Life with SenseHub Series: Collars optimising breeding in Co. Fermanagh

With spring calving in full swing, it does not bear to think about the intensive workload of the upcoming breeding season.

But when you have technology acting as an additional labour unit ‘working 24/7 around the clock’, the breeding season no longer seems as daunting.

Dale Byers is farming in partnership alongside his wife Vicki, a social media star, in Ballinamallard, Co. Fermanagh.The couple are milking 200 pedigree Holstein Friesians three times a day.

The Legendairy Holsteins herd is run as a fully indoor system, while the Byers operate a multi-cup system on their farm. The autumn calving herd is pushing an average of 12,000L on this system.

The Byers are using 100% sexed semen on the pedigree registered herd.

Dale said he likes to have half of the herd calved down within the first four to five weeks from their calving start date.

Therefore, heat detection is vital to ensure good conception rates, with the Byers hitting a 58% conception rate to first service for the 2024 and 2025 seasons using sexed semen.

SenseHub

With the Byers’ breeding season kicking off on December 1, they decided heat detection technology would be a great investment to help in reducing labour during the festive month.

The couple came across SenseHub Behaviour Monitoring Technology from MSD Animal Health, and had it installed five years ago.

The main reason for the investment was to catch heats in Legendairy Holsteins herd.

However, the couple was “blown away” by how well the system actually worked.

Vicki said the system is like having “another workman on the farm, another pair of eyes, watching the cows in heat, watching the cows’ health.”

“It’s being a really great addition to our farm.”

Dale said he is no longer out at night walking around the cow house looking for heats, as the collars can pick up heats better than he would himself.

He added that one of the main benefits of the system is how accessible the data is, with any heat or health alerts available “before you even put the wellies on”.

Vicki joked: “He wakes up and the first thing he does, it’s not good morning, Vicki, it’s check the SenseHub app.”

Dale said the heat detection and health alerts let him look out for flagged cows straight away so that they can be inseminated or treated accordingly.

Success

Dale said they are putting the success of the sexed semen down to the breeding window on the app.

He also finds the anestrus report “an ideal tool” for non-cycling cows, saying he can now draft them out for investigation and get them back cycling on time to maintain his calving pattern.

The Byers also frequently check the fresh cow report during calving to monitor their freshly calved cows transition period to ensure they reach the “peak yields they should do”.

The farm is minimising milk fever by getting in with calcium early when a cows shows a distress alert in the SenseHub App.

Major herd health issues are “unheard of” since adapting to SenseHub, as the Byers can identify and treat sick animals quicker, leading to better recovery rates.

According to Dale, it’s hard for him to choose what he loves most about SenseHub as it’s all very useful information that he can use day-to-day.

He said since the investment, people have phoned him and asked about the collars, to which he replies: “It’s the best money you’ll spend in the yard, you’ll not regret it.”

Interested in finding out more about how you can save time and improve herd health with SenseHub? Click here