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Dairy farm alarm texts for milk tanks, silos and barns

Warm milk in the bulk tank or barn fans that stopped won't wait for morning chores. Your tank monitor, feed system or parlor controls already send an alarm email, even through a Google Group. Welco texts the tank, the reading and the time. Whoever has the night check gets it, and nothing new goes in the milk house.

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  • Works from the alarm email you have
  • No app, any mobile phone
  • The whole family, no per-user fees

Works by email with

  • Google Workspace Groups
  • Freezers & cold storage
  • Generator & power
  • PLC alarms

A sensor dashboard for Bulk Tank 2: the reading rises above its 45 °F limit to 47 °F, outside the allowed band. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [Bulk Tank 2] Milk temp HIGH 47F, check cooling at 10:33 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: alerts arrive through the night and each goes to the right person. 10:33 PM, to Herd manager: "Welco: [Bulk Tank 2] Milk temp HIGH 47F, check cooling at 10:33 PM. Reply STOP to opt out." 1:46 AM, to Farm hand on night check: "Welco: [North Farm] ALARM - SILO 3 FULL, fill auger running at 1:46 AM. Reply STOP to opt out." 4:19 AM, to Farm owner: "Welco: [Freestall Barn] Power lost, generator started at 4:19 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What a family dairy gets from Welco

Whoever has the night check gets milk tank, feed and barn alarms as texts. They come from the email your monitor or family Google Group already sends.

  • The night check knows which tank

    The text names the bulk tank, the milk temperature and the compressor state. The herd manager knows it's a cooling problem before boots go on.

  • Everyone hears about barn power

    A power loss or generator start reaches the owner, the herd manager and the hired hand through several phones per alert.

  • Feed alarms go to the feeder

    A word-matching rule spots SILO or AUGER in the email and texts only the person who runs feed.

  • The family alarm group keeps working

    Welco joins your Google Group as one more member, and a rule trims the group footer so the text is just the alarm.

A bulk tank compressor that quit after evening milking

A family dairy with a herd manager, the owner and a hired hand who takes weekend nights. Here is one warm tank, start to finish.

  1. The night rule starts after milking

    Once evening milking ends, after-hours routing sends tank alarms to the herd manager and the hired hand on tonight.

  2. The tank monitor emails the family group

    MILK TANK ALARM Tank 2 temp 44 F Set point 38 F Compressor: OFF Agitator: ON

  3. The herd manager and the hired hand get it

    Welco: [Milk House] Bulk tank 2 at 44F and rising, compressor OFF at 11:58 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.

  4. The herd manager replies from the milk house

    Compressor breaker tripped, reset it, watching the temp

  5. The reply comes back as an email

    Welco sends replies by email to the address the alarm came from, so the night's story is in writing by breakfast.

    Reply from the herd manager's phone: Compressor breaker tripped, reset it, watching the temp

  6. Morning milking starts on a cold tank

    The tank is back at its set point, and the delivery report shows both phones got the alarm text.

These times are an example, and text delivery depends on mobile networks. A reply is a note for people and resets nothing on the tank monitor.

How to set up dairy farm alarm texts in an evening

Whoever set up the tank monitor or the family alarm group can do this. The monitor only needs one more email address.

  1. Sign up and verify the farm

    Tell us about the farm business and the alarms you'll send. We check every business, so your alert number carries farm alarms and nothing else.

  2. Invite the family and the hired hand

    Each person enters their own mobile on the invite and confirms with YES. A hired hand who starts next month joins the same way.

  3. Add Welco to the group or the monitor

    Add your Welco address as a group member or alarm recipient, then approve the sender. Test mode shows the text without sending it.

Get your next milk tank alarm on your phone

Sign up, verify your farm business and send one alarm email to Welco.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

Text me my farm alarmsBook a demo

What farm equipment can send alarm texts?

If a monitor, controller or logger sends an email, Welco can text it. That covers cold storage alarm texts for vaccine and product coolers and data logger alarms at hatcheries. Parlor controllers can send texts from farm PLCs too.

Farm alarms that get boots on

These are masked examples from a dairy night. Irrigation district riders and food plant maintenance techs get texts like these too, as do other industries that text alarms.

  • Barn ventilation: Welco: [Freestall Barn] Tunnel fans OFF, barn temp 88F at 9:31 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Feed center: Welco: [Feed Center] Mixer auger motor FAULT, TMR stopped at 3:50 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.
  • Vaccine fridge: Welco: [Calf Barn] Vaccine fridge 49F, above 46F high limit at 1:27 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.

