Livestock & Animal Husbandry
Dairy
Herd, parlour, contract and margin over feed, in one record.
Dairy is the most data-rich enterprise on most farms and the most fragmented, with milk recording, parlour software, herd health and the milk contract typically in four unconnected systems. This module joins them: every cow's lactation, health and breeding history alongside the milk contract terms that actually determine what the milk is worth.
- 12 capabilities
- 4 linked schemes
- Flagship module
- Offline capable
- 12
- Capabilities in this module
- 6
- Interactive tools
- 4
- Linked support schemes
- 6
- Data integrations
- 6
- Measures reported
The ground reality
What is actually happening in dairy in the UK
Milk output value rose sharply in recent official statistics, up 12 per cent in a single year, making dairy one of the few enterprises where Farm Business Income has been forecast to hold or improve. Fair Dealing Obligations now apply to all milk purchase contracts, which changes the negotiating position and makes contract term tracking a commercial necessity rather than an administrative chore.
Figures are as published at the time of writing. Farm policy and payment rates change frequently — verify against the primary source before relying on any number here.
In the field
Dairy, as it actually looks
Photography from working UK holdings alongside the interface that records it. Every frame below is a commissioned slot: the brief is stated until the photograph is taken.
Dairy — a walkthrough
A working pass through dairy: entering the record once, and watching it appear in the evidence pack, the calendar and the scheme application without being typed again.
- 0:00 What the module is for
- 0:48 Entering the record
- 2:05 Where it appears next
- 3:20 The evidence pack
Photography slots state their own brief until the shot is commissioned, so the layout never shifts when real images arrive.
Capabilities
What Dairy does
Every capability below is built on the same underlying record, so entering something once is enough for it to appear wherever it is needed.
Record and plan
- Individual cow record with lactation, yield, health, breeding and lineage
- Milk recording integration with yield, butterfat, protein and somatic cell count
- Bulk tank quality tracking against contract thresholds and penalty bands
Operate and monitor
- Milk contract manager with price schedule, A and B pricing, and volume commitment
- Margin over purchased feed calculation per cow and per litre
- Mastitis and somatic cell count control programme with cure and dry-off protocols
Comply and evidence
- Fertility management including calving interval, submission rate and conception rate
- Calving and youngstock rearing with growth targets to first service
- Dry cow and transition management protocols
Analyse and improve
- Lameness scoring and mobility programme
- Parlour and robot performance monitoring
- Milk from forage calculation linked directly to the grassland module
Interactive
Tools you actually use, not screens you read
These are working interfaces inside the module — maps, calculators, planners and dashboards that respond to your own holding data.
Herd dashboard with yield, quality, fertility and health on one screen
Herd dashboard with yield, quality, fertility and health on one screen
DashboardMargin over feed calculator responding to milk price and feed cost inputs
Margin over feed calculator responding to milk price and feed cost inputs
CalculatorSomatic cell count trend by cow with intervention flagging
Somatic cell count trend by cow with intervention flagging
ToolFertility performance funnel from calving to confirmed pregnancy
Fertility performance funnel from calving to confirmed pregnancy
ToolMilk contract comparator modelling annual value across competing schedules
Milk contract comparator modelling annual value across competing schedules
ToolMilk from forage tracker against the grassland record
Milk from forage tracker against the grassland record
ToolEnd to end
How Dairy runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
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1
Register the herd and individual animals
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Record daily yields and health events
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Load milk recording and bulk tank results
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Manage breeding and fertility cycles
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Monitor quality against contract thresholds
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Calculate margin over feed
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Plan health interventions with the vet
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
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8
Reconcile the milk cheque against the contract
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Who uses it
Built around four real jobs, not one generic user
Each of these people needs something different from the same record. The module is designed so none of them has to work around the others.
Dairy farm manager
350 cows all-year-round calving
Needs margin over feed visible weekly, not at the year end.
Spring block calving grazier
220 cows
Needs grazing and fertility managed as one system.
Herd veterinarian
Routine visits and health planning
Needs complete medicine and health records before the visit.
Milk buyer field officer
Supply chain
Needs quality trends and assurance status without a farm visit.
Schemes and funding
Support schemes this module works with
Agrivencia holds these schemes as data, so eligibility, payment rates, caps and windows update the day they change rather than at the next software release.
Animal Health and Welfare Pathway
Fund annual veterinary reviews and capital investment to improve animal health and welfare outcomes.
Defra / Rural Payments Agency United KingdomFair Dealing Obligations for Milk
Improve contractual fairness between milk producers and purchasers.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs EnglandFarming Equipment and Technology Fund
Contribute towards the cost of specified equipment and technology that improves productivity, slurry management or animal health and welfare.
Defra / Rural Payments Agency EnglandImproving Farm Productivity Grant
Support investment in robotics, automation and on-farm energy that raises productivity.
Defra / Rural Payments AgencyRates, caps and windows change frequently and sometimes without notice. Always confirm against the current published scheme rules before applying.
Measurement
How you will know it is working
The module reports against these measures from the day it is switched on, so the value is demonstrable rather than assumed.
