The pen density insights benchmark how stocking density of a single pen impacts the performance of the cows within that pen, highlighting areas for optimization.
Why it matters
Stocking density directly influences cow health, feed efficiency, and milk production. Overstocking can lead to competition for resources, increased stress, and reduced milk yields, while understocking may lower per-cow revenue and impact farm profitability. Understanding stocking density helps optimize breeding, culling, and grouping decisions to improve efficiency.
How the insight is generated
The pen density insight examines three key metrics:
Milk production per head
Dry matter intake (DMI)
Feed efficiency
We analyze these metrics for significant variation across different stocking densities. We then use the difference between the 5th and 95th percentile of stocking rates to calculate the change in performance. This allows us to exclude outliers and give a more accurate representation of performance.
How to read the insight
A scatterplot visualizes the relationship between cow counts (x-axis) and the KPIs of interest (y-axis), such as milk production per head, DMI, or feed efficiency. Each dot represents the average performance from a single day on your farm. A trend line is generated to highlight overall patterns and correlations.
If the trend shows a steep decline as cow counts increase, it suggests that higher stocking densities may negatively impact performance. Conversely, a flatter trend line indicates minimal impact of stocking density on the respective KPI. If there is no decrease in performance, no trend line is generated.
Giving feedback
Your feedback helps improve future insights and develop features that provide greater value. Once you provide feedback on an insight, it will be marked as “Done” and will no longer appear in your overview. However, you can still access it under “Done” on the Insights page.
Availability
The pen density insight is available to farms that have been integrated on the Connecterra Platform for at least 6 months and have a minimum of 40 cows per pen.
Farms with parlor software will receive insights on milk production, and those with feed software will see insights on DMI. Farms with both datasets will also receive insights on feed efficiency.
If the decrease in a metric is less than 1% it is reported as “no measurable decrease".