Getting The Breeding Right

Getting the breeding period right is critical for the smooth running of a dairy business. Knowing when a cow is coming into season can give the farmer so many advantages.

They can plan for the AI operator to come, the cow’s feed can be adjusted, an eye can be kept on her around the farm and critically, in the long run, calving intervals can be reduced to a minimum. On the other-hand, if a heat is missed it can throw the schedule for an animal completely out of sync, costing the farmer in both lost milk production and in the rearing of replacement heifers. Dairymaster MooMonitor+ technology has been developed for the early detection and management of a heat and ensures every farmer has cutting edge technology on their side when it comes to the smooth and efficient management of the herd. MooMonitor+ takes the uncertainty out of breeding, quickly covering the investment costs leaving the famer with a healthy herd and more money in the bank.

MooMonitor+ is like having a second pair of hands and eyes on the farm

Dairy farmer Tomos Davies runs a herd of over 300 Holsteins. To keep the herd healthy and the breeding on track, Tomos invested in the Dairymaster MooMonitor+ system. Every cow in his herd now wears the MooMonitor+ collar, which constantly sends data on each animal to a base station and then onto his phone. He jokes that his cows are texting him when they need something! Tomos compares it to like having a second person by his side, constantly checking every animal. He loves the exact nature the MooMonitor+ has brought to breeding management and believes every farm should have such a system.

“Our heat detection is bang on now,” says Tomos delighted with the drastic reduction in wasted straws.

No More Missed Heats with MooMonitor+

Now Tomos can see from his phone when a cow has come into heat. He no longer needs to guess or assume from an animal’s behaviour that she may be ready, bringing certainty to the management of his farm. The MooMonitor+ will tell to within the hour when an animal comes into heat and the system can even send a text to the AI technician so they can be on the farm as quickly as possible. This is particularly useful as so many heats come on during the night or when the farmer is away from the herd. The danger of missed heats is almost gone and Tomos sees this in the reduction of the gaps between calving. “Heat detection by visual inspection is not good enough, there are standards to be had,” says Tomos, knowing that the cost of carrying a cow with a missed heat can really affect his profit margins.

MooMonitor+ Sets the Standards

As the MooMonitor+ system added so much to the easy management of his herd, Tomos was able to take more time for himself. Now he tends to look more at his phone than an individual cow, as he knows that the data he’s reading gives him all he needs to know for accurate care. His return on investment quickly became obvious with increased milk yields, a dramatic reduction in wasted straws and the almost instant spotting of a heat. Cows can’t tell us what they want or need but the MooMonitor+ is the closest thing a farmer can get to understanding exactly what is wrong or right with every single cow in their herd.

That means a more profitable farm with less man hours and an easier workload – that’s an attractive prospect in any man’s language. Using Dairymaster technology, there are less missed breeding times and a stronger herd. As Tomos says ‘there are standards to be had’ and that standard has been set by his MooMonitor+.