Easy managed 12,000 litre cows at Hardgrove are all in the ear!

While such high yields adds to the pressure of running such an enterprise, Alistair has found that ear sensors that track rumen activity, ear temperature and heat detection are playing a significant role in helping to reduce antibiotic usage and improve herd fertility.

“We are trying to maximise economies of scale, focus on efficiencies and in turn reduce emissions per litre produced, however successfully managing a relatively large, high input, high output herd requires a lot of skills from our dairy team of six split into two teams. I’m the first to admit I can’t keep my eye on all my cows all of the time, particularly if I’m away from home on business or holiday, and I’ve frequently had foreign workers who have had no dairy herd management experience,” he says.

Early intervention with ear sensors

“I’m a great advocate of new technology, and investing in CowManager ear sensors has provided the opportunity for early intervention when problems arise. They make it easier for staff to pick up health issues quickly and give me peace of mind that both my staff and myself have the information we need to hand – literally at our fingers tips on our phone apps,” Alistair explained.

Ear sensors are attached to each cow at drying off and left in until 90 days post PD, after which each is re-used. The sensors record and collect real time data – a combination of ear temperature with behaviour.

It’s not just the continually updated data that counts. Alastair said the team is now able to interpret the data and identify potential health issues quickly making important decisions on treatment, particularly when it comes to the Health Module. CowManager alerts them, for example to a animal that has stopped ruminating, allowing them to identify the individual early and check what symptoms she is demonstrating and then quickly treat.

He added that early intervention and treating with an NSAID pain killer to get her back up and ruminating as soon as possible can make a real difference between a cow going really sick and having to administer antibiotics.

To date, the company’s Health Module has enabled the farm to identify severe mastitis, pneumonia and stomach displacements at a very early stage resulting in reduced mortality.

Improving overall herd fertility

While the ear sensors have introduced major herd health benefits, they are also contributing to improving overall herd fertility.

“We used to use tail paint however we now rely solely on the sensor data, which is also beneficial in picking up silent heats; our heat detection rate has improved from 49% to 61%. Both my team and our AI man who is completely sold on the app, use the Fertility Module to determine best time to serve. If a cow slips after 30 days, the sensor picks this up. If we see a drop in fertility, then we’ve learned it’s more about nutrition than anything else,” said Alastair.

He added that the sensors have proved to be particularly useful when it comes to serving heifers which are managed on a separate bed and breakfast unit. The AI man monitors from his app when they come on heat, some days never going near the farm and it’s become quite normal for 99% to 100% success rate when PD in calf at 32 days onwards.

The future is in the ear

It’s all in the ear, according to Dr John Cook of CowManager distributer, World Wide Sires.

Cow’s ears are full of vital information, he said. Ears regularly move during activities such as rumination and in turn can be characterised and interpreted to allow measurement of time spent in those activities crucial to a cow’s current and future well-being status.

“A cow’s ideal day, one in which we are striving to achieve to provide her with the best possible welfare, can be broken down in to six distinct activities. See Fig 1. The daily hours in each activity add up to greater than 24 hours because lying and resting time can occur simultaneously with rumination.

Fig 1: Daily time budget per in milk cow

Source: Krawczel and Grant

The company has developed an ear sensor which can be easily and quickly attached to a cow’s ear with a radio frequency identification (RFID) or blank tag. It collects data with algorithms around the average time spent on each daily routine activity. If the activity falls above or below the budgeted time, then an alert is created. Ear temperature is also constantly monitored together with eating and rumination.

Fertility and activity: if her level of activity increases above a certain intensity level then the ear sensor’s algorithms calculate a heat alert. True heats are simultaneously accompanied by a drop in rumination.

Health and ear temperature: the blood vessels closest to skin are found in the ear. If a cow is sick, for example suffering from ketosis or mastitis, peripheral blood flow is reduced and this reduced blood circulation to the extremities results in colder ears. The sensor measures ear temperature for each cow in the herd; if it falls significantly below the group average, then it provides an alert enabling the issue to be picked up in the early stages.

Rumination and cud chewing: the ear sensor measures jaw rocking and overall ear movement in minutes per hour and interprets them as eating and rumination.