This episode was featured in partnership with SenseHub® Dairy powered by MSD Animal Health.
Social media personality and founder of FarmUpNZ Ben Purua manages Waimakariri Land Ltd near Tirau, milking 540 cows on 187ha. They are using SenseHub Dairy’s monitoring ear tags to track their herd’s health and wellbeing daily.
Purua says the monitoring is a huge part of their management system.
“The technology has helped us so much, it has given us time back because we’re not out there trying to look for these cows that have issues,” he says.
“It’s improving the system and advancing our skill set.”
He says it supports the farm’s split calving with 85% born in autumn and 15% in spring. Cows near calving are moved onto the feed pad and transition diet.
Each tag reads its cow’s behaviour and sends an alert to the teams’ phones when something changes. They also flag cows on heat, giving them a heat index and a breeding window to work to.
“I sort of see the SenseHub Dairy tags as a smart watch – it tracks that cow’s information 24/7 just like it would for us with our smart watch.”
The whole team works off the same app, and Purua spends time teaching staff what to look for.
“Technology is only as good as the operator, is how I look at it.”
“If we’re not putting the data in, if we’re not checking the information and utilising it to the best of its ability, then it’s a wasted tool.”
The SenseHub Dairy behaviour monitoring ear tags are not as commonly known as the company’s cow collars for which it is renowned. Purua says he likes working with the tags “because you’re not dealing with the whole head of the cow.”
The farm adopted the tags having previously used collars, after being invited to trial them, and Purua says they have been great to work with.
Asked what he’d say to farmers who are thinking about investing in technology on farm and aren’t sure where to start, his advice is “Don’t just jump into something because of the hype.
“Figure out your ‘why’ for wanting to utilise the technology on farm and make the decision from there.”
This episode is a paid partnership with SenseHub® Dairy powered by MSD Animal Health. To learn more about SenseHub® Dairy’s modular dairy system that combines animal behaviour monitoring, milk intelligence and automation in one connected platform, visit www.sensehub.co.nz
CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.
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