Heat detection and spotting the early signs of illness can be major issues on dairy farms. One farmer with ten years’ experience using technology to help with these areas of herd management, is Samuel McElheran from Ballymoney, Co. Antrim.
Samuel is the fourth generation of McElherans to farm near the Dark Hedges, where he runs a 350-cow herd of high-yielding Holsteins, along with his father and brother.
With a large herd to care for, the ‘extra set of eyes in the yard’ provided by SenseHub Dairy Monitoring Technology is something which Samuel couldn’t imagine being without.
He explains: “We have been depending on the system for ten years now between SenseHub and its predecessor Heat Time, and we have 100 per cent trust in SenseHub.”
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. SenseHub can detect when an animal is in heat and when an animal has a potential health issue.
SenseHub during the breeding season
Everybody working on the farm 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 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,” explains Samuel.
SenseHub can also detect when an animal has a potential health issue. Again, Samuel explains: “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
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.”
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.”
