Description
PitstopPLUS is an IoT-enabled feeder system delivering automatic, and precise supplementation of minerals, vitamins, trace elements, and additives to individual cows. Cows are identified by electronic ear tag which is based on worldwide open standards for electronic ear tagging and in accordance to EU regulation 17/2000 for identification and registration of bovine animals. The initiative addresses the need for additional supplements intake of dairy cows during their critical transition period.
Technology
A precision mineral supplementation system consists of a master unit, which manage the communication with feeders via LoRa, and the cloud via cabled connection to a router or switch. Each feeder identify cows via a RFID antenna , and dose supplements according to master unit administration. Management of the system and the cows that use it happen via a PWA-based app that works on all platforms. The app has a dashboard and three parts. The dashboard gives a quick overview of main performance of the system and the cows use of it. Further details are seen under status, for instance individual cow, group or entire herd consumption for up to 180 days. The cow lists comprise cows that have access to be dosed supplements, and can be edited manually for individual cows, batch-wise via upload of a file or via interoperability with a public or private herd and animal register. System settings allow to configure the operation, for instance the length of the allocation period, the daily allowance etc. Also, the system can be operated in auto mode or set in calibration mode. The system can manage supplementation to two cows groups of each 2 different supplements, but supplementation can be individualised to the single cow.
Target
The initiative is suitable for medium to large dairy farms, including dairy farms using TMR feeding.
Business model
Access to use the PitstopPLUS Manager app is a free service to those who bought the system. Data is kept for 6 months and can even be downloaded for further analysing. The feasibility of the initiative was supported by EU’s Horizon 2020 SME Instrument while the Danish Innovation Fund provided support for technical prototype testing.
Impact
As of July 2025, the initiative has been tested to 2,700 cows across Denmark, Germany, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Four Betters
Better production
Better environment
