By Liz Snaith for British Dairying Health and Fertility Supplement, April 2023.
Ear sensors are giving farmers actionable insights about fertility, health and nutrition of every individual cow within their herds, so they know exactly which cows to focus on – and why. We find out how these sensors have helped one high yielding Wiltshire herd to reduce days to pregnancy by more than 25% and improve conception to first service by 40%.
“If you are attempting to improve herd efficiency, then it’s not a one off. You need to be continually reviewing what you are doing, and then planning how you can make further improvements to herd performance,” says Drove Farm Vets’, Pete May. “That’s when introducing some of the latest technology comes in to play.
“Take ear sensors, they measure ear temperature combined with behaviour and are beneficial in alerting farmers to sick cows long before they show clinical conditions, consequently prompting early treatment will enhance health and welfare and make cost savings. These ear sensors also have the ability to detect early oestrus behaviour which farmers may struggle to see; they’re providing more information on which to make accurate decisions, and they help to make labour and time savings and consequently enhance the enterprise’s efficiency.”
Amongst Mr May’s clients is Wiltshire producer, Robert Mallett who says he is less reliant on stockmanship to manage his 230-cow pedigree Northleaze Holstein autumn block calving herd, currently averaging 11,450 litres at 3.87% butterfat and 3.66% protein.
Robert and David Mallett.
“Since we have a relatively small herd, we considered we could spot a sick cow if she was the last one to come in to the parlour. Overall, I thought we were doing a reasonable job,” explains Robert who farms with his son, David, near Highworth, Swindon. “Now I think it is too late if she has got to that stage.”
The Malletts were among the first UK herds to introduce CowManager, the monitoring system that measures ear temperature combined with behaviour. Five years ago, they invested in 200 ear sensors, an outlay that Robert considers paid for itself within the first 12 months. “The performance benefits in fertility and health were significant, and those improved levels have remained consistent ever since,” he says.
“Furthermore, the technology is helping me to save a significant amount of time and introduced flexibility to the system. I never managed to spend 20 minutes three times a day for four months of the year watching for cows bulling and I’d do well to spot 60% of them. Nowadays the technology will identify 90% plus and it takes just a couple of minutes first thing every morning and evening to scroll down my phone App to see if there are any red flags or warnings. It’s a job I can do when I’m out on the farm or 500 miles away,” he says.
“Maiden heifer conception rate this year has been 58% and all were in calf by 11 weeks using mainly sexed semen. Cows have averaged an overall 51% conception rate to all services, a good rate for high yielding Holstein cows. These combined give him a good pregnancy rate.”
Pete May adds: “Various influential factors have changed within the herd since Robert introduced CowManager, particularly much better genetics available through genomic testing. However he is now achieving an extremely high submission rate currently running in the high 90% bracket. These combined give him a good pregnancy rate.” The following table reflects the autumn block calving herd’s fertility.
| Pre CowManager | Current | |
| Days to preg | 116 | 89 |
| Conception rate to first service (%) | 35 | 49 |
| Cows pregnant 100 days post calving (5) | 36 | 55 |
| Culling (%) | 28 | 21 |
Source: Mallet/CowManager
“When it comes to health, CowManager is identifying individual sick cows before they show clinical signs leaving me to concentrate my efforts on managing them, rather than spending my time looking through the whole herd to find a problem. The system is flagging up individuals to treat before they loose milk yield. At that point we can use fairly passive treatment, fluids ,yeast, energy drink and NSAID, consequently we’ve significantly reduced the amount of antibiotic treatment.
“Using CowManager, we have learned a lot about transition management, the most important thing is to keep them eating, so if we can spot when and why a cow stops eating, then we can try to avoid that problem in the next one. CowManager also provides data on grazing behaviour; it has proved if they go out with an appetite they will graze three to four hours followed by lying down for the same period,” he says adding: “While the technology will never replace good stockmanship, it’s a big helping hand, monitoring every cow 24/7.”
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