frequently asked questions

I've never had this before, why should I buy now?

Milkshake™ is a new financial tool to give you peace of mind and protection from the heat stress risk you face. It would be a shame if an extreme heat stress event lowered your yields when you had access to a product to prevent the negative financial impact.

Where do you get your data? How do I know I can trust your data? Can we use the thermometer or some device at my farm instead?

  • Milkshake™ is built using data is provided by a ECMWF – similar to NOAA, ECMWF is an international weather monitoring body that leverages the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation sensor array.
  • ECMWF measures global weather data from a variety of sources including land and ocean-based sensors, along with earth orbiting satellites.
  • The data is free and available to the public, it is used by many different parametric insurers and their clients to act as an unimpeachable third-party record of the weather. 
  • Localized weather sensors are expensive to operate and calibrate and they also do have reliable historical readings to help us understand the heat stress patterns at your farm or your region.
  • We also use (and need) 50 or more years of weather history to effectively evaluate the risks of THI events at your farm’s location which would be difficult or impossible to procure consistently with a sensor at your farm.

I have been investing a lot to mitigate heat stress already with sprinklers/fans and my airflow systems – why should I buy this product?

  • Have you considered the costs of running those systems under extreme circumstances for extended events?  Electricity, fuel and water aren’t getting cheaper, and Milkshake™ will pay you if your cost of running those systems is higher than normal during a triggering event.
  • Let’s look at your historical results- do you know how your farm performed under significant heat events in  most recent 10 years?  If you got to extreme THI levels, are you comfortable that you could weather a 3/5 or 7-day event?

I made a substantial investment in a climate-controlled facility to deal with this – I am good.

  • What’s what the most extreme heat stress event you have seen since it was installed – are you sure it will keep the cows cool in worst case scenarios?
  • And even if it does, how much more will it cost you in electricity / fuel and water to keep your facility cool during those extremes?

I have PRF and DRP, aren’t I covered already?

  • No, the PRF will pay in case rainfall is so low that you cannot grow hay and have to purchase it at a premium.
  • The DRP will help protect the floor price of the milk you bring to market.
  • Only Milkshake™ will protect you from risk that heat stress will lower your milk revenues or increase your cost of operation and reduce your profit margins.

Can I buy just a 3-day or 5-day trigger?

No, our base product is built with a 7-day event duration which is the most costly event Milkshake™ covers, shorter three-day and five-day durations are enhancements to the seven-day product and require additional premiums given that they are more likely to occur.

What is a GRP? How do I know where it is and that it’s an accurate reading of my farm’s heat and humidity conditions?

  • A GRP (short of Gridded Reanalysis Point) is the precise geospatial location where ECMWF models for us to give us the raw temperature and relative humidity data that we use to calculate THI each, and every day.
  • There are over 14,000 GRPs throughout the US that AIR Parametric uses to monitor and calculate THI for its Milkshake™ customers every day.  They spread in a grid with each GRP being 30km from another.  Milkshake™ assigns the closest GRP to your farm to ensure them most accurate historical results and monitoring during the contract period.
  • This means that no GRP is more than 15 km (9.32 mi) away from a farm’s physical location, with most of our customers being less than 5 mi away.  Your quotation will come with the precise location of the point along with it’s historical data to provide transparency of the the data and to assist you in your decision.
  • AIR Parametric uses your specific GRP historical results to inform and set your triggers to ensure there is alignment between its readings over the past decades and your Milkshake™ policy.

I am investing in genetic improvements to my herd make it easier for me to deal with extreme temperatures.

  • These changes can  take generations to improve, are you sure your ready for the most extreme events this summer?
  • Even as your herd’s genetics improve over time, we are also seeing increasing temperatures which could negate some of their adaptation.

Why can’t I purchase a 4-day or a 6-day trigger?

There are marginal differences in cost and value for the additional options, so we have simplified Milkshake™ to have three distinct trigger thresholds.

Do I have to prove the the insurer exactly how much loss I had?

No, a signed loss attestation is the only proof of loss required to complete the claims process.  This requires the farmer to acknowledge the event caused them financial loss but does not require them to “prove” the financial loss.

Because Milkshake is parametric, every payout is predetermined based upon the duration of the heat stress event and the limit purchased by the farmer.