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Agriculture · head to head

GEA DairyNet vs Lindsay FieldNET

GEA DairyNet logo

GEA DairyNet

Agriculture

Modular herd and farm management software for dairies running GEA milking equipment

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Lindsay FieldNET logo

Lindsay FieldNET

Agriculture

Remote pivot monitoring, control and irrigation scheduling that retrofits almost any electric pivot

From
$300/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: GEA DairyNet the value depends on GEA hardware, so a barn with mixed-vendor parlours, sensors or feeders loses most of the native integration that justifies the software.; Lindsay FieldNET the subscription is per pivot per year and permanent, so a thirty pivot farm carries roughly a five-figure annual bill on top of the retrofit hardware and never owns the capability outright.
  • They diverge on capability: GEA DairyNet covers Herd module, Lindsay FieldNET covers Pivot Watch.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which GEA DairyNet and Lindsay FieldNET actually diverge.

Attributes where GEA DairyNet and Lindsay FieldNET differ
AttributeGEA DairyNetLindsay FieldNET
Starting priceOn request$300/year
Pricing modelquotePer pivot per year plus hardware
PlatformsWindows, Web, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android

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 GEA DairyNet

  • Herd module
  • System monitoring
  • CowScout integration
  • Feeding module
  • Youngstock module
  • Cloud data history
  • Modular subscription

Only in Lindsay FieldNET

  • Pivot Watch
  • Pivot Control retrofit
  • Remote start and stop
  • FieldNET Advisor
  • Variable rate irrigation
  • Alerts and diagnostics
  • Multi-brand fleet view

What people use each for

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

GEA DairyNet

  • A dairy replacing an ageing DairyPlan C21 installation on existing GEA milking equipmentnot Lindsay FieldNET
  • A robot barn running DairyRobot R9500 boxes that wants robot data and herd records in one placenot Lindsay FieldNET
  • A dairy adding CowScout activity monitoring and needing heat alerts to land in the herd software automaticallynot Lindsay FieldNET
  • A herd manager who wants to pay for a youngstock module covering only the heifers rather than the whole herdnot Lindsay FieldNET

Lindsay FieldNET

  • A farm with Valley, Reinke and Zimmatic pivots that wants one app instead of three vendor systemsnot GEA DairyNet
  • An operation with pivots an hour apart where a physical check costs half a daynot GEA DairyNet
  • A grower under a water allocation that needs defensible scheduling to stay inside the limitnot GEA DairyNet
  • A manager who needs an alert the moment a pivot stops overnight rather than at dawnnot GEA DairyNet

Where each one falls short

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

GEA DairyNet

  • The value depends on GEA hardware, so a barn with mixed-vendor parlours, sensors or feeders loses most of the native integration that justifies the software.
  • Nothing is published: not module prices, not per-animal rates, not installation costs, so every comparison against DeLaval or Lely requires a dealer quote and there is no way to sanity check it.
  • Per-module per-animal pricing is granular but also means costs climb quietly as you add modules and grow the herd, and the monthly cancellation option does not help once the barn depends on a module.
  • It is a successor to DairyPlan C21 rather than a rewrite of the category, so dairies migrating carry across conventions and data structures that predate cloud software and the transition itself needs dealer time.
  • GEA sells only through authorised partners, so support quality, installation competence and how quickly you get a fault fixed are determined by your regional dealer rather than by GEA.

Lindsay FieldNET

  • The subscription is per pivot per year and permanent, so a thirty pivot farm carries roughly a five-figure annual bill on top of the retrofit hardware and never owns the capability outright.
  • The Pivot Control retrofit is around $1,700 a unit before installation, which on an older or low-value pivot can approach a meaningful fraction of what the machine is worth.
  • FieldNET Advisor is priced separately from control, so the scheduling intelligence that justifies the platform is an additional line item rather than part of the subscription.
  • Cellular coverage decides whether it works; pivots in a coverage hole get intermittent control and alerts, which is the worst possible failure mode for a system you have stopped driving out to check.
  • Support and installation run through Lindsay dealers, so a farm in a territory with a weak dealer gets slow retrofits and slow fault resolution regardless of what the platform can do.

