Two new studies on the Dairymaster MooMonitor+ system – for monitoring cows behaviour – show an “extremely high accuracy of the system for monitoring cows’ behavior in both indoor and outdoor systems”.

The MooMonitor+ is a health and fertility monitoring system which detects cows in heat and monitors the resting, rumination, head position and restlessness of each animal “24 hours a day and seven days a week”.

According to Dairymaster, the system will “improve farm profitability by decreasing labour requirements on farm, improve reproductive performance and minimise losses due to missed heats, undiagnosed illnesses and general cow health”.

The system – it says – is the “first system validated in both indoor and outdoor scenarios respectively by two independent research centres for both rumination and feeding in both the US and Ireland”.

Benefits

The rumination data given by the system gives the farmer “a greater indication of animal welfare and performance”.

Along with this, Dairymaster states: “It can enhance heat detection accuracy and can indicate when a cow is getting sick” through the sending of a “health alert to a farmer’s smartphone – making them aware when it detects abnormal behavior”.

Which it said will “allow early intervention, reduced antibiotic usage and better recovery rates on farm”.

The system also allows “diets to be optimised on-farm, helping the farmer to establish higher production and feed efficiency”.

By monitoring health and wellness – as well as heat detection – farmers are more informed about their cows.

This new technology is “extremely labour saving enhancing both the animal’s and the farmer’s quality of life”.

This information was gathered through research undertaken on an indoor herd at Kentucky State University and on a grazing herd at Teagasc Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork.