Thirteen years ago, when dairy farming in Vietnam was still fragmented and backward, TH Group had the strategy of applying high technology to build a chain of dairy farming and milk processing facilities on a very large scale.

From the very beginning of its operation in 2009, TH Group imported the world’s leading machinery and technology and employed foreign experts, while building a team to operate the system and master the most advanced techniques in animal husbandry.

TH has constantly updated and embraced the world’s most modern technologies in this sector.

Modern technology has helped TH Group ensure milk product quality

Great lessons

As a young leader of TH Group, who has received training and technology transfer from Israeli experts and grew up from practical operations, Tran Thi Nhu Trang – head of the Agriculture Technology Department of TH Milk Food JSC which operates a $1.2 billion project in the central province of Nghe An – said that the reason why TH imports technology and modern processes from Israel is this nation’s similar weather and climate.

Tran Thi Nhu Trang (middle), head of the Agriculture Technology Department of TH Milk Food JSC, is operating an automatic system at TH farm project

Dairy cows are inherently temperate animals, while TH's farm in Nghe An is a tropical climate, with the temperature on hot days reaching 42.43 degrees Celsius, potentially causing heat shocks for dairy cows.

The leader of TH Group said, that taking advantage of Israeli experiences and know-how in this field, will help the group take shortcuts and go faster in raising and developing dairy cows.

Trang was tasked by the group’s leaders to research and approach high-tech applications throughout the chain. This was a difficult task because there was no precedent in Vietnam, but with her creativity and perseverance, Trang has made a great contribution to the operation.

For example, right from the first days of building the farm, TH has deployed cooling systems imported from Italy, the US, and Israel. Most recently, Trang has installed a giant ceiling fan system. On the roof, there is an extra layer of heat resistance from the solar panel system. This has helped create cool air inside the facilities. As a result, cows that are not stressed and will eat and absorb nutrients better.

The management of cows by foot chip technology in 2009 was also very new. Trang said TH farm uses Afifarm-Israel herd management technology, including a pedometer chip. The chip is worn on the cow’s leg, collecting a lot of information about the health status such as the number of steps, body temperature, and total exercise time. Through these indicators, it is possible to predict the disease in cows – for example, mastitis – four days before a necessary quarantine.

“Only the healthiest cows are allowed to be milked. Thanks to this technology, we can manage a herd of nearly 70,000 dairy cows, and TH Group’s dairy farming area in Nghe An has become the dairy capital of the country,” Trang said.

On the huge fields of TH farm, high technologies can be seen everywhere, such as the most modern American John Deere harvester system that can harvest fresh grass, silage, corn, and sorghum; and continuous harvesters with a record speed of two tonnes per minute and up to 3,000 tonnes per day.

TH is currently using 13 current pivot watering rigs, each 350-550m long and fully automatic. In particular, TH uses a smart app to measure soil moisture to know when and how to water.

TH Group harvests maize materials in Nghe An province

Enhancing brainpower

From the strategic thinking of the group’s leaders using Vietnamese natural resources, intelligence, and the world’s state-of-the-art technology, TH also demonstrates the pride of “Vietnamese brainpower” through the process of mastering science and technology.

For example, TH farm imported purebred high yielding HF dairy cows from New Zealand and the US. After that, TH’s technicians mastered the sex-segregated embryo transfer technique to breed domestic cows. However, the breeding speed of this technology could not keep up with the quick development of the farm and Vietnam’s growing demand for high-yielding dairy cows. Trang and the leadership of TH Milk Food JSC decided to learn and master in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).

IVF technology requires a very high level of meticulousness, and if the technician has no expertise and no skills, he will never be successful. In fact, there are not many dairy farms in the world that can master this technique. TH has received technology transfer to technical personnel on the farm and had initial successes.

In addition, TH Group has cooperated with the American Lab Diary One for the past eight years, storing all data and to serve the process of building a nutritionally balanced diet.

Thanks to that, the fresh milk from the TH dairy farm is always homogeneous and of absolute quality. This precious milk source continues to be transported to the TH clean fresh milk factory for processing under a closed process. These are important steps in the clean 12-step production process to produce TH true MILK fresh milk.

In this process, Trang and her colleagues are constantly learning and approaching new technologies.

“A successful brand must be based on the true value of the product – determining what you want to bring to society. That is also the spirit of service that TH brings to the community through products full of wisdom and national spirit,” Trang said.