What's New?

Did you know that you can select the breed and pen for calves when adding a Fresh event? For DC Unlimited subscribers, the Breed and Pen picklists for new calves will be displayed as long as your Fresh event in on-premise DairyComp is configured to include them. DC Pro Beta testers will have the Breed and Pen options available by default.

If you have not yet added a Fresh event in PULSE Platform, check out the details here!

1. Open the animal's CowCard, click Add New Event, and select Fresh event as the one you want to add:

   

2. In the Fresh event side panel, click in a Calf field to add the new calf's details:

   

3. Note that the Breed and Pen fields are now available for the new calf:

   

See Events to learn more!

The PULSE Platform Online Help now includes instructions for connecting an Allflex AWR300 RFID scanner to your iOS or Android mobile device. We've also added a listing of supported RFID Scanners, as well as a link to RFID ISO standards.

See Connect an AWR300 Scanner to learn more!

When adding PREV events from the mobile app or the web version of PULSE, you now have the option to add the SIRC Sire of conception rather than the LSIR Last service sire: 

See EC 8 - PREV (Previous) Event to learn more about adding the PREV event from mobile, or see Add and Delete Events for more info on adding events from web.

Company Dashboards provide a snapshot view of essential information for all dairies within your company. As illustrated below, key animal data, such as Cow Stats, are available for all company dairies, or can be viewed in a graphical format by individual dairy:

To view your Company Dashboard in PULSE Platform, select the company from the drop-down list in the top navigation bar:

To access a company dashboard, a member of the company must invite you to connect with it. See Invite a User to your Dairy or Company for more information. After successfully installing a Company Dashboard in PULSE Platform, see Company Dashboards to learn more!

Selecting a bull from the Sires page now pulls up a side panel that may include a photo, as well as the semen supplier. The side panel also provides additional details recorded by the supplier, such as production, health, calving, and conformation details:

See View Sire Details to learn more!

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the CattleEye Platform Integration!

CattleEye turns your basic security camera into a powerful identification and monitoring tool that checks for lameness when your animals enter or leave the parlor. These measurements provide valuable insights into the health of each animal, and are shared on your animals' CowCards in the VAS PULSE Platform after each parlor visit. You can also use custom CattleEye items to generate worklists that allow you and your hoof trimmer to efficiently identify and treat lame animals. See CattleEye Overview to learn more.

DairyComp Unlimited users can now connect their integration with smaXtec in a few easy steps using the VAS PULSE Platform! To activate the integration, go to the Integrations Gallery, open the smaXtec card, and follow the Connection Instructions on the right side of the screen:

Now you're in control of your integrations, and there's no need to call support to make the initial connection!

See Activate smaXtec Integration to learn more.

We're excited to offer yet another resource for product support and knowledge, including the incredible opportunity to collaborate with other producers and expert users of VAS products! The VAS Community delivers a new toolkit and ways to engage in dynamic discussions and request support. Join forces with your fellow producers to tackle challenges and share solutions, or ask your new network a question!

See Collaborate with your VAS Community to learn more.

Check out What's New in WeighComp? to browse the latest changes and enhancements in WeighComp!

The PULSE Platform mobile app icon was renamed and is now DC on Mobile. The app icon was also updated, and now matches the desktop icon familiar to our DairyComp 305 users:

But don’t worry — it's still the same great app, with all the powerful features you need to manage your herd from the palm of your hand! If you already have the app installed, the icon and name update happens automatically on your device.

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the Allflex Platform Integration!

For 65 years, Allflex Livestock Intelligence has been involved in the livestock ID Identifier business. As the leading provider of ID solutions and monitoring with real-time data, Allflex continues to improve the way millions of cows are being managed every day. The PULSE Platform displays live data from animal sensors in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals' rumination and activity levels.

See Allflex Overview to learn more!

Check out the PULSE Platform's new and improved Protocols Dairy protocols include a series of treatments or tasks that follow a prescribed order and schedule. Protocols may be defined for reproduction purposes, to treat an illness, or for routine vaccinations. page, where you can now add and edit treatment protocols! Fire up the PULSE Platform and find this feature under Settings in the DairyComp menu. Click Add Protocol or click on any protocol to open a side panel where you can modify protocol details:

See Protocols to learn more!

The Sire Management page is no longer located under DairyComp Settings. You can now select DairyComp > Sires to view and manage all of your dairy's sire records. The new page also makes it easier to edit your sire settings in the convenient side panel:

See Sires to learn more!

