*Written and published by Dairy Focus.
For years, dairy farmers have relied on their own observations and gut instincts to manage their herd. Often having to learn the hard way when illness has gone undetected until it’s too late, or missing the right time for insemination resulting in higher than necessary empty rates.
There’s no denying dairymen do their best but sometimes it’s a game of chance and they don’t always win. CowManager is eliminating that guesswork by providing invaluable and extremely accurate information making the lives of farmers around the globe a whole lot easier.
CowManager uses a non-invasive ear sensor that monitors the cows, temperature, movement and eating patterns. The system then relays the information to the farmer’s smartphone or laptop via a series of routers and alerts farmers to any irregularities and issues.
Early last year, Woldwide Dairy Group director, Abe de Wolde installed the CowManager system into 1700 cows across two of his farms in Southland. From a 40 cow farm in Holland Abe and Anita de Wolde now milk 4000 cows on 5 dairy units in New Zealand.
“So far the biggest benefit has been to spot health problems early. Last Autumn we had some problems introducing a herd onto fodder beet and CowManager alerted us before we saw big problems ourselves (Acidosis),” he says.
Abe also notes that the system is continuing to notify them to health issues prior to visible signs. “We had a cow that was not eating enough, we inspected her and found out that she has a displaced abomasum.” Abe says the issue was not visible and without CowManager they wouldn’t have picked it up until the cow was skinny and off milk.
CowManager is an invaluable tool for not only picking up ailments but as an accurate heat detection system. “Clients using CowManager have all seen a dramatic increase in pregnancy rates. Picking up silent heats that otherwise would have gone undetected has amazed many of our new clients,” says Samen NZ’s National Manager for CowManager, Jared Bekhuis.
It provides reliable data on individual cow’s cycles, alerting farmers to heat intensity and stage, even if signs are not visible to the human eye. When fully trusting the accuracy and the reliability of the data, farmers are freeing up hours of time not having to watch for cows in heat.
With a MultiView function selected, important data can be made available to multiple parties including local vets, stockmen and researchers, completely changing the way business is done for the better.
Abe, for one, is convinced that the majority of herds will have systems like CowManager in place within five years. This technology is designed to save farmers time, while improving the general health and wellbeing of entire herds and optimising farm performance. It’s true that the more farmers know about their animals the easier it is for them to run their farm. By eliminating the game of chance with CowManager, how could their business possibly lose?
Heat peaks, possible pregnancies, non-cycling cows, potential abortions. Never miss a thing.
Inseminating 10 to 22 hours after receiving a heat alert is known to be a success. This makes mating and breeding a breeze!
Optimize your farm management by finding cows in heat and catching sick cows earlier, improving your herd’s health and production.