Over the past few months, many updates and changes have been made in Horizon. Some are easily noticeable, while others are subtle but enhance the functionality and user experience of the program. Here’s a breakdown of these improvements and a preview of what’s to come! For any questions, please reach out to your FMS advisor.
Animal Count Widget
By now, most users have noticed the new animal count widget on the dashboard. This feature is available on both the desktop and mobile app, allowing you to switch between multiple categories: Production Status, Groups, and Locations.
- If bulls are appearing in your animal count widget, you’ll need to delete these. As of 10/28, you can now batch-transfer out all animals with a “0” as their number.
- For entering bull calves, remember: when you select “Keep Calf – No,” you must also set “Calving Result – Departed; Auto Transfer Out” to ensure bull calves aren’t included in the animal count widget.
Soon, you’ll also be able to see Reproduction Status as an option, making it easier to monitor animals that are pregnant, open, or have uncertain pregnancy status.
Alarm Page
A link to the Device Indication report is now accessible directly from the alarms page.
Improved Milk Quality Graph
The default SCC scale now ranges from 0-2,000; if a cow’s SCC exceeds 2,000, the scale will automatically adjust (labeled 1 in the image). Conductivity alerts are now displayed with a transparent, dotted shape that allows overlapping alerts when close to each other, making it easier to hover over these events (labeled 2 in the image). Overall readability of the graph has also been improved (labeled 3 in the image).
Pedigree
Sire information is now consistently shown, and behind a calf, the sire’s name is displayed instead of the life number.
Feeding Dashboard on Mobile
The feeding dashboard is now available on mobile devices, displaying all feeding-related widgets and KPIs. This is especially useful for Vector customers.
Improved Health Model – Coming Nov. 5th
Customers using activity, rumination, and/or eating minutes tags will benefit from this improved health model. Expect better sick chance calculation for non-lactating animals (heifers and dry cows), leading to more accurate health reporting and task notifications. The transition period model has been refined to reduce false positives for fresh animals.
Medicines
You can now add decimals to dosages for improved accuracy and tracking. Additionally, a bug was fixed that prevented dosages from being saved correctly in imperial units and converting to metric.
Milk Sampling Report
For customers in testing, the milk sampling report sent directly to DHIA or DairyOne now supports a larger attachment size. This benefits larger herds that previously faced attachment size issues, with no visible changes for users.
What Improvements Are Coming?
Batch Cow Info Entry – Expected Nov. 11th
Addressing feedback regarding batch group changes, the group dropdown menu will now display all groups.
Animal Event Overview – Expected Nov. 11th
For users of the “Animal Event Overview” report, upcoming improvements will include inactive cows and cows transferred off the farm, offering a more complete view of animal-related events. The report will also be viewable for specific date ranges, regardless of the animal’s current status on the farm.
Horizon Phone Application Upgrade – Expected Nov. 25th
To reduce farm disruptions, a background update process will silently download the new version of the app, updating it when the device is locked or not in use. In the future, this update process will also apply to the desktop version, though the date is still unknown.
Improved Sidebar Behavior – Expected Early 2025
To address complaints about sidebar sensitivity, users will soon have the option to keep the sidebar collapsed or expanded. A toggle button at the bottom of the sidebar will allow for easy switching, with a shortcut (CTRL + M) for quick access.
Combined Routing Pages – Expected Before End of 2024
A new routing page will merge the Manual and Active routing pages into a single Overview page. Users can filter by manual and scheduled routings and sort by ascending or descending order based on animal info, routing type, routing time, and routing direction.