The mobile app now supports adding animals to worklists, giving you even more options and flexibility when you need them most! Use the new Add to List option to quickly add an animal to your worklist:

See Add Animals in Worklists to learn more!

We've added more options to help find your animals! You can now control which animal identifier to use in your search in the web version of PULSE Platform and the mobile app: 

The web version also allows you to control which animals (Alive, Dead/Sold, or All) to include in your search results. To change the preferred search identifier from ID to another item, use the Animal Configuration - Preferred Identifier setting. See Search Animals (web) and Search Animals (mobile) to learn more about finding animals in your herd!

The VAS PULSE Platform now supports the addition of multiple animals using the new Add Animals in Batch option from the Animals page! Use the XLSX template to add required and optional details for multiple animals, and then drag and drop your file to add the animals to your herd. It's that easy!

See Add Animals in Batch to learn more!

The VAS PULSE Platform is now able to alert you when the following KPI Key Performance Indicators fall below or exceed your designated limits:

• Conception rates for cows and heifers
• Animal counts by reproduction status: Open, Pregnant, Dry
• Population counts for a variety of specific animal types, including heifers, breeding-age heifers, departing animals, and new heifers

See How do I set KPIs and alerts? to learn more!

The web version of the VAS PULSE Platform now allows you to edit animals details directly on your Animals page! Simply click any animal ID to open a side panel where you can add or delete events, and details like animal name, source farm, or sire:

See Update Animals to learn more!

Check out What's New in WeighComp? to browse the latest features and enhancements in WeighComp within the PULSE Platform!

The VAS PULSE Platform has a new, easy‑to‑navigate menu structure to help you find the features you use most:

The Dairy menu was expanded to include common management and configuration options, including:

• Dashboards
• Change Log
• Shared Files
• Pens List
• User Management
• Dairy Settings

For DairyComp Unlimited customers, the former small Command Line button is now larger and easier to find at the end of the menu bar. There is also a new Partners menu, where you can now find the Integrations Gallery.

If you need help finding your commonly used features, see the new Menu Options topic. It gives a detailed look at each menu option in the PULSE Platform!

Check out What's New in WeighComp? to browse the recent enhancements in the WeighComp mobile app, as well as new features and updates in WeighComp within the PULSE Platform!

Use the new Save option to easily reuse the custom lists you created using Worklist Builder or DC305! Go to your Open Worklists, and click the Options button to save your list to the Recurring Worklists tab for quick access. Other worklists you've saved from the Gallery are also available in Recurring Worklists.

See Manage Recurring Worklists to learn more!

The new Quick Actions section of the Dairy Profile page now includes convenient links to common herd management tasks. The Quick Actions available are based on your permission level for that dairy, and may differ from the example shown: 

See Quick Actions to learn more!

The new Worklists Gallery allows you to generate and save frequently used worklists with a single click! Check out the many standard worklists available from the Gallery, and then save them to your Frozen for quick and easy access. Use the Open Worklists tab to manage your worklists and track status:

See Worklists to learn more!

The web version of the PULSE Platform now allows you to add, edit, and delete events directly from the animal's CowCard. You can add one event or multiple events, and then save the event(s) to view on the CowCard once processed.

See Events to learn more!

The new Change Log provides an easy to use overview of data changes made within the dairy. The top of the Change Log shows a breakdown of animal activity and events for the past 7 days, while beneath that is a list of all major data changes that have occurred for the dairy. You can find this feature under the Dairy menu.

See the Change Log section to learn more!

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the GEA CowScout Platform Integration!

GEA CowScout animal sensors monitor reproduction, rumination, eating, and movements to provide deeper insights on heat detection, overall health, and animals requiring urgent attention. The PULSE Platform displays live data from animal sensors in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals requiring health checks or reproduction-related protocols.

See GEA CowScout Overview to learn more.

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the GENEX HerdMonitor® Platform Integration!

GENEX HerdMonitor® animal sensors monitor reproduction, rumination, eating, and movements to provide deeper insights on heat detection, overall health, and animals requiring urgent attention. The PULSE Platform displays live data from animal sensors in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals requiring health checks or reproduction-related protocols.

See GENEX HerdMonitor® Overview to learn more.

Now you can easily add new animals to your herd by clicking the Add Animal or Add Animals in Batch button at the top right of the Animals page in the web version of the PULSE Platform.

