Organic Dairy Farm relies on system for heat detection and health alerts

“Our Most Reliable Employee”

Engelbert Farms Organic is a family affair. Brothers John and Joe Engelbert run the dairy farm. Lisa Engelbert (mother of John and Joe) manages the Engelbert Farm Store. Father Kevin Engelbert and Uncle Mort Engelbert actively work on farm as well. In addition to the family, the farm employs seven part-time employees and one full-time employee.

“Overall, we want to be profitable while generally increasing our efficiencies in all aspects—cows, equipment, and more”, said John.

In accordance with that goal, the Engelberts installed a CowManager herd monitoring system in 2020.

“We installed our CowManager system because we were limited on time for visual heat detection. We really liked the idea of tags instead of collars and thought that CowManager would be a good fit for us,” said John. “The CowManager system has become our most reliable full-time employee!”

Dairy Farm Management Made Easier

Every mature animal on the dairy farm has a CowManager sensor, and heifers are given a sensor as they enter the milking herd. Engelberts have given four farm employees access to the CowManager app, and those individuals receive data and notifications regarding individual cows in the herd.
The Engelberts opt to use two of the three available CowManager modules—Fertility and Health. Both brothers have been pleased with the improvements these tools have enabled the farm to make.

“As an organic dairy, we don’t administer synch shots. A lot of conception rate depends on knowing the proper time,” said Joe. “John does most of the breeding and can breed in the morning or afternoon depending on what the CowManager alerts are telling us. Our conception rates have gotten up to about 63% with the system and the data we’re able to get from it.”

“It’s not a guessing game of when to breed cows, we’re catching silent heats, and we’re not having to walk through the cows or ask the milkers to watch for heats,” said John. “We’re just more aware of the cows in general. It’s definitely been worth the investment, and we’ve recommended CowManager to others.”

Monitoring Dairy Cow Health

Although the brothers cite the Fertility Module as their favorite due to the timeliness of service it allows them to achieve, they say the Health Module “just about pays for the system by helping save money on treatments and lost productivity.”

“The health alerts allow us to get eyes on sick cows quickly—usually about 24 hours before we would be able to know they are sick just from looking at them,” said Joe. “We can save money catching things like metabolic issues or bad quarters much earlier. John was a bigger believer in the system than I was at first, but once we got about a year in…wow! CowManager really works for us and fits into our grazing system well.”

He said the installation process was fairly simple, and they were able to tag all of the cows during one morning milking. “It took some practice to learn the charts and timing of everything, but we caught on fairly quickly and anytime we’ve needed help we’ve been able to email or text CowManager or Premier for support.”

The Engelberts work with Premier Select Sires Area Sales Manager Jeff VanPatten, who assists with sire selection. The farm has also worked with Kristy Temple, Premier Reproductive Service Manager, and John Jacobs, A.I. trainer who taught John how to breed cattle. “Our goal is to keep improving our genetics, and the Premier team helps us do that,” said John.