Capel Farm heads off problems before they develop

Over 3 years ago, Capel Farm in Carmathenshire owned by Stephen Morse had CowManager installed. When they installed CowManager, Stephen expected its main benefits to come through improved heat detection. However, it took him no time at all to realize that the continuous monitoring of every cow’s temperature and rumination through the simplicity of an ear tag sensor, would transform his herd management.

Spot on Cow Management

With 170 mainly Holsteins producing over 11,000 liters on three-times-a-day milking, management at Capel Farm near Carmarthen has to be spot-on. And with every milking-aged animal fitted with its orange CowManager tag – which has been designed to encase standard parlor identification tags – the benefits became apparent from the moment they were fitted.

“CowManager is so important as it gives us such early warning,” says Mr Morse. “If a cow is ruminating less and has an increase in temperature, I would immediately go and check her and may well be able to intervene.” He points to cow number 2640, flagged up on his system, and says he intervened early, treated her and by the same evening her temperature was normal.

“I can’t imagine running the dairy without it”

But interventions have not been limited to individual animals, and Mr Morse says he has recently averted a potentially serious problem in a whole group of heifers. “Two weeks ago an infection hit a group of fresh heifers and their temperature went sky high,” he says. “The computer told me they had crashed, but the notification came so early that there was no sign of a problem in the parlor. They milked exactly the same as before as the symptoms hadn’t hit.” With a bacterial infection diagnosed by the farm’s vet, Mr Morse was able to use both an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory, and quickly quashed the problem.

With the system now firmly established at Capel Farm, Mr Morse says he has no intention of managing without it; he’s found he can head off problems before they develop and of course, heat detection and reproductive management are also better than ever before. “CowManager kind of fell into my lap but now I can’t imagine running the dairy without it,” he says.