Oftentimes the best advertising is just speaking to your neighbour from down the road. Hearing about their positive experience can be the last bit of encouragement you need to take the next step for your dairy and venture into cow monitoring. And truly, there’s no better endorsement of the CowManager system than the words of Henry Bevan.
“I recommend CowManager at every chance I get, it’s paid for itself in no time. I wish I’d done it 10 years ago.”
Henry and his wife Anna own and manage their Bevandale dairy farm at Ravenshoe on Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands. Henry is the fifth generation of the family to run the farm, having taken over two and a half years ago when his father, John, passed away. One of eight children, Henry and Anna also took on the care of his two younger sisters, aged 17 and 13. They have two children of their own aged four and two and one on the way.
The Bevans introduced CowManager in October 2021. In the months of operation ever since, they have come to rely on the system entirely for heat detection. “We have sensors on all the cows”, Henry says. “They pick up many more cows than I would have.”
The number of empty cows on the pregnancy test has dropped from between 15 and 20 per cent to just zero to five per cent due to more accurate heat detection and insemination timing. Henry estimates they are a good three weeks ahead on in-calf rates which has flow-on benefits to calving dates and getting cows back in milk.
The Bevans milk 200 cows in an all-year-round milking herd supplying the Bega factory at Malanda. Since taking over the farm they have begun switching the herd from 100 per cent Holstein to 50 per cent Jersey and 50 per cent Holsteins. “Jerseys are overall easier to manage”, Henry claims. “They are less maintenance; they get in calf easier, and they eat less feed for a similar amount of milk solids as Holsteins.”
The CowManager system contributes to managing the health of the herd, picking up any sick cows well before they are showing clinical signs of an ailment. This ensures the individual cow can be treated earlier, which in turn means less medication and fewer vet calls.
“One of the reasons we chose the CowManager system was because of the tags,” Henry says. “We prefer them to the collars for ease of handling.”
In the time since they have had the CowManager system installed, Henry says they are well in front on both service and cost. “The support from World Wide Sires and from Chris Kendall in particular has been first rate. If there’s a software or internet issues, he’s often on to it before I’m even aware of it. And it took just four weeks from order to installation, which is pretty impressive.”
The Bevan’s dairy herd is fed a Partially Mixed Ration (PMR), combining grazing and corn silage that is grown on the farm as a summer crop, and is fed out all year round. Each year they breed around 150 replacement heifers, selling on any that are surplus to their needs to other dairy farmers.
As new technologies continue to change the face of dairy farming, their real impact can best be measured at the coalface.
“For me personally, I don’t have to worry any more about catching heats or cows getting sick. I get an alert on my mobile wherever I am, and I can attend to it immediately.”
According to Henry, the app isn’t hard to use or navigate at all. In fact, it’s as easy as can be and it saves him a lot of labour. “It’s actually a really great app. It’s another set of eyes for me. I recommend it at every chance I get. It’s paid for itself in no time.”
This article was written by Richard Meredith and also published by Dairy News Australia.
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