Simplifying breeding management

Tom Groome, a suckler farmer and AI technician from Rhode, Co. Offaly, has been using an app to simplify his breeding management for a couple of years now.

Tom also works as an AI technician with Dovea Genetics. “I would have a lot more beef customers than dairy men, but dairy does huge numbers. It’s very busy from April 10 right up to the first week in July. After that, it starts to taper off,” he said.

When asked how he simplifies his own breeding management using the app, Tom explained:

Pre-heat detection is key

“The aim is to get dairy cows cycling by 42 days after calving and suckler cows between 50–55 days. The first step in this process is to make sure you have a way of recording what cows have started cycling and what cows have not.”

Tom, and a lot of his customers, record their heat detections in Herdwatch for a month before the cows are due to be served.

“This way, the app will notify me of what cows are due in heat and so I can keep an eye out for them. It is particularly helpful because sometimes it can be hard to see if the tail paint has been rubbed off a cow’s back. It’s handy because it will also show what cows haven’t come back into heat yet.”

Recording AI serves on the spot

The ‘Watchboard’ sends alerts directly to Tom’s phone when a cow is due to be served. Tom records the serve into Herdwatch as it happens and then gets a reminder for any repeats.

“On day 20 after serve, the app will notify me to keep an eye out for repeats. From that point of view alone, it’s absolutely brilliant.”

Automatic syncing with the AI technician handheld

Tom’s customers don’t need to record their serves into Herdwatch because the app syncs automatically his AI technician handheld which saves them double recording.

“On day 20 after serve, the app will notify me to keep an eye out for repeats. From that point of view alone, it’s absolutely brilliant.”

Live link with ICBF

Herdwatch has a live link with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), which means any information on your ICBF account such as milk records, EBI information, Euro-Stars, past breeding records, AI technician serves and freezebrands will flow seamlessly into your app.

This eliminates any duplicate recording for farmers and ultimately makes breeding decisions more accurate and less time consuming.

Pregnancy scanning

Discussing what he does later in the year when it comes time for scanning, Tom said: “I can put my scan results into the app and they are then transferred to the ICBF. Or if I’m scanning for one of my customers, I send them to ICBF and they automatically appear back on Herdwatch.

“The magic of Herdwatch is that I can then look at the reports which show what cows are in calf and when they are due. It also tells me what cows are not in calf if I need to make any decisions there.”

On his own favourite suckler cows, Tom said: “The blues off the Friesian cows have lots of milk and they breed great stock.

“I also have some Simmentals here and they are good ‘milky’ cows; that’s the way I like them. If you don’t have milk, you won’t have good calves; they won’t weigh,” he added.

Calf registrations, movements and much more

Tom also makes great use of the app during the calving season.

“It’s absolutely brilliant and you would have a calf registered in less than 30 seconds. I could be down in the shed calving a cow and I would have the calf registered [in Herdwatch] before I got back up to the house. You then get the ‘blue card’ two or three days later in the post and that’s that – job done and dusted.”

It’s the same for Tom’s movements. “I also use it to move animals from one herd to another in no time at all, it’s so easy.”

Tom also uses Herdwatch for keeping all of his medicine and feed records for his Bord Bia Quality assurance inspection.

Herdwatch is a simple app to eliminate farm paperwork and make better decisions. Based in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary; the company is approved by the Department of Agriculture, and fully compliant with ICBF and Bord Bia.