Blog

Explore the work we are doing, told through the stories of the people who make up the Wolfe's Neck community.
FitBits for Cows: Our New SenseHub Dairy Activity Monitors
Our cows got some new bling! The SenseHub Dairy activity monitors give our dairy team real-time updates and measurements, helping them to track both cow and herd health as closely as possible. The dairy team uses the monitors to record the herd’s daily movements across Wolfe’s Neck’s pastures, track their dairy production, notify best breeding time for each cow, monitor their digestion, and observe overall health measurements like respiration. 
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How We Feed Our Cows Over Winter
As we all enjoyed the warmer weather back in May, our Dairy team was already looking towards the winter months as they prepared bales of hay that would feed our cows. As the weather gets colder, we move our cows into the dairy barn to keep them warm and cozy. But, with less ample opportunities to graze, we feed our herd with the hay we bale throughout the winter season.
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Celebrating OpenTEAM’s Second Anniversary
This October, we are celebrating OpenTEAM’s second anniversary! Open Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural Management was founded in 2019, by Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment, Stonyfield, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, and the United States Department of Agriculture’s LandPKS. Based here at the farm, OpenTEAM is a farmer-driven, collaborative community of farmers, ranchers, scientists, researchers, technologists, farm service providers, and food companies who are co-creating an interoperable suite of tools that provide farmers around the world with the best possible knowledge to improve soil health. 
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Meet Our New Dairy Grazing Apprentice
Originally from the great state of Connecticut, I've lived on two continents, traveled in four; but, I keep coming back to Maine and its irreplaceable mountains, forests, and seacoasts. A graduate of the University of Southern Maine, I've taught many subjects and both at home and abroad. This time, it's my turn to be taught again.
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New England Dairy Farmers Face Uncertainty
Wolfe’s Neck Center was disappointed to learn of Danone North America’s decision to end the contracts of 89 organic milk producers in New England, including 14 family farms in Maine. Danone, which operates the Horizon Organic brand, recently decided to move away from New England as part of a cost-cutting consolidation. This blow will have devasting effects on Maine’s organic dairy sector, as well as other economic implications across the region. It is disheartening to think of the potential consequences on these farms’ soils, which have been managed for biodiversity and carbon health.  
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A Ride to the Past
On Saturday, September 18, 2021 I hopped aboard the history wagon ride offered through Wolfe’s Neck Center’s community & visitor programs, hoping to learn more about the history of this land and its people. In my communications role on Wolfe’s Neck Center’s team, it is my responsibility to help tell the stories of the current-day farm, but of course, so much of the present has deep ties to our past. 
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MAPSS Annual Field Workshop
MAPSS recently held their annual field workshop at Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment, so we tagged along to see what they were up to! Forty members and soil scientists descended on the property to assess soil pits that had been excavated in our pastures, in our campground, and in Wolfe's Neck State Park. The workshop focused on soil parent materials, human-altered or human-transported materials, and hydric soil characteristics and determinations. 
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Meet the Newest Member of OpenTEAM
Sienna Zuco joins us in the role of OpenTEAM's Communications & Membership Coordinator. This new role will help share OpenTeam's work and vision to Wolfe's Neck Center's audiences and beyond. Growing up in North Carolina, Sienna felt lucky to be surrounded by local foods, good southern cooking, and such a beautiful environment. She lived just a few hours from both the beach and the mountains; two of the things she has found in Maine thus far, and then some! 
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“Why Did You Move to Maine?”
Ben Gotschall, Wolfe's Neck Center's dairy and livestock manager, made the trek from Nebraska to Maine in November 2020. Soon after, he was joined by his wife, Tammy, and their daughter, Charlotte. In May 2021, his herd of cattle made the 1,800-mile journey to Freeport, as well. In a piece written for Field Notes, our annual print and online newsletter, Ben shared his thoughts on what the relocation meant for him, his family, and his cows. 
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(Re)Vision the Future of Solar
In 2017, ReVision Energy installed two large solar projects on Wolfe’s Neck Center’s campus: one at the dairy facility and the other at the Pote Barn, making us 50% solar powered. With a new operations center currently under construction and more infrastructure projects on the horizon, our end goal is to be entirely solar-powered.
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Our cows got some new bling! The SenseHub Dairy activity monitors give our dairy team real-time updates and measurements, helping them to track both cow and herd health as closely as possible. 

The dairy team uses the monitors to record the herd’s daily movements across Wolfe’s Neck’s pastures, track their dairy production, notify best breeding time for each cow, monitor their digestion, and observe overall health measurements like respiration. 

How Do They work?

The activity monitor stores its own info and when the herd moves in range of a transmitter, the antenna will download that data and send it to a computer which lives in the dairy barn. That data is then visually displayed onto a computer monitor, showcasing what is happening to the cows in real time. 

There is even an app connected to the monitors, so that our dairy manager, Ben Gotschall, can check on the cows anytime, anywhere. 

Tracking Dairy Production

The monitors are now fully integrated with our milking system. So, when the cows are being milked, the monitors can track what cow is being milked in which parlor, how long it takes to milk them, the amount of milk they are producing, and even tell the dairy team if any of the milk is abnormal and needs to be tossed out.

Recording Activity

The monitors can notify our dairy team when they have high activity levels. These high activity levels can sometimes mean that the cow is ready to be bred, helping the dairy team to ensure the best time for breeding. Similarly, the system may send a signal to the dairy if a cow has had severely low activity levels, potentially meaning the cow has been laying down a lot more and could be injured.

Monitoring Digestion

These monitors can track each cow’s digestion, notifying the dairy manager and his team if the cows are not ruminating properly. Rumination is when cows chew their food, swallow it, and then partially digest it in their first two stomachs. Then, they throw it up, chew it again, and swallow it to finish the digest process in their last two stomachs. If something is wrong with the rumination of the herd, it could point to a larger digestion issue with their food intake. Without these monitors, it could take the dairy team a lot longer to realize something wrong is happening.


With these new monitors, the dairy team can be a lot more efficient in tracking the cows’ health and improve their management. The dairy team has especially found these monitors to better support the breeding of our cows, helping us to grow our herd here at Wolfe’s Neck Center. Furthermore, by tracking our herd’s health, these monitors and their data can double their impact by not just supporting dairy management but also contributing to all the research happening at Wolfe’s Neck Center, such as the B3 project, and beyond. 

The dairy team is so excited to learn even more about our herds from these monitors!

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