body condition score and its association with dairy cow productivity, health, and welfare. J Dairy Sci · New Zealand, France and Ireland · doi.org/10.3168/jds.2009-2431
- Bédère N et al. (2018) Meta-analysis of the relationships between reproduction, milk yield and body condition score in dairy cows. Livestock Science · France · doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2018.01.017
- McArt JAA, Nydam DV, Oetzel GR (2012) Epidemiology of subclinical ketosis in early lactation dairy cattle. J Dairy Sci · USA · doi.org/10.3168/jds.2012-5443
- Sheldon IM et al. (2009) Defining postpartum uterine disease and the mechanisms of infection and immunity in the female reproductive tract in cattle. Biol Reprod · UK · doi.org/10.1095/biolreprod.109.077370
- Mostert PF (2018) The impact of diseases in dairy cows on greenhouse gas emissions and economic performance · Netherlands · doi.org/10.18174/445487
Next · The free trial
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