Also, the CowCard for every animal now contains a button at the upper right of the page with options for removing the animal from the herd or marking the animal as sold or died.

See Add Animals (web), Add Animals (mobile), and Remove Animals or Mark as Sold/Died to learn more!

You can now control your dairy configuration options from Platform! Define your animal settings, item and event details, and everything you need right in the Platform. No need to log into DairyComp to adjust your configuration updates, they’ll be synced automatically!

See Settings to learn more!

Now you can easily add a new pen to your dairy by clicking the new Add New Pen button on the Pens list:

You can also easily edit the data for a pen by clicking the new Edit Pen button available in the details page for every pen. Doing so opens a side panel containing the data you can change:

See Add a New Pen and Edit Pen Data to learn more!

The new Animal Inventory Trends report provides a visual representation of recent animal inventory changes for cows and heifers by reproduction status, as well as heifers by age. Use this new reporting option to quickly identify animal counts for a specific status or age to help you with your daily herd management planning and on-farm tasks!

See Animal Inventory Trends to learn more!

You can now go to the Integrations Gallery and connect an integration with one of our partners in mere minutes. Click the partner’s card in the gallery and follow the Connection Instructions on the right side of the screen. Then, use the Connection Status options to add the details you need from our partner’s system to activate the integration:

Now you're in control of your integrations, and there's no need to call support to make the initial connection!

See Partners to learn more!

The Reports page allows you to save and run reports with a single click! Check out the many standard reports available from the Reports Gallery, and then save them to your Dairy Reports for quick and easy access.

You can find this feature under the DairyComp menu.

The Reports Gallery and Report Builder expand the functionality of the Command Line feature, and simplify finding and running the reports you need.

Want to build a custom report? No problem! Use Report Builder (formerly Command Builder) to construct a new report and save it to your Dairy Reports. Want to see previously run reports? Check the History tab to see recent reports.

See Reports to learn more!

If an animal you scan is not recognized by the mobile app, you can now choose to Assign the RFID to an animal in your herd: 

See Assign an RFID to learn more!

We're excited to offer yet another tool for dairies integrated with one of our activity/heat monitoring partners! The new Optimal Insemination graph tracks the amount of time that's passed since heat was first detected, and shows you when it's GO time for breeding:

This new tool allows you to better time your breeding activities, improving your herd's conception rates over time. View the Heat Attentions widget from your Dairy Dashboard, and start using this handy tool today!

See Optimal Insemination graph to learn more!

Users with Herd Write permission can now edit select items from the mobile app! Tap the Edit Items option from an animal's CowCard to make changes: 

See Updating Items on Mobile CowCards to learn more!

The Command Line button has moved! You can now find it on the right side of the menu bar:

And, if you're looking for your Saved and Recent Commands, they're now available from the DairyComp > Reports > Dairy Reports and History tabs.

Your options for managing worklists in the VAS PULSE Platform have been expanded! You can now edit the names and descriptions of PULSE Platform Worklists, as well as delete worklists, from the Worklists page. See Monitor Worklist Progress to learn more.

The animal list for each pen now includes interactive columns, allowing you to add new columns of data, rearrange and reorder them, and filter some columns. This new enhancement lets you organize the animal data for the pen in a way that's most useful to you.

See Pen Details and Animal List to learn more.

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the BouMatic HeatSeeker™ Platform Integration!

BouMatic HeatSeeker™ animal sensors monitor reproduction, rumination, eating, and movements to provide deeper insights on heat detection, overall health, and animals requiring urgent attention. The PULSE Platform displays live data from animal sensors in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals requiring health checks or reproduction-related protocols.

See BouMatic HeatSeeker™ Overview to learn more.

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the California Dairies, Inc. Platform Integration!

California Dairies, Inc. provides milk plant data for participating dairy producers. The new VAS PULSE Platform Dairy Dashboard widgets display delivery details and bacteria data for the last 14 days, including the following details:

• Amount of milk delivered
• Milk composition details, including fat and protein percentages
• Milk testing results, including somatic cell count (SCC Somatic cell count), coliform count, lab pasteurized count (LPC), and standard plate count (SPC) data

See California Dairies, Inc. Overview to learn more!

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the CRV Ovalert® Platform Integration!

CRV Ovalert® animal sensors monitor reproduction, rumination, eating, and movements to provide deeper insights on heat detection, overall health, and animals requiring urgent attention. The PULSE Platform displays live data from animal sensors in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals requiring health checks or reproduction-related protocols.

