Livestock farming has had many changes over the ages and one which many are adapting to now, is the introduction of farm technology to their operation.
This tech trend can be seen across all types of farms, but today we will look at livestock farming.
As all livestock farmers know, the three key drivers of farm profit are herd health, fertility and efficiency of farm resources, i.e. labour and feed .
To help achieve the above, progressive farmers are now investing in smart technology – i.e. HerdInsights – to gather real-time data from their livestock, which greatly enhances the decision making progress in management.
Herd health
Early detection of health issues will become vital in the coming years as farmers’ traditional go-to solutions get more restricted with the tightening of regulations in the coming years.
This is where technology will provide the answers.
Tracking both individual animals and herd behaviour in relation to locomotion plus rumination, will give a good guide to herd welfare and good health. As farmers, we know instinctively that if an animal is not moving with the herd it may be ill.
Another good indication of herd health is rumination rates within the herd; animals that are becoming ill will spend more time resting and less time eating and chewing the cud.
HerdInsight users frequently comment on the fact that the system flags animals before any visible signs of illness are seen by the stockperson.
Efficiency of farm resources
This is another key driver of farm profit. With skilled labour getting harder to secure, it is vital to provide staff with the tools to get the job done as efficiently as possible in the least time used.
With the HerdInsight’s farm technology system, animals are on 24/7 monitoring. The advantage of this is that you or your team have instant information on the whereabouts of your herd, and the impending animals that need attention at any given time.
By using a recommended drafting system, the animals in most urgent need of attention can be isolated in a treatment group, be it for fertility or health reasons. This saves valuable time and labour resources, while also focusing on the animals in most need of attention at that time, giving maximum return on labour time.
A recent improvement to the HerdInsights system is the addition of the drone monitoring ability – this gives the advantage of not having to go to the paddock to visually see the behaviour of the herd, no matter how far away they are grazing.
It also means that you can check on the herd without disturbing their natural movements at pasture, giving a clear picture of what animals need your attention so these animals can be drafted in real time when returning to the yard in a stress free environment.
As we all know, an animal’s stress has a negative impact on herd health. Reducing stress during treatment gives a better response to appropriate treatment.
On feed efficiency, the most challenging time in a cow’s life is at calving. This is due to the fact that her body is both going through a physical and a hormonal change.
By having real time information on her movement and her rumination, farmers can intervene early to help prevent metabolic diseases, that both have the risk of reducing feed conversion efficiency (FCE) or worse – still increasing body condition loss. Reduced FCE increases feed cost per litre of milk produced.
More important is the risk of the cow getting ketosis or subclinical ketosis. A University College Dublin (UCD) study estimated a cost of approximately €190 – with a more recent study reporting an average cost of €58 – per case of subclinical ketosis.
Ketosis is also a gateway disease for more serious ailments that can severely shorten the cows production life within the herd due to deducted fertility performance
Herd fertility
When it comes to herd fertility, the words we want to hear coming out of the scanner’s mouth is ‘in-calf’ to first service. This is the true measure of the herd fertility and out management.
To achieve this, farmers must have real-time information on the cycle of each cow. Important information comes in the days post-calving to first heat.
To achieve a 365-day calving interval with an average gestation period of 283 days, it only gives 82 days to achieve a pregnancy. A missed heat, Teagasc research would suggest, has a cost of up to €149.50 (per heat missed).
Farm technology users of HerdInsights regularly report up to 90% submission rates since installing the system. This is a result of early identification of non-cycling cows being presented for appropriate treatment.
Herdinsights also accurately identifies on heat during the breeding season, with the added benefit of indicating the best time to serve the animal, for best conception rates to the service.
For more information on the Herdinsights app, click here.
