- DATE:
- AUTHOR:
- Nedap Livestock Management
Velos 2023.4 Dairy Farming
This Nedap Velos software version contains new and improved functionalities that provide new solutions, add valuable options to existing solutions and further increase the ease of use of Velos.
Nedap FarmControl
Identification
Positions on a rotary parlour are now correctly marked as 'second round' by the Rotary ID behaviour component with feeding and per place identification.
On a Rotary ID behaviour component with per place identification, animals of first round were never replaced by new animals. This has been fixed.
Fixed an issue that caused cows that were identified on row 2 to be displayed on row 1 on the parlour monitor
Traffic
The sort order option no longer shows columns that are not visible in the report.
The separation tab on the Farm page no longer shows the animals with a separation rule twice.
The status indicator on the 2-3 way sorter could in rare cases show strange behaviour. This has been fixed.
Feeding
Fixed an issue where modifying the feed start time did not result in the daily feed allowances being calculated on the new time.
Nedap CowControl
Heat Detection and Health Monitoring
After replacing a SmartTag on a cow, the data of the new tag was initially not sent to the main VPU by secondary VPUs. The VPUs had to be rebooted first. This has been fixed.
The Health and Management report showed checkmarks for attentions on the page but the checkmarks were not added in the Excel/CSV export files. Now the checkmarks are shown as true/false in the exported files.
Production based housing (Settings > Production based housing) could cause Velos and Nedap Now to be out of sync. In Nedap Now mode it is the responsibility of Nedap Now and therefore production based housing is no longer active when Velos runs in Nedap Now mode.
On the Heat Detection Attentions page, reachable via a widget on the dashboard, it was not very clear that the page shows heat attentions. Therefore, a title has been added to this page.
On pages with a filter option for locations, like the Heat Detection Attentions page, now only the locations are shown that can be the home location for cows.
Cow Locating
The monitor page of a behaviour component of type Position beacons setup, reachable via Maintenance > Behaviour Components > [Position beacons setup] View, sometimes showed a beacon as "disconnected" while it was correctly connected. This has been fixed.
Nedap MilkingControl
Multiple functionalities have been added to the InTouch. They are all configurable on the page Settings > InTouch settings > [parlour name]
External pulsation is now supported for parlours that use central pulsation that is not controlled by the InTouch. Therefore, a setting has been added on the page Settings > InTouch settings to enable or disable the pulsation by the InTouch.
Pulsators can be connected to the InTouch in 2 ways: with common ground or with common plus. Previously the InTouch could automatically detect how the pulsators were connected and act accordingly. This automatic detection did, however, not work correctly for all types of pulsators. Therefore the automatic detection has been removed and a setting has been added on the page Settings > InTouch settings to specify which type of connection is used.
The setting 'Invert vacuum valve output' on the page Settings > InTouch settings has been modified. Invert suggested that the behaviour was inverted from the normal situation. This is correct but it was unclear what the normal situation was. The setting has been renamed to 'Vacuum valve output' and the options are 'Active high' and 'Active low'. Active high means that vacuum will be on if the output is activated and active low means that vacuum will be on if the output is deactivated.
The milking active output on the InTouch indicates that milking is currently busy on the milk place connected to the InTouch. This output is used for different reasons. Some examples are
Stop a rotary parlour if milking of a cow is still busy when the rotary parlour is already on a position where the cow should leave the platform
Lower a retainer bar on a rotary parlour, so the cow cannot leave the platform while she is still being milked.
Different types of valves may be used to perform these actions. Some require an "output high" signal to activate and others require an "output low" signal. A setting 'Milking active indication' has been added on the page Settings > InTouch settings to specify the type of output that is needed. The options are 'Active high' and 'Active low'.
An external control, like for example a push button, can be connected to the InTouch to use as alternative for the main button on the InTouch to start milking. To prevent unexpected behaviour of the system in case no such control is connected, a setting has been added on the page Settings > InTouch settings to enable or disable the external control.
Improved the functionality of the external control that can be connected to the InTouch. Previously the only function of this control was to start milking. Now the function of the external control can be configured. Possible functions are:
Start milking. This was previously the standard function
Act as a remote main button. In this case the external control can be used to give the same commands as the main button off the InTouch.
A setting 'External control function' has been added on the page Settings > InTouch settings to specify the behaviour. This is either 'Start milking' or 'Remote main button'.
Previously the external control had to be of type 'normally open'. Now 'normally closed' is also supported. A setting 'External control type' has been added on the page Settings > InTouch settings to specify the type of external control that is used. This is either 'Normally open' or 'Normally closed'.
After milking all clusters will be in the top position. The button on the InTouch can be used to move the cluster down for pre wash. Previously this action was only possible per milk place. The button would move the cluster down only on the milk place where the button was pressed on the InTouch. Now it is also possible to move all clusters of a complete row down by one button press.
A setting 'Pre-wash action' has been added on the page Settings > InTouch settings to specify the action that will be executed by a pre wash button press. The options are:
'Individual', the cluster will go down only on the milk place where the button is pressed,
'Group', the cluster will go down on all milk places in the row where the button is pressed.
This setting not available for rotary parlours. There only the default behaviour, 'Individual', is used.
The take off threshold setting was limited to a maximum of 1000 gr/min. This limit has been removed.
