Not only is technology making major advances in terms of communication devices and everyday life in general, but in the agriculture and farming world as well. Changes in technology in these precise areas can be somewhat challenging due to some farms having to revamp their whole protocol and sometimes even facilities to make them work with the latest technology. On the other hand, more often than not, it seems that changing the “old” way tasks were physically done and/or recorded to ways with technology not only saves the farmer a lot of time, but can end up leading to a financial benefit as well from an efficiency standpoint.
In crop farming, upgrades in technology have led to things such as auto steer and yield monitoring. In animal production, RFID eartags and recording software, such as PCDart, have been major changes that allow farmers to keep better track of their animal identification information, as well as their herd health records. I cannot speak for other livestock operations, but in dairy farming, going even one step further are technological advances like monitoring eartags and collars. Each brand and type of these varies as to what information they are able to collect, but all have features that not only will benefit the cow’s health in terms of diagnosis but will also help the farmer in knowing what is actually going on with the cow that maybe cannot be seen with the eye, or is getting missed when not present in the barn.
As previously mentioned, the main types of dairy activity monitoring systems include neck collars, eartags and ankle bands. Each of these are made by various companies, and each have their own unique features. Some may record body temperature and activity, whereas other might check activity and rumination. The farm I am employed by had tossed around the idea of collars for a couple of years, but never really investigated enough to make the push to purchase a certain system type until the past six months. Overall, there was one main company we were introduced to, and did further research within their systems. Ultimately, for the specific setup we utilize and for the information we wanted to gather, we went with the eartag monitors.
We are about six months into the investment with the Semex ai24 system – and so far, are very pleased. The most significant changes we have noticed are that more cows are being bred, and cows not feeling well are noticed sooner. There will always be a couple of things you would like to change, but overall, so far, these tags have been a great choice. With that, a little overview on our experiences with the tags for anyone who may be considering putting in a dairy activity monitoring system.
Foremost, I think one of the key benefits of the system is: The three main employees at the farm have the app on their phone that has the vast majority of the information from the tags and the cows' records on it. A main computer may have a few more details, but overall, the app is extremely useful in getting notification for when cows are in heat, need to be inspected, in distress or even pre-calving. Like previously mentioned, we are breeding a lot more cows these days. The eartags are picking up signs of cows being in heat that we maybe weren’t seeing visually, as well as activity from heats when we are not in the barn. In addition to more cows being bred, our pregnancy results have increased as well. I believe a major factor in this positive trend is from breeding during the best recommended time. Not only does the app notify you of a heat, but a chart is also given for ideal breeding times and, even more specifically, for sexed versus conventional semen.
Subsequently, animal health alerts are another plus. An animal to inspect list is on the app, which includes recent fresh cows, cows that have had rumination changes or other changes. This is a very nice feature that leads you to cows to either monitor more carefully over the next few days or to dig deeper to find out what the issue is. A small but convenient feature is the light on the eartag that can be turned on in the app during specific times to either sort cows, or be on for cows on the to breed or inspect list.
Like I said before, everything has one or two things we’d all like to change. Overall, for the eartags we have not found much so far, but the biggest problem we’ve faced is tags falling out and then having to find them. On an occasion, we will get a notification for distress, or to inspect for health, and really cannot find a problem. But in a case like that, I would rather it be a false positive than getting no notification and there actually being an issue we missed.
At the end of the day, more cows are getting bred, on time, and any health issues are being noticed/treated in a timelier fashion. Right there, money is being saved by having cows open not as long and health issues costing milk production. Although we are still fairly new to these tags, so far the benefits have outweighed the downfalls, and I would highly recommend a fellow farmer to check into an activity system you think will work well for your herd.
