Moo monitors

stagg88

Lads thinking of investing a set of moo monitors or heatime heat detectors. Just 20 or 30 for the first year (1/4 of the heard). I work away from the farm 4-5 days a week and i wasnt happy with the amount of cows i caught last year and it stretched the calving period out. Another reason was that i seemed to be getting alot of bull calves (from the female advantage straws aswell but thats another days craic 16 to 3 so far).I've came across a scientific paper published by moorepark that claims cows caught in the early hours of the heat are more likely to give heifer calves so im hoping i can AI them earlier in the heat this year. Can anyone give me a review of either the moo monitors or heatime and a price comparison for the collars and the reader or scanner or what ever reads the collars.
Thanks

stanflt

currently have top of range dairymaster parlour that is ready for moo moniter. heattime still works out cheaper for 100 cows

stagg88

Is there much of a difference between the price? What about the system is there much of a difference between them,which works better do you know?

jeff greene

I did a bit of research at the ploughing and I forget now but some of the collars have batteries that can be changed while other just change the whole collar. Worth considering as its enough to buy them once.

whelan1

i have heat time in around 18 months now - actually could be longer - find it great also have drafting gate

Uibh Fhaile

Also thinking of either Moo Monitor or Heattime:

Heatime
Pros

• Seems simplier. No computer required. Running a cable to a computer for MooMonitor could be a problem.
• Cheaper from what I can gather (not by much i expect)
• will identify cows in heat as the come in to the parlour. extra features are required for this with MooMonitor (voice alerts)

Cons

• Battieries cannot be replaced. What is the lifetime of the collar ?
• Maybe not as much information available from this system as MooMonitor i.e can't be analysed on a computer

MooMonitor
Pros

• Even tho it can also be a drawback, having the data on a computer can probably give you more information than the heatime system
• Batteries in the collars are replaceable
• the cows do not have the walk under the reader, they just have to come within range. It works on bluetooth.

Cons

• Need to have it cabled to your computer.
• If i understand correctly you need to check the computer before milking to identify cows in heat.

Maybe you can add to this if you have either system.

How are you managing with heifers,
- run them with the cows ?
- bring them in the milking parlour twice a day to get the data from the collars ?

stagg88

From what i understand if you have heifers with the heat time you put the reader over the the drinker and it reads the collar a few times a day.

bt12

moo monitor has a range of about 100mtrs from the reader box and it can be set up to text your phone, batteries are around 6 euro each

moy83

what do the monitors cost ?

bogman_bass

stagg88 wrote: »

From what i understand if you have heifers with the heat time you put the reader over the the drinker and it reads the collar a few times a day.

yes but have it that only one can go under at a time or it doesnt read it properly

whelan1

moy83 wrote: »

what do the monitors cost ?

i got the whole heatime system with 100 collars and drafting gate , reader , etc cost me 24k inc vat:eek::eek::eek:

Tipp Man

whelan1 wrote: »

i got the whole heatime system with 100 collars and drafting gate , reader , etc cost me 24k inc vat:eek::eek::eek:

Bloody hell that's serious money

Will have to stick with checking em a few times a day

whelan1

yes , it is an excellent system BUT if i could turn back the clock i wouldnt have spent it:rolleyes:

Uibh Fhaile

Is it not paying for itself with shorter calving intervals and less empty rates like they advertise ? The sorting gate I guess pushed up the price too

whelan1

it is paying for itself it works well for me as i am here most of the time on my own and i dont have the time to check heats.... i am saying it is a big amount of money to be paying out the way ,mlik price was at the time i bought it

The Grazer

Hi Guys just wondering if and of ye have come across the new moo monitor with the health updates as well??

Strongly considering it to help me pick up more sick cows after calving time.

bogman_bass

stagg88 wrote: »

From what i understand if you have heifers with the heat time you put the reader over the the drinker and it reads the collar a few times a day.

Thats the old system. The new horizon system doesnt need them to walk under a reader

The Grazer

bogman_bass wrote: »

Thats the old system. The new horizon system doesnt need them to walk under a reader

What is this horizon system ? Who sells it? Cost.

whelan2

The Grazer wrote: »

What is this horizon system ? Who sells it? Cost.

heat time horizon pg sell it

mickey1985

lads any idea of the cost of this?

whelan2

mickey1985 wrote: »

lads any idea of the cost of this?

there was one on done deal a few weeