Agriculture · head to head
DairyComp vs SMARTBOW
DairyComp
Agriculture
Command-line dairy herd management software used by large North American dairies
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
SMARTBOW
Agriculture
Ear tag cow monitoring with real-time indoor location, from Zoetis
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
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.; SMARTBOW real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
- They diverge on capability: DairyComp covers Command language reporting, SMARTBOW covers Real-time location.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which DairyComp and SMARTBOW actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), 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 SMARTBOW
- Real-time location
- Heat detection
- Rumination monitoring
- Health alerts
- On-farm server
- Individual baselines
- Herd software integration
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 SMARTBOW
- A dairy consultant working across a dozen client herds who needs identical reporting on all of themnot SMARTBOW
- A dairy integrating parlour milk weights and conductivity into the animal record for early mastitis detectionnot SMARTBOW
- A veterinary practice running repro audits and protocol compliance checks across a client basenot SMARTBOW
SMARTBOW
- A 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutesnot DairyComp
- A dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervalsnot DairyComp
- A herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritisnot DairyComp
- A vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herdsnot 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.
SMARTBOW
- Real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
- It is an indoor system; a grazing or partly grazed herd loses the location capability that is the main reason to choose it over cheaper monitoring.
- Ear tags are consumable and go missing with the tag, so the running cost includes replacements at a rate that depends on how rough your handling facilities are.
- Zoetis ownership means a pharmaceutical company holds continuous behavioural data on every animal alongside your treatment records, and the integration roadmap favours other Zoetis products.
- Nothing is published on price, and sales run through veterinary and dealer channels, so comparing it against DeLaval, Nedap or CowManager requires several quotes and there is no reference list price.
Pricing, plan by plan
DairyComp
On request- DairyComp$undefined/year
- Licensed per dairy, priced on herd size
- Support and update contract quoted separately
- Parlour and meter interface modules quoted per system
SMARTBOW
On request- SMARTBOW$undefined/year
- Ear tags priced per animal
- Barn receiver infrastructure and on-farm server quoted per building
- Installation and commissioning quoted separately
Which should you pick?
Choose DairyComp if
- You need command language reporting.
- You work on Windows.
- You also want complete lactation records.
Choose SMARTBOW if
- You need real-time location.
- You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want heat detection.
Questions people ask
- Is DairyComp or SMARTBOW better?
- Neither clearly leads. DairyComp starts at On request and SMARTBOW at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, DairyComp or SMARTBOW?
- DairyComp starts at On request and SMARTBOW at On request.
- Does DairyComp or SMARTBOW run on more platforms?
- DairyComp runs on Windows. SMARTBOW runs on Windows, 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 SMARTBOW is typically brought in for.
- What can DairyComp do that SMARTBOW cannot?
- DairyComp covers Command language reporting, Complete lactation records, Parlour and meter integration, Reproduction management. SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts.
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.
SMARTBOW: What does SMARTBOW do that other activity monitors do not?
Real-time indoor location. It tells you where the flagged cow physically is, not just that she is behaving abnormally.
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.
SMARTBOW: Does it work on grazing herds?
Poorly. Location depends on barn-mounted receivers, so animals out at pasture fall outside the system's coverage.
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.
SMARTBOW: Who owns it?
Zoetis, which also owns Valley Agricultural Software and DairyComp. The technology came from Smartbow GmbH in Austria.
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.
SMARTBOW: Is it cloud based?
Analysis runs on an on-farm server rather than in the cloud, which keeps it working during an internet outage but makes the server your responsibility.
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