Video: Why this Co. Tipperary suckler farmer made the switch to Herdwatch

Brian Reidy and his father, Pat, run a suckler-to-weanling enterprise on 80ac of land in Ballylooby, Co. Tipperary.

The Tipperary-based farmer operates a 50:50 spring and autumn-calving system. Artificial insemination is used in the autumn and a stockbull runs with the spring-calving herd. In conjunction with the growing suckler herd, Brian works off-farm as a farm nutrition consultant.

Brian is no stranger to technology, as this helps him to run his operation smoothly. Herdwatch was adopted on the Tipperary farm so whether Brian is at home or abroad he has access to his herd’s information.

Likewise, Brian’s father also has access to the Herdwatch app on his phone and on an iPad. This provides access to the herd information without the need for phone calls when Brian is busy off-farm.

“My father uses the app all the time. If I’m away and he wants to access information, he can see exactly what I can see. He can see when a cow was inseminated and if she’s repeating for example,” said Brian.

Less time on paperwork

The adoption of the Herdwatch technology has also made the recording of remedies for Bord Bia inspections more streamlined.

Recording remedies in Herdwatch is so easy. You can simply scan the barcode on the box and that will extract all the relevant information such as the expiry date and the withdrawal period straight onto the app.

Likewise, when administering a remedy, you can attribute that remedy to a batch of animals or to individual animals as is appropriate.

“Since I started using Herdwatch, the blue book has been made redundant inside in the filing cabinet,” commented Brian.

Herdwatch has extended its services for free to 39,000 suckler farmers around the country, in response to the difficult market conditions being experienced by the Irish beef and suckler farming community.

Under the new plan, all beef or suckler farmers with 10 cows or less can use the app without incurring any cost.

This new plan will apply to over 53% of Ireland’s 73,000 suckler farmers. They will now be able to use the simple app to register calves, record remedy and feed purchases and send weights for the BEEP scheme.

Herdwatch enables farmers to spend less time on paperwork so they can spend more time on things that really matter to them. As well, it allows them to stay on top of their farm business and make better decisions by seeing the information that matters, when it matters.

It couldn’t be easier for a farmer to get started on Herdwatch. It’s simply a matter of downloading the app and putting in your herd number.