(Source: Inside Food & Drink – October 2024

Nowadays, 17,000 dairy farmers around the world rely on UNIFORM-Agri software for daily administrative and management reporting on their herd. Farmers use the software to record calving, insemination and health information, and much more. In the UK, Belgium and Denmark, between 35% and 45% of all dairy cows are managed by UNIFORM-Agri software. While across the rest of Europe and Canada, the company maintains between 10% and 25% of the market share. An impressive 25% of turnover is reinvested into R&D at UNIFORM-Agri. Continual product development means that the software is always up to date with the latest platforms, regulatory changes and industry practices.

The company was well ahead of the curve in the ‘90s when it introduced maintenance contracts, a subscription model that means the farmer receives automatic updates. “That was a valuable decision, because it generates a permanent stream of income for us,” said Mr van der Beek. “And every software company now does SaaS -Software as a Service – but we have been doing that for thirty years and it accounts for about 80 per cent of our annual earnings. “We are also proud that our customer turnover is very low, only around three per cent. There are farmers who have been using our software for more than 30 years.”

Depth of data
The loyalty demonstrated by a low customer turnover is common because the UNIFORM-Agri software offers multiple benefits for the farmer. It allows them to oversee a herd better by monitoring feeding and therefore ensuing a higher yield of milk. The system also helps with the management of reproduction and general cattle health. To ensure the milk is safe to consume, European farmers must record the medicine a cow is given in granular detail, down to the batch number. UNIFORM-Agri enables the reporting and storing of this information with ease.

“Like a doctor with a file on each patient detailing all their past prescriptions and illnesses, a farmer has a file for each cow,” said Mr van der Beek. “But it goes further than that. It extends to breeding practices, and ensuring there is no inbreeding.“ And we can help with the feed calculation. A cow that produces more milk can get more feed, but we want to avoid that going to cows that don’t need it. Likewise, if a cow doesn’t get fed enough, there is less milk. With proper data, a farmer can control a lot about the productivity of a cow.”

The company also provides data validation services to prevent mistakes. “If we know a cow has calved recently, it is obviously biologically impossible for it to be giving birth again three months later,” Mr van der Beek explained. “So, we protect the farmer from these errors. The quality of our database is much better than that of our competition. And that means that the analytics we provide are much more reliable.

Systems development
When the company began operations in 1986, it used MS-DOS. Eventually, this moved to Windows and now it is upgrading again to the Cloud. A huge investment, this means a complete rewrite of the software. However, the famously user-friendly UNIFORM-Agri program should enable a seamless process. “A driver doesn’t need new lessons when they upgrade their car,” said Mr van der Beek. “It’s the same with our software; a customer won’t need to be trained again. I see many programming companies changing software and customers struggling because things work completely differently. But we make the process easy.”

The vast developments in software over the decades have opened several new avenues of innovation for UNIFORM-Agri.

“Like a doctor with a file on each patient detailing all their past prescriptions and illnesses, a farmer has a file for each cow,”

“We are working with certain universities on AI projects,” said Mr van der Beek. “One is based on data which predicts if a cow is going to have mastitis. And CEO, Harm-Jan van der Beek another is predicting the cure rate of the cow to recover from mastitis.” Collaborations have proven crucial to remain on the cutting-edge of the dairy farm data sector. The company has been working with American milk machine manufacturers BouMatic for 20 years and shares close to 4,000 customers with them. More recently, UNIFORM-Agri began a partnership in Brazil with dsm-firmenich, one of the biggest animal nutrition companies in the world.
There are also projects in the pipeline designed to assist smaller farmers in India and parts of Africa. “We are working to help farmers who own 15 or 20 cows and don’t have a PC but do have a smartphone where they can monitor and record data,” explained Mr van der Beek. “Then the local milk factory, for example, can access the data, with the farmer’s permission of course.”
In recent years, as analytics have become increasingly important, the company has forged closer connections with veterinarians, feed suppliers and companies selling bull semen to dairy farms. “Semen companies nowadays use data to help farmers with their cattle fertility problems,” said Mr van der Beek. “So, we have found a new position for ourselves, moving closer to consultant companies.”

Making hay
Alongside these strong business relationships, UNIFORM-Agri is known for its excellent customer service. The company has a goal to grow to 25,000 customers in the next few years. “Internally, we always say that it’s the farmers who pay our salary,” Mr van der Beek said. “So, we take care of them and offer strong support services. 90 per cent of the calls we receive are taken within 120 seconds, with an expert on the phone immediately. Customers appreciate that.”

UNIFORM-Agri is clearly a company that cares. This extends to staff, customers and cows. Indeed, the business maintains a very low sick rate of less than 1.5% and many employees have worked there up to 25 years. “I grew up on a dairy farm,” concluded Mr van der Beek. “When I was eight, I got my first calf from my father, and I still remember her name. I have a passion for cows, and I have passion for modern technology. I love this job because it brings all that together.

“The whole company is very dairy-driven. Today, it’s sunny and all our customers are out making silage and hay. And 10 of our employees are not in the office today either, because they’re also at home making hay. That’s the flexibility that we give to our people. It creates a special atmosphere of passion in the company.”