It is now possible to set the maximum milking time. Milking of a cow will stop regardless of the milk flow that is currently measured.
A setting 'Stop milking after maximum milk time' has been added on the page Settings > InTouch settings. The setting is a checkbox that enables or disables checking the milking time. By default checking the milking time is disabled.
A second setting, 'Maximum milking time', has been added on the same page to allow the user to specify the maximum milking time. This setting is specified in seconds, minimum value is 60s, maximum value is 1200s, default value is 300s.
If 'Stop milking after maximum milk time' is enabled milking stops (whichever is first):
when the maximum milking time after start of milking the cow is reached.
due to the normal take off procedure.
due to a manual stop.
If "Stop milking after maximum milk time" is disabled milking stops (whichever is first):
due to the normal take off procedure.
due to a manual stop.
Four milking sessions per day is now supported.
The automatic calibration method for SmartFlows has been improved. It now also works for swing-over parlours where two milk places share one SmartFlow.
Nedap business partners that use the API for SmartFlow start/stop measuring can now also use it for swing-over parlours where two milk places share one SmartFlow.
Fixed some issues
Milk session times are defined on the page Settings > Milking times. If a milk session started at a non-existing time due to a daylight saving time change then milkings in that session were not saved.
On the page Reports > Milk attentions a column 'Feeding' was still shown in the report even when feeding was not included in the license.
General
Nedap constantly updates the software to prevent security vulnerabilities. In this version some 3rd party libraries have been updated because of this.
On the right bottom of the screen the text "powered by Nedap" has been replaced by a logo.
Improved support for setting up a pre-registered VPU for Nedap Now. The setup wizard can be started from the dashboard page if the VPU is added to a Nedap Now company. Note that this procedure only supports new installations as data on the VPU will be removed during the setup process.
Improved the selection section of all reports. There where previously numbers had to be entered the desired values can now be selected using a combobox. The image below is an example of the selection section of Reports > Animals
Improved the V-Pack update process
On the left bottom of the page below the menu there is an indication that a firmware upgrade is still in progress.
On the page Maintenance > VPU connection checker, only available for service level users, a check has been added per VPU if all firmware is up-to-date.
If a V-Pack update failed a pop-up with information about the failure was displayed. The info in the pop-up disappeared when the pop-up was (unintentionally) closed. The information was too technical for the end users. In the new situation the user only receives a message that the update has failed. Much more detailed information is logged but not visible for Velos users.
An extra check has been added to the VPU connection checker, only available for service level users. The connection checker now checks if the main VPU can communicate with all secondaries and if al secondaries can communicate with the main.
When Velos is in Nedap Now mode it was already impossible to modify data that is the responsibility of Nedap Now. It is now also no longer possible to do modification via APIs. Reading data is still allowed. This means for example that in case Velos is in Nedap Now mode it is no longer possible to modify animals via a Taurus connection.
Fixed some issues
Due to a database issue it could, especially on larger systems, occur that sometimes data was not saved in the database when the database was very busy. This has been fixed.
Fixed an issue that caused no data to be sent to Nedap Now until after a reboot of the VPU.
Fixed an issue that could cause the firmware update of a VP1801 to fail.
On the animal overview page the responder number of a cow can be entered by means of scanning a QR-code. Fixed two issues here. On an iOS device the correct camera is selected again and on an Android device the image is no longer mirrored.
When restoring an empty database the password for the user 'service' was not accepted even if the same password was entered in both input fields. This has been fixed
When using the search bar in the top right corner, and the result contains more than one animal a table was shown with a column 'Last detected' while the values in this column displayed the animal's 'group / pen'. The column has been renamed accordingly.
On the page Reports > Animals the sort order option now displays the column names in the same order as they appear in the report.
When in Nedap Now mode Velos will now show the animal name as it is defined in Nedap Now.
A proper message is now presented when registering a vpu-online domain fails because the license of the VPU is not yet activated.
No strange characters are shown anymore in the column 'version' on the page Maintenance > V-Packs.
In the setup wizard pressing <Enter> after filling in the license code no longer results in refreshing the page and having to fill in the license code again.
Firmware
VP1001: v3.02.08
License default on for HDX, Extra power and Notch filter (when available in the hardware).
Solved problem activating dimmed leds.
VP1004: v3.01.10
License default on for HDX, Extra power and Notch filter (when available in the hardware).
VP1004-B, fixed an issue where tag numbers were jumping between antenna 1 and 8 spontaneously.
VP1004 did not return the correct value of antenna tune position.
Identification page in Velos does not show any antennas of VP1004.
Solved problem activating dimmed leds.
VP1007: v3.02.09
License default on for HDX, Extra power and Notch filter (when available in the hardware).
VP1007-B antenna leds didn’t show error on vpack when antenna was disconnected.
Solved problem activating dimmed leds.
VP5001: v2.00.20
Support external control option.
Support for normally open/normally closed for external control.
Add handling for pulsation state OFF.
System requirements
Velos version
An installation needs to run on version 2022.1 or newer to be able to update to this version. Make sure to update to version 2022.1 first before installing this version.
Taurus
This version is compatible with Taurus 2020.1 (5.101.7.0) or higher.
Mobile device versions:
iOS 15 or later
Android 5.0 or later
Supported browsers:
Google Chrome
Microsoft Edge