See CRV Ovalert® Overview to learn more.

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the SAC Unitrack Platform Integration!

SAC Unitrack animal sensors monitor reproduction, rumination, eating, and movements to provide deeper insights on heat detection, overall health, and animals requiring urgent attention. The PULSE Platform displays live data from animal sensors in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals requiring health checks or reproduction-related protocols.

See SAC Unitrack Overview to learn more.

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the Semex AI24® Platform Integration!

Semex AI24® animal sensors monitor reproduction, rumination, eating, and movements to provide deeper insights on heat detection, overall health, and animals requiring urgent attention. The PULSE Platform displays live data from animal sensors in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals requiring health checks or reproduction-related protocols.

See Semex AI24® Overview to learn more.

The new Live Chat feature allows you to communicate with a member of VAS technical support directly from the VAS PULSE Platform, allowing you to solve issues quickly without waiting for email or picking up the phone. You can initiate a Live Chat by clicking on the button at the bottom right corner of any Platform screen. The helpful new Live Chat feature is available during normal business hours to all customers in the U.S. and Mexico who get their technical support through VAS.

See Navigating the PULSE Platform to learn more!

The new Animals page for the VAS PULSE Platform lists all of the animals in your dairy. You can view detailed data for each animal, retrieve an animal's CowCard, and add new animals to the herd. The Animals page includes interactive column headers, allowing you to arrange your dairy's herd information precisely how you want it. See Animals to learn more!

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the Alta Cow Watch Platform Integration!

Alta Cow Watch animal sensors monitor reproduction, rumination, eating, and movements to provide deeper insights on heat detection, overall health, and animals requiring urgent attention. The PULSE Platform displays live data from animal sensors in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals requiring health checks or reproduction-related protocols. See Alta Cow Watch Overview to learn more.

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the Nedap Cow Control™ Platform Integration!

Nedap Cow Control™ animal sensors monitor reproduction, rumination, eating, and movements to provide deeper insights on heat detection, overall health, and animals requiring urgent attention. The PULSE Platform displays live sensor data in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals requiring health checks or reproduction-related protocols. See Nedap Cow Control™ Overview to learn more.

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the UHF Heat Detective by InterPuls Platform Integration!

UHF Heat Detective by InterPuls animal sensors monitor reproduction, rumination, eating, and movements to provide deeper insights on heat detection, overall health, and animals requiring urgent attention. The PULSE Platform displays live data from animal sensors in a new dairy dashboard widget and individual animal CowCards on the Partners tab, providing an up-to-date view of animals requiring health checks or reproduction-related protocols. See UHF Heat Detective by InterPuls Overview to learn more.

Event dates are now editable during event entry in the mobile app. You requested this option, and VAS made it happen! Event dates still default to today's date during event entry, but now you can change them (based on certain limits). This offers you additional flexibility on those days when you're unable to finish processing all animal events, or if an event was missed and needs to be added at a later point. See Changing Event Dates to learn more!

Users with Herd Write permission can now change the value of certain items within CowCards simply by clicking within them. Note that only stored item values can be edited. Calculated item values (such as Age), as well as certain restricted items, cannot be edited. See Items for more information.

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the Grande Cheese Company Platform Integration!

Grande Cheese Company provides milk plant data for participating dairy producers. The new VAS PULSE PlatformDairy Dashboard widgets display delivery details and bacteria data for up to 28 days, including the following details:

• Amount of milk delivered
• Milk composition details, including fat and protein percentages
• Milk testing results, including somatic cell count (SCC), coliform count, lab pasteurized count (LPC), and standard plate count (SPC) data

See Grande Cheese Company Overview to learn more!

Hospital Lists in the mobile app allow you treat animals on active protocols, view current milk or beef withholds, and add any new events as needed. Replacing what has historically been a paper list with an electronic one in the mobile app offers better safekeeping of your records, captures data for future analysis, and presents the opportunity to use scanners to speed up animal identification and treatment.

The PULSE Platform mobile app delivers the same audible cues and sounds that many customers are familiar with from the PCC Pocket CowCard product, which helps your veterinarian and dairy workers quickly identify the animals that require treatment. See Learn More about Hospital Lists! to get started.