Pricing, plan by plan

GEA DairyNet

On request
  • GEA DairyNet$undefined/month
    • Priced per module, by the number of animals using that module
    • Modules can be cancelled monthly
    • One-time cost for sensors, system technology and installation quoted separately

Lindsay FieldNET

$300/year
  • Pivot Watch$undefined/year
    • Monitoring only, no remote control
    • Lower annual subscription than control tiers
    • Device purchased per pivot
  • Pivot Control$300/year
    • Approximately $300 per pivot per year
    • Retrofit unit around $1,700 plus installation
    • Full remote start, stop, speed and endgun control
  • FieldNET Advisor$undefined/year
    • Irrigation scheduling and decision support
    • Priced separately on top of control subscription
    • Uses soil, crop stage and weather inputs

Which should you pick?

Choose GEA DairyNet if

  • You need herd module.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want system monitoring.
GEA DairyNet review

Choose Lindsay FieldNET if

  • You need pivot watch.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want pivot control retrofit.
Lindsay FieldNET review

Questions people ask

Is GEA DairyNet or Lindsay FieldNET better?
Neither clearly leads. GEA DairyNet starts at On request and Lindsay FieldNET at $300/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, GEA DairyNet or Lindsay FieldNET?
GEA DairyNet starts at On request and Lindsay FieldNET at $300/year.
Does GEA DairyNet or Lindsay FieldNET run on more platforms?
GEA DairyNet runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android. Lindsay FieldNET runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is GEA DairyNet best used for?
GEA DairyNet is most often used for a dairy replacing an ageing dairyplan c21 installation on existing gea milking equipment, a robot barn running dairyrobot r9500 boxes that wants robot data and herd records in one place, a dairy adding cowscout activity monitoring and needing heat alerts to land in the herd software automatically, a herd manager who wants to pay for a youngstock module covering only the heifers rather than the whole herd. Of those, a dairy replacing an ageing dairyplan c21 installation on existing gea milking equipment and a robot barn running dairyrobot r9500 boxes that wants robot data and herd records in one place are not what Lindsay FieldNET is typically brought in for.
What can GEA DairyNet do that Lindsay FieldNET cannot?
GEA DairyNet covers Herd module, System monitoring, CowScout integration, Feeding module. Lindsay FieldNET covers Pivot Watch, Pivot Control retrofit, Remote start and stop, FieldNET Advisor.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

GEA DairyNet: Does DairyNet replace DairyPlan C21?

Yes. It is the successor product, built on the same decades of DairyPlan development but restructured into cloud-connected modules.

Lindsay FieldNET: Does FieldNET only work with Zimmatic pivots?

No. FieldNET Pivot Control is built to retrofit almost any electric pivot, and mixed fleets of Valley, Reinke and Zimmatic machines run in one account.

GEA DairyNet: How is it priced?

Per module, with each module priced on the number of animals actually using that module's functions. Modules can be cancelled monthly. No rates are published.

Lindsay FieldNET: What does it cost per pivot?

Around $1,700 for a Pivot Control unit plus installation, then roughly $300 per pivot per year. Pivot Watch monitoring is cheaper on both.

GEA DairyNet: Will it work with non-GEA milking equipment?

Basic herd records will, but the sensor, robot and parlour integrations that make it worth buying are GEA-specific.

Lindsay FieldNET: Is FieldNET Advisor included?

No. Advisor is the scheduling and decision support layer and is quoted separately from remote control.

GEA DairyNet: Is the software cost the main expense?

No. The one-time investment in sensors, system technology and installation is the larger figure, and it is quoted separately by the sales partner.

Lindsay FieldNET: What happens if the cellular signal drops?

You lose remote control and alerting until it returns, which is why coverage should be checked at each pivot before committing.

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