Successful Sharemilking with Ear Sensors

Located near Balclutha in South Otago, New Zealand, Anni and Johnny face challenging circumstances on their hilly dairy farm. Very dry and hot summers and very wet and harsh winters. The Lowes long-term goal is farm ownership. Recently, they’ve made the change into a sharemilking position. With years of dairy management experience, they understand the importance of accurate monitoring for their herd’s well-being, as well as their own profits.

“We don’t think the system is expensive at all”, Anni says. “It hasn’t cost us money, it has saved us money. Just going by the conception rates and in-calf rates. We find it very affordable for what we get out of it.” Johnny agrees: “It wasn’t all an upfront cost and we have been able to put the system in and watch it pay for itself.”

Better For the Cows

“We wanted the least invasive monitoring system possible”, Anni says. “Personally we don’t like the idea of collars. We like the ear tags because the cows don’t mind them. They don’t try to shake them off or rub them off. It’s just another ear tag, really.” Johnny adds: “Also, the fact that we have the whole farm covered and we get updates every few minutes. If there’s something wrong, we know pretty quickly.”

Power of Plug-and-Play

The installation of the system was pretty straight-forward, Anni says. “With the very knowledgeable team from CowManager, we had a couple of people help us tag and run the cows in and make sure we’re doing everything right. It wasn’t really a big thing.”

When the Lowes do achieve their dream of running their own farm, they believe the transition will be an easy one. That’s where another benefit of sharemilking with ear sensors comes in. Anni explains: “When we leave this farm we can take all the hardware with us and set up in a new place. So, it’s not bound to a farm or a farm owner. We can utilise CowManager as much as we like, wherever we go.”