With a large herd to care for, the ‘extra set of eyes in the yard’ provided by SenseHub Dairy Monitoring Technology from MSD Animal Health is something which Samuel McElheran couldn’t imagine being without.
Heat detection and spotting the early signs of illness can be major issues on dairy farms. Samuel has 10 years’ experience using technology to help with these areas of herd management.
Samuel is the fourth generation of McElherans to farm near the Dark Hedges in Co. Antrim, where he runs a 350-cow herd of high-yielding Holsteins, along with his father and brother.
He explained: “We have been depending on the system for ten years now between SenseHub and its predecessor Heat Time, and we have 100% trust in SenseHub.”
Samuel has been using SenseHub for three years and previously had Heat Time since 2014.
SenseHub Dairy Monitoring Technology monitors cows on a minute-by-minute basis, assisting users to increase productivity, improve breeding decisions, while also saving time and labour. It can also detect when an animal is in heat and when an animal has a potential health issue.
“SenseHub saves time which would have been spent in the yard observing cows for heats and allows us to get on with other jobs on the farm,” Samuel said.
SenseHub during the breeding season
The McElherans’ herd is housed all year-round with calving spread across the year. Milking duties are shared between Samuel, his brother and a workman.
Each has the SenseHub App on their phone, so they can all work independently with the system.
“It takes the human error out of breeding,” said Samuel.
The accuracy of the timing of insemination, provided by the SenseHub breeding window, has allowed the McElherans to have great success with sexed semen.
“If it says on SenseHub that there’s a cow in heat, then there’s a cow in heat,” said Samuel.
“SenseHub Dairy Monitoring Technology has two breeding windows, one for conventional semen and one for sexed semen. Whoever is milking can decide if the cow should be separated that milking or left until after the next milking,” explained Samuel.
SenseHub can also detect when an animal has a potential health issue.
Samuel said: “If the system says a cow is not well, then the cow is not well.” This allows infections such as mastitis or pneumonia to be detected and treated much earlier, with resulting cure rates and outcomes.
A vital tool
Dairy farming is not the only enterprise on the busy McElheran farm. They also have a beef and cereal enterprise, and with land spread over a considerable area, Samuel explains that even when they are away from the yard, they are still able to know what’s going on with the herd through SenseHub.
Samuel sees the SenseHub system as a vital tool in allowing them to efficiently manage their herd. “I see technology as a very important tool in the future of dairy farming. It is the only way to become more efficient.”
He says he has been introduced to MSD Animal Health’s SenseHub Milking Technology and expects it to have a big part to play in the future of the McElheran farm.
Samuel has complete confidence in SenseHub Dairy and concluded by saying: “I wouldn’t be without it; it’s faultless. There is no human error, and it is one less job for me to do.”
