Softwr

Agriculture · head to head

DairyComp vs Farmers Business Network (FBN)

DairyComp logo

DairyComp

Agriculture

Command-line dairy herd management software used by large North American dairies

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Farmers Business Network (FBN) logo

Farmers Business Network (FBN)

Agriculture

Farmer-to-farmer network and marketplace

From
$700/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: DairyComp the command language interface takes weeks to learn and effectively ties the dairy to whichever staff member knows it, so losing a herd manager can strand the herd record until someone else is trained.; Farmers Business Network (FBN) the Internet Archive's capture of Farmers Business Network's homepage on 2 January 2021 stated core FBN membership is free, with fees applying only to add-on services such as FBN Direct input purchases, crop marketing advisory, brokerage, financing and insurance, each offered by separately licensed FBN subsidiary entities.
  • They diverge on capability: DairyComp covers Command language reporting, Farmers Business Network (FBN) covers Seed performance analytics.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DairyComp and Farmers Business Network (FBN) actually diverge.

Attributes where DairyComp and Farmers Business Network (FBN) differ
AttributeDairyCompFarmers Business Network (FBN)
Starting priceOn request$700/year
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWindowsWeb, Ios, Android
FoundedUnknown2014

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Agriculture).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in DairyComp

  • Command language reporting
  • Complete lactation records
  • Parlour and meter integration
  • Reproduction management
  • Health event tracking
  • Genetic evaluation import
  • Benchmarking exports

Only in Farmers Business Network (FBN)

  • Seed performance analytics
  • Input price transparency
  • Direct input purchasing
  • Yield analytics
  • Crop marketing tools
  • Farm financing
  • Agronomic insights
  • Farmer network access

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

DairyComp

  • A 3,000 cow freestall dairy whose herd manager needs to build an arbitrary cull or breeding cohort in secondsnot Farmers Business Network (FBN)
  • A dairy consultant working across a dozen client herds who needs identical reporting on all of themnot Farmers Business Network (FBN)
  • A dairy integrating parlour milk weights and conductivity into the animal record for early mastitis detectionnot Farmers Business Network (FBN)
  • A veterinary practice running repro audits and protocol compliance checks across a client basenot Farmers Business Network (FBN)

Farmers Business Network (FBN)

  • Input purchasingnot DairyComp
  • Seed selectionnot DairyComp
  • Price comparisonnot DairyComp
  • Farm financingnot DairyComp
  • Market insightsnot DairyComp

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

DairyComp

  • The command language interface takes weeks to learn and effectively ties the dairy to whichever staff member knows it, so losing a herd manager can strand the herd record until someone else is trained.
  • It is a Windows desktop application at heart rather than a cloud service, so multi-site access, remote working and mobile data entry are bolt-ons rather than native, and back-ups are the dairy's own problem.
  • Zoetis ownership puts a pharmaceutical company in control of every treatment record on the farm and biases the integration roadmap towards Zoetis sensors and services rather than the best available.
  • No pricing is published anywhere, so herd-size-based quotes vary by dealer and there is no way to benchmark what you are being charged without asking neighbouring dairies.
  • It assumes North American dairy conventions, so European dairies dealing with different milk recording bodies, national herd databases and statutory reporting formats find the fit poor and often need local software alongside.

Farmers Business Network (FBN)

  • The Internet Archive's capture of Farmers Business Network's homepage on 2 January 2021 stated core FBN membership is free, with fees applying only to add-on services such as FBN Direct input purchases, crop marketing advisory, brokerage, financing and insurance, each offered by separately licensed FBN subsidiary entities.

Pricing, plan by plan

DairyComp

On request
  • DairyComp$undefined/year
    • Licensed per dairy, priced on herd size
    • Support and update contract quoted separately
    • Parlour and meter interface modules quoted per system

Farmers Business Network (FBN)

$700/year
  • FBN Membership$700/year
    • Access to FBN Analytics
    • Seed performance data
    • Chemical price transparency
  • FBN DirectFree
    • Transparent input pricing
    • Direct-to-farm delivery
    • Seed & crop protection

Which should you pick?

Choose DairyComp if

  • You need command language reporting.
  • You work on Windows.
  • You also want complete lactation records.
DairyComp review

Choose Farmers Business Network (FBN) if

  • You need seed performance analytics.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want input price transparency.
Farmers Business Network (FBN) review

Questions people ask

Is DairyComp or Farmers Business Network (FBN) better?
Neither clearly leads. DairyComp starts at On request and Farmers Business Network (FBN) at $700/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DairyComp or Farmers Business Network (FBN)?
DairyComp starts at On request and Farmers Business Network (FBN) at $700/year.
Does DairyComp or Farmers Business Network (FBN) run on more platforms?
DairyComp runs on Windows. Farmers Business Network (FBN) runs on Web, Ios, Android.
What is DairyComp best used for?
DairyComp is most often used for a 3,000 cow freestall dairy whose herd manager needs to build an arbitrary cull or breeding cohort in seconds, a dairy consultant working across a dozen client herds who needs identical reporting on all of them, a dairy integrating parlour milk weights and conductivity into the animal record for early mastitis detection, a veterinary practice running repro audits and protocol compliance checks across a client base. Of those, a 3,000 cow freestall dairy whose herd manager needs to build an arbitrary cull or breeding cohort in seconds and a dairy consultant working across a dozen client herds who needs identical reporting on all of them are not what Farmers Business Network (FBN) is typically brought in for.
What can DairyComp do that Farmers Business Network (FBN) cannot?
DairyComp covers Command language reporting, Complete lactation records, Parlour and meter integration, Reproduction management. Farmers Business Network (FBN) covers Seed performance analytics, Input price transparency, Direct input purchasing, Yield analytics.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

DairyComp: Who owns DairyComp now?

Zoetis, through its acquisition of Valley Agricultural Software. It sits in the same portfolio as the Smartbow cow monitoring system.

DairyComp: Is it hard to learn?

Yes, genuinely. It is driven by a typed command language rather than menus, and most new users need weeks of practice before they are productive.

DairyComp: Does it run in the cloud?

It is fundamentally a Windows application. Hosted and multi-site arrangements exist but the software is not a browser-native cloud product.

DairyComp: What does it cost?

Nothing is published. Pricing is quoted per dairy based on herd size, plus separate charges for support and for each parlour or meter interface.

Share

Related pages

More on DairyComp

More on Farmers Business Network (FBN)

Keep looking

Other head to heads