Sylvia and John Powell installed Nedap cow monitoring on their 250-strong herd in February 2023. Farming just outside Birr, Co. Offaly, the pair were looking for a way to make life easier.

"John was unable to milk due to problems with his back, and we said we had to look at labour-saving tools," Sylvia explained.

"We were tail painting in pre-breeding, tail painting during breeding, and then carrying out our own AI [artificial insemination] for six weeks. There was a lot of manual labour, and hopping up and down off gates involved, and that just wasn’t something we could do anymore," she said.

Nedap is the global leader in heat detection and health monitoring, having monitored dairy animals for over 40 years, with nearly six million connected cows.

Using the latest technology, cows are monitored 24/7. Data from the neck collars can be accessed via a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, always giving farmers full visibility of their herd.

The Powells also installed an autodrafting system, supplied by Alfco Farm Services, which integrates with Censortec neck collars that are powered by Nedap. The simplicity of the two systems is what appealed to John and Sylvia.

"During breeding, I would have been there at each milking to top-up tail paint and manually draft out any cows that needed to be served," John said.

Now, they find they can take the odd milking off during breeding, and the collars identify the cows that are on heat. Then they are drafted automatically, ready to be served at the end of milking.

"It always used to be stressful drafting cows and relying on tail paint," Sylvia explained.

"But now, we just don’t worry about missing cows. We can head out at the weekends, come home, and AI what needs to be served when we get back. It’s made everything a lot simpler."

The collars have had an impact on how the Powells manage their herd’s reproduction too. Before installing the Smart Tags, John and Sylvia carried out six weeks of AI, followed by stock bulls to clean up, and vasectomised bulls to help with heat detection.

"The collars picked up silent heats too that we’d never have spotted with tail paint," Sylvia said, adding: "Our usual empty rate would be around 10-12%, but after scanning in 2024, that was down to 7.5%, which we were very happy with."

The insights dashboard can be accessed via the Nedap Now app on the farmer's phone. It is easy to give other team members access, and Sylvia likes the fact that she can log in remotely.

"I can take the kids to the school bus in the morning, log in, and see how many I have ahead of me to AI. I know then whether I need to rush back or if I can take a bit longer," she remarked.

Dutch based Nedap have been supplying activity monitors to the global dairy industry with over 40 years experience.

Leading international milking equipment and genetics suppliers partner with Nedap to include its activity monitoring system in their solutions.

Learn more about how you can work smarter, not harder, with Nedap technology for sensor-based cow monitoring and management solutions, and find your supplier, here.