‘ONCE you have CowControl, you’ll never do without it’, says John Barron, who milks 230 cows in Co. Waterford. John, who farms with his parents Tom and Catherine, installed Censortec CowControl powered by Nedap in 2022, based on the recommendation of farmers in their discussion group.
Censortec CowControl is the market-leading heat detection system in Ireland.
‘We had had a bad year in with stock bulls letting us down, and my father had a close call with one of them as well, so we decided it was time for them to go. We normally used AI for six weeks, and then cleaned up with two bulls for the last four or five weeks, but in 2022, we had problems with both of them and a lot of cows were left empty,’ explains John.
The Barrons installed CowControl in advance of breeding in 2023.
‘We’ve had two good years since we installed it,’ continues John.
‘We’ve gone from about 60% conception to first service to 70% now, and that’s with using AI across the herd. Our empty rate is down to seven or eight per cent this year.’
John has also started using sexed semen since installing CowControl.
They never had the confidence to use sexed semen before, but with the data from NedapNow, they have increased from 10% sexed in 2023, to 20% sexed in 2024, and plan to use more next year.
‘NedapNow gives us the exact window that a cow should be served in to give her the best chance of holding to a sexed straw. We stuck with that this year, and only gave cows a sexed straw if they were between 14-18 hours since the start of heat. It paid off; we had 65 or 70% of the cows that got sexed held to first service,’ says John.
John and Tom find the information from Nedap- Now’s reports are a valuable management tool.
‘Before breeding, we identify the cows that are suitable for sexed semen. They must have had one or two good cycles with strong heats. Cows that have had a weaker heat get conventional semen or beef,’ explains John.
‘In the current climate we must be sure that we’re giving our investment in semen the best opportunity to hold. We can’t do that without the information we get from NedapNow.’
The Barrons now have a replacement breeding period of just three weeks, which allows them to be more efficient with their purchase of AI straws.
John just buys exactly what he needs for that period, and feels he isn’t wasting straws.
Prior to installing Censortec CowControl, they ran a six-week replacement breeding period.
‘Now, all our replacements are born within the first three weeks of calving and we can manage them more consistently, so we have stronger heifers when it comes to breeding them,’ remarks John.
Data from NedapNow is used at dry off too. John generates a dry-off report once a week to show which cows are calved over 300 days, and which heifers are calved over 280 days.
He can then type their numbers into the Alfco Drafting App, and the cows are dried off easily.
‘We installed the Alfco Drafting Gate earlier this year and it’s a tool we couldn’t live without,’ continues John.
‘Drafting cows used be a two-person job, and now, I can pick cows out without thinking about it. At dry off, it’s simple to dry them off each week, and during the breeding season it’s irreplaceable. The cows we need are always there. Even this past wet spring it was useful, because we were splitting the herd between paddocks to manage ground conditions. It was straightforward to split them at milking time using the gate.’
‘I’d struggle to get out of bed now if I didn’t have CowControl and the Alfco Drafting Gate,’ laughs John.
‘We have an extra eye on the cows at all times, we’ve saved time, and we have less work during the breeding season, we’ve removed guess work with repeats, and we’re managing our breeding season more efficiently. It’s a super tool.’
John would recommend anyone who’s thinking of installing CowControl to go ahead with it.
‘I think it’s very important to install in well in advance of breeding. We installed CowControl in December 2022, and that gave us time to get used to the system and the information it gives us before cows started calving and before breeding began,’ says John.
Censortec CowControl powered by Nedap is available from Censortec, who are based in Co. Kerry.
Delaval Delpro Integration SmartTag since 2016 and has a long-established relationship with Nedap.
Nedap is based in Groenlo in the Netherlands.
They are the leading supplier of bovine activity monitors globally having over 40 years’ experience in developing, supporting, and marketing their SmartTag.
To find out more, visit censortec.com.
You can also contact the Censortec team at 086 8592968