The new RumINSIGHT report provides dairies that process with VAS/AgSource insight into the fat-related components in their milk production. Milk fat is comprised of different types of fatty acid, which the RumINSIGHT report organizes into distinct categories to make the information easier to visualize. For more information, see RumINSIGHT Report. .

The reformatted DairyComp > Settings page makes finding Platform and DC305 settings fast and simple. Use the Search field to quickly locate a setting, or click through the options on the left to browse available settings. No more scrolling to the right to access multiple tabs!

Check out What's New in WeighComp? to learn about new features and enhancements now available in the WeighComp add-on to the VAS PULSE Platform!

Check out What's New in WeighComp? to learn about new features and enhancements now available in the WeighComp add-on to the VAS PULSE Platform!

The new WeighComp add-on to PULSE Platform captures transaction information for feed, milk, or cattle shipments coming into and leaving the dairy. Working in conjunction with FeedWatch, WeighComp tracks product, vendor, and location information for each transaction, eliminating entries written "by hand" and reducing clerical errors. You can find this feature under the main menu bar.

Additionally, the WeighComp Harvest Management feature allows you to view and manage all of your harvests, as well as the ability to approve harvests, view and edit pending harvest loads, and approve loads.

The relationship between WeighComp, FeedWatch, and PULSE Platform for transaction management is shown in the diagram below. See WeighComp to learn more!

• Integrations Online Help Update: VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders to drive collaboration and data management transformation in the dairy industry — and our list of partners continues to grow! Check out all available and upcoming PULSE Platform Integrations in the new Partners online help topic!
• PULSE Platform Worklists Online Help Update: As VAS continues to expand Worklist functionality in the PULSE Platform mobile app, we have streamlined the Worklists online help topic to make it easier for you to go straight to the instructions you need, whether it's creating the list commands in DC305, updating lists in the mobile app, or monitoring worklist progress in the web version of the PULSE Platform. We've also included reference topics where you can learn more about how To-Do Lists and Vet Lists work in the PULSE Platform. Take a look at the new instructions in the Worklists online help topic!

Vet Lists in the mobile app provide you a flexible workflow where you can select follow‑up events for each animal and save animals in a queue when they require additional actions before processing:

The PULSE Platform mobile app delivers the same audible cues and sounds that many customers are familiar with from the PCC product, which helps your veterinarian and dairy workers quickly identify the required vet codes for the animals they scan against the vet list. See Learn More about Vet Lists! to get started!

Use the PULSE Platform or DC305 to create your vet lists with a special VETLIST command. For DC305 lists, adding the \K switch to the commands sends them to the PULSE Platform. The flexibility of DC305 allows you to schedule the vet lists to generate on days the veterinarian is scheduled to visit, or to generate and send them on an as-needed basis. <<add link to recurring worklists here when ready>>

You can then use your vet lists in the mobile app and monitor them in the web version of the PULSE Platform.

See Learn More about Vet Lists! for more information!

VAS is committed to partnering with other technology leaders in the dairy industry, and we are excited to announce the general availability of the Micro Technologies Cubex Platform Integration! MicroTechnologies’ Cubex is a wireless inventory system for animal health products that simplifies the management of on-hand inventory and automates the reordering and receiving of supplies. The new Micro Technologies Cubex Inventory widget allows you to display drug inventory data from your Cubex integration directly in your VAS PULSE Platform Dairy Dashboard, including key VAS animal events, such as diagnoses and treatment protocols. See Micro Technologies Cubex Overview for more information.

See Micro Technologies Cubex Overview for more information on activating the new Cubex integration.

Click the new Insights button in the menu bar, then click Shared Files in the drop-down menu to access dairy files uploaded from various sources (such as FeedWatch). Users can also add new shared files manually.

See Shared Files to learn more!

The FeedComp Recipes feature now allows you to select alternate recipes directly within the PULSE Platform. From the Recipe Details page, you can quickly view and select any available replacement (i.e., alternate) recipes. Alternate recipes can be activated or deactivated using a simple on-screen switch, and are immediately applied to the original recipe's pen(s).

See Recipe Details and Adjustments to learn more!

Company-level support has been around for a while in the VAS PULSE Platform, but in case you missed it, here's a reminder! Set up multiple dairies under an upper-level Company and then use company-level dashboards and widgets to group and analyze data across all dairies and sites.

Contact your VAS Farm Performance Consultant for more information or email Support@vas.com to get your Company configured. Check out Company Dashboards to learn more about the available widgets and data you can view across multiple dairies.