Herdwatch has launched a new set of features to record inseminations, scans and plan heat checks, automatically calculate estimated calving dates, next heat due date and record pregnancy scanning results.
According to Farm Relief Services, which operates the service, it will all recording and managing breeding events easier than ever at no extra cost.
For DIY AI farmers and farmers using their own bulls, all insemination data entered in Herdwatch will be automatically passed on to ICBF if they are registered with them. According to Herdwatch, the process is very simple and user-friendly: just create an ‘Insemination’ task in Herdwatch, assign the bull ID or AI bull code, and save. Herdwatch will automatically calculate the estimated calling date, and you can also easily schedule an automatic Heat Check in your ‘to do list’ to alert you to the task. Depending on the result of the Heat Check you might decide to inseminate the cow again, which you can also record in Herdwatch.
At scanning time, just look up the cow’s details in the animals list by typing the last two or three digits of the tag, and add a new ‘Pregnancy Scan’ task. This will take you to a view which will show you all ‘Open’ inseminations for that animal, and show the number of days since the insemination took place. Based on the pregnancy scan feedback, you simply tap and hold the most likely successful insemination record, and Herdwatch will do the rest. It will mark that insemination as successful, save the estimated due date on the cow, and mark all other inseminations for that cow as failed.
If there are cows for which you haven’t recorded any inseminations before scanning takes place, Herdwatch will know this, so when you create the ‘Pregnancy Scan’ for those cows, it will automatically create a new insemination task where you will be able to tell Herdwatch how many days she is in calf, and the insemination/due dates will be calculated automatically.
According to Herdwatch, when you look at any cow next year, you will know exactly what worked and what didn’t. Best of all, you can do all this anytime, anywhere from your smartphone, tablet or laptop/computer.