The Challenge

Ferme Caribou is a family-run dairy in Terrebonne, Quebec, managed by Viviane and Jasmin Mathieu. In common with many progressive operations, they have invested steadily in technology: CowScout activity monitoring, collars and tags already in place, and a data-led philosophy that runs through how they approach the whole business. There is real ambition as the farms are targeting 2.5 kilograms of milk per cow in the coming years, up from their current 2 kilograms, and they are clear-eyed about what getting there requires.

"To achieve high performance, we need tools," as Viviane puts it.

The challenge that 91¶¶Òõ was brought in to address was a specific consequence of a significant operational change. When Ferme Caribou transitioned to a free-stall barn system, herd management changed fundamentally. In a tied or more confined system, lameness is easier to spot. Animals are in fixed positions, visible to the same staff at predictable times. In a free-stall environment, cows move more freely, space out across a larger area, and the physical cues that an experienced stockperson would normally notice become much harder to read consistently.

"One of the challenges with free-stall housing is movement," Viviane says. "We realised that mobility and hoof care were extremely important."

The farm needed a way to monitor mobility objectively and continuously without placing additional demands on the team, and without adding anything to the cows themselves.

Why 91¶¶Òõ

When 91¶¶Òõ became available through the GEA Farming Canada team, Viviane and Jasmin were approached directly with a proposal to install it on the farm. The installation happened in March 2025 and was straightforward.

"It was really simple. It took a day at most. It involves positioning the camera correctly and connecting it to the computer," says Viviane.

The camera is positioned at the exit of the rotary parlour. As each cow leaves, the system analyses her movement and generates a mobility score. No tags, no collars, no additional hardware on the animal. For a farm that already had CowScout and EID infrastructure in place, the practical integration question mattered: would a new system add to the data picture or simply add to the workload?

The answer, for Ferme Caribou, was that it added to the picture in a way that made everything else more useful. CowScout monitors activity and rumination, flagging when a cow is resting more or eating less. 91¶¶Òõ scores mobility. When the two datasets align on the same animal ¡ª an activity alert and a lameness flag appearing together ¡ª the connection becomes immediately actionable.

"We immediately make the connection that a cow is resting more because her feet hurt, and she becomes a priority so we can resolve the issue quickly," says Viviane.

The daily workflow built around 91¶¶Òõ at Ferme Caribou is practical and specific. Viviane reviews the data each morning before milking begins, selects the animals that need attention, and has those cows identified as they exit the rotary parlour. The timing is deliberate.

"At that moment," she says, "their udders are empty, and in the morning, the animals are calmer, which makes interventions more effective."

The Results

Ferme Caribou installed 91¶¶Òõ in March 2025, and the farm is still in the early stages of building its data history. Specific outcome metrics are not yet available, and the Mathieus are candid about the fact that the full value of the system will compound over time as the AI accumulates more precise information on their herd. That is part of how Viviane thinks about the investment.

"91¶¶Òõ is an investment that also allows us to think long-term," she says. "With artificial intelligence, over time, I believe 91¶¶Òõ will accumulate more and more precise data that we can use. We need to think beyond today."

What is already observable is a shift in how the team approaches individual cow management. Interventions happen earlier. The farm's own description of the change is telling: earlier action frequently means less damage, faster recovery, and less stress for the animal. Applying a hoof block is not always necessary when a problem is caught at the subclinical stage.

"Acting quickly helps reduce the negative impact on an animal that might otherwise suffer from a sole ulcer or another hoof injury, helping maintain milk production," says Viviane.

The interface itself has proved straightforward for the team to use day to day. The correlation between lameness score and milk production is displayed graphically, and the visual indicators for trimming status and intervention history mean staff can see clearly what has been done and what still needs attention.

"The interface is very user-friendly. It's visual. Everything is clear."

Critically for a farm with employees involved in daily herd health decisions, the data provides a shared, objective basis for action rather than relying on individual observation and judgment.

"As managers, it's important for us to have a tool that helps us make the right decisions and take the necessary actions, and to support our employees who are responsible for this area of the business."

In Their Own Words

"Since we started using 91¶¶Òõ, what I do now is that I check the data on the computer before deciding on any intervention for an animal affected by lameness, or even to take early action to save work and improve animal well-being."

"Early interventions, thanks to 91¶¶Òõ, allow me to act faster, which often means less damage and quicker care. Applying a hoof block isn't always necessary, and the animal is less stressed."

"This technology really enables us to focus on prevention and heal hoof injuries or lameness more quickly. Lameness will always exist, but detecting it earlier reduces serious consequences on milk production or overall cow behaviour."

"Cutting-edge tools like this one convince me they will be key elements in helping us perform better in the future and be part of the elite in global dairy production."

Viviane Mathieu, Ferme Caribou, Terrebonne, Quebec

What This Farm Shows

Viviane and Jasmin were already data-led operators before 91¶¶Òõ arrived. What the system gave them was a layer of continuous, objective mobility data that their existing infrastructure could not provide, and that filled a specific gap created by the move to free-stall housing.

The integration with CowScout activity monitoring is also worth noting for farms considering how 91¶¶Òõ sits alongside existing systems rather than replacing them. At Ferme Caribou, the two datasets work together. A health alert from CowScout and a lameness flag from 91¶¶Òõ pointing at the same cow tells the team something that neither system could communicate alone. That kind of convergence is, in Viviane's framing, precisely where the long-term value of AI in herd management lies.

The direction of travel at Ferme Caribou is clear - from observation-based decisions towards data-supported management, from reactive treatment towards systematic prevention, from a team working on what they can see towards a team working on what the data tells them.