- 01Litres per cow
- 02Margin over purchased feed
- 03Somatic cell count
- 04Calving interval
- 05Milk from forage percentage
- 06Involuntary culling rate
Try it now
Margin Over Purchased Feed
The weekly number that tells a dairy business whether it is making money, calculated from your own milk price and feed cost.
How this is calculated
Milk income is yield multiplied by price. Feed cost is concentrate fed multiplied by cost per tonne. Margin over purchased feed is the difference, expressed per cow per day and multiplied up for the herd.
Margin over purchased feed excludes forage cost, labour and all fixed costs. It is a management indicator, not a profit figure.
Traceability
The chain behind one batch
Livestock traceability is statutory, the reporting window is short, and it runs through a different national system in each nation. The record is assembled as the animal moves rather than reconstructed at audit.
BATCH-801F18
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Born on holding
- Who
- Holding of birth
- Evidence
- Ear tag applied and registered
- Held in
- British Cattle Movement Service
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Health intervention
- Who
- Veterinary practice
- Evidence
- Medicine record with withdrawal period
- Held in
- Medicine book
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Moved
- Who
- Haulier
- Evidence
- Statutory movement report within the reporting window
- Held in
- British Cattle Movement Service
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Received
- Who
- Destination holding
- Evidence
- Arrival recorded, standstill applied
- Held in
- Holding register
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Slaughtered
- Who
- Approved abattoir
- Evidence
- Kill sheet, classification and food chain information
- Held in
- FSA
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Sold
- Who
- Buyer
- Evidence
- Batch linked to the carcase and the holding of origin
- Held in
- Platform record
Take the record with you
Obligation calendar
What dairy asks of you, and when
Windows, deadlines and recurring obligations for England. Set a different nation and the calendar reconfigures; farm across a border and it shows both, reconciled.
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February 1 entry
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3 February: Animal Health and Welfare Pathway
Rolling application.
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April 1 entry
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11 April: Fair Dealing Obligations for Milk
In force.
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May 1 entry
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25 May: Record daily yields and health events
A recurring step in dairy.
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June 2 entries
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5 June: Farming Transformation Fund
Round-based by theme.
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15 June: Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Two windows in 2026: window one from 30 June, window two from September.
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July 2 entries
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14 July: Slurry Infrastructure Grant
Round-based.
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17 July: Water Management Grant
Round-based.
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October 3 entries
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2 October: Register the herd and individual animals
A recurring step in dairy.
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5 October: Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
Round-based, usually open for a defined application period.
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5 October: Load milk recording and bulk tank results
A recurring step in dairy.
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November 3 entries
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12 November: Improving Farm Productivity Grant
Round-based.
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19 November: Manage breeding and fertility cycles
A recurring step in dairy.
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27 November: Environmental Land Management Capital Grants
Round-based, with rapid allocation once open.
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December 1 entry
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26 December: Countryside Stewardship
Rolling and round-based depending on the tier and option group.
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Questions answered
What people ask about Dairy
Does this replace the software I already use?
Not necessarily. Agrivencia integrates with authoritative sources and mainstream packages rather than insisting on replacing them. Where an incumbent does one job well, the platform connects to it; where the job spans several systems and nobody does it, the platform does it.
Will it work where I have no signal?
Yes. Field capture in Dairy is offline first, storing locally and synchronising when a connection returns. Only around a fifth of UK farms report reliable signal across the whole holding, so this is a design assumption rather than a feature.
What happens when the scheme rules change?
Scheme rules are held as data rather than code, so a rate change, a cap change or a window closure is a content update that takes effect the same day. The platform also alerts you to what the change does to your own position.
Who owns the data I put in?
You do. The Farm Data Charter gives you a complete export in open formats at any time, and every instance of data sharing requires an explicit, revocable consent that is visible in your account.
Does it work if I farm across a border?
Yes, and that is one of the main reasons the platform exists. A business with land in more than one nation sees one reconciled view rather than two portals, with obligations and deadlines from both administrations in a single calendar.
Can my agronomist or land agent use it too?
Yes. You grant scoped, time-limited access per holding and per module, and you can revoke it in one click. Advisers never get a shared password or a blanket view.
What is the biggest limitation of this module?
Contract term complexity. Mitigated by structured contract modelling. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
Documents
Take it away with you
Everything here is printable and works on a kitchen table with no signal. Where a document asks for an email address, it says so on the button rather than after you press it.
Margin Over Feed, Weekly: The Dairy Record That Drives Decisions
The practical handbook for dairy: what the rules require, what the evidence has to show, and the mistakes that cost people money.
dairy — evidence checklist
Every document an audit or a claim asks for, in the order it is asked for, with the validity period of each.
dairy — record template
The record structure the module uses, as a spreadsheet, so a business not yet on the platform can start keeping it correctly today.
Data model reference
Entities, fields and integration points for dairy, for advisers and software partners.
See Dairy running on your own holding
Thirty minutes, using your parcels, your schemes and your enterprises rather than a sample farm. No obligation and no sales script — if it does not fit your business we will say so.
- Free tier available
- No card required
- Your data stays yours