A phone showing these alert texts: Barn ventilation, "Welco: [Freestall Barn] Tunnel fans OFF, barn temp 88F at 9:31 PM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Feed center, "Welco: [Feed Center] Mixer auger motor FAULT, TMR stopped at 3:50 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."; Vaccine fridge, "Welco: [Calf Barn] Vaccine fridge 49F, above 46F high limit at 1:27 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

Which farm alarms should text the person on night check?

Text the alarms that cost milk, feed or animals if nobody looks until chores. Readings that recover on their own can stay in the group email.

Worth a text at night

  • Bulk tank milk temperature high, or the compressor off.
  • Barn fans or tunnel ventilation off in hot weather.
  • Barn power lost, or the generator started.
  • A water tank or well pump failure, so cattle may run dry.
  • A vaccine or medicine fridge over its limit.
  • Calf barn or hatchery temperature out of range.

Fine to read at breakfast

Wash cycle reports, milk pickup notices and low feed warnings. They matter for the day, not for a 2 AM walk to the milk house.

Pick one person for each night

A text to the whole family at 2 AM wakes everyone and gets answered by nobody. Put tonight's night check on the rule, and add a second phone for tank and barn power only. Read why a landline can't get alarm texts before listing the house phone.

A milk tank alarm from a Google Group, as a text

Many farms send alarms to a Google Group so the whole family gets the email. Welco reads the group's mail, and a rule cuts the footer so only the alarm is sent.

Alert email from farm-alarms@googlegroups.com, subject “MILK TANK ALARM”. Welco trims it to one text of 80 characters: “Welco: [Tank 1] Milk temp 52F, set 40F, compressor OFF. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [Tank 1] Milk temp 52F, set 40F, compressor OFF. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters306801 credit

Animation: the alert email "MILK TANK ALARM" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [Tank 1] Milk temp 52F, set 40F, compressor OFF. Reply STOP to opt out."

See Google Groups email to text for how to add Welco to your group.

The night check on the farm, then and now

The old way

  • The alarm email sits in the group inbox beside feed invoices until breakfast.
  • A monitor still emails a carrier address for US Cellular or Cricket and prepaid phones.
  • Someone walks to the milk house at 2 AM just to look at the gauge.
  • A repeating silo alarm fills the inbox all night.

With Welco

  • The tank, the temperature and the compressor state on the lock screen.
  • Tank alarms to the herd manager, silo alarms to the feeder.
  • Only tonight's night check gets woken, and the rest of the family sleeps.
  • Replies come back as email, so the morning starts with what was done.

Frequently asked questions

Our alarms already go to a Google Group. Do we have to change that?

No. Keep the group. Add your Welco address as a member of the group, then approve the group's address as a sender in Welco. Everyone still gets the email, and the people who joined Welco get a text too.

Can everyone in the family get the milk tank alarm?

Yes. Invite each family member to join with their own mobile, and nobody needs an app. Each one confirms with a short text before alarms start. Anyone can reply STOP to drop off the list, for example while away from the farm.

Our barn has poor cell signal. Will the texts still arrive?

A text needs a mobile signal to arrive. If the phone has none, the text waits until it does. Welco's delivery reports show when a phone couldn't be reached, so also text someone whose phone sleeps in a better spot, like the house.

Do we need a computer running on the farm for this to work?

Only what your alarm system already needs to send email. Welco itself needs nothing on the farm. If your tank monitor or controller sends email over the internet or a cell modem, that's enough.

Will a silo alarm that repeats every few minutes keep texting all night?

It doesn't have to. Flood control caps the number of texts a burst can send, and alarms past the cap stay in email. It also helps to set the silo controller to send its alarm once, not every few minutes.

What does Welco cost a family farm?

Nobody on the list adds a per-user fee, and there is no hardware or setup charge. Alarms use message credits from your plan, so check Welco pricing for the sizes. A 7-day free trial with 15 credits comes first, and your card is not charged until you pick a plan. The group email keeps reaching everyone it reaches today.

Could a stranger's email trigger a text to our family?

No. You approve the addresses allowed to send, like the tank monitor or the family Google Group. Mail from anyone else sent to your Welco address is refused. That keeps spam and phishing off everyone's phone.

Can Welco stand in for a phone dialer on the farm?

If the monitor that drives the dialer also sends email, yes for texts. Welco never places voice calls, so keep the dialer if someone relies on a ringing house phone. The Sensaphone comparison shows who should pick which.

Know about warm milk before morning chores

Send your tank monitor's alarm email to Welco and invite the family to join from their phones.

Text me my farm alarmsBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing