Latest generation of electronic monitors makes cow watching that much easier

Monday, December 3, 2012

Close attention and quick reaction is what big herd management is all about nowadays. A big batch of innovations in electronic monitoring of livestock coming onto the market this winter that will help that task

by NORMAN DUNN

Having to cruise the calving pens watching that problem cow that never starts birth until you're in bed could be a great excuse for splashing out on a video monitoring system. But isn't it a fact that when something really starts happening on-screen, you're usually somewhere else?

The ideal solution could be a phone message that Daisy's down and starting to push. And this is what's being offered this winter by German veterinary Dr. Wolfgang Hasseler with his "iVET" concept.

This features a T-shaped sensor for insertion in the cow's vagina. It comprises light and temperature sensors with wireless connection to mobile phones for both voice and text messages. 

Pushed out when the cow starts calving, the iVET registers change of light and temperature, and activates the telephone warning. But, even when not pushed out, the device registers and transmits the cow's internal temperature.

Dairy farmers already into electronic monitoring of cow health and fertility tend to favour pedometers or cudding sensors. Why not use both for a more complete monitoring system? The Swiss electronic specialist ITIN+Hoch asked its development staff this question and the result is the new RumiWatch system featuring a halter-based cudding/swallowing sensor, a pedometer and state-of-the-art evaluation software.

ITIN+Hoch, a firm founded 20 years ago by two neighbouring Swiss farmers to market their idea for an automatic calf drinker, records not only cow movement and thus signs of oestrous or health problems but also feed and water intake patterns. The Swiss company says that, when all this information is analyzed by the right software, the result is a comprehensive insight into each cow in the herd, its behaviour and related physical and financial effects.

The RumiWatch halter includes one memory chipcard and there's a slot for an additional one. Result: up to four months' records can be stored and wirelessly downloaded at any time into the herd computer. Farmers trying out the concept agree that one of the biggest advantages is the complete chart record of any cow that can be compiled from all the RumiWatch information and sent straight to the vet when there's a problem.

Another new cow watching system introduced this fall is GEA's DairyProView, an electronic management aid aimed at giving an overall picture of the milk production process. It is software that takes the present GEA "DMS 21" herd management system, featuring automatic recording of individual cow performance along with control reports and alarms for feeding and breeding management, and marries it to "CowView," a transponder-based tracking system that follows herd members through the daily routine, recording time spent feeding, in the cubicle house, resting and walking. Combined, claims GEA, you've got the most comprehensive electronic management aid available for a milking herd.

Dairy advisers everywhere say close attention and quick reaction is what big herd management is all about nowadays. With the latest generation of electronic monitors coming onto the market now, farmers are at least getting the tools to make this intensity of management easier. BF

Norman Dunn writes about European agriculture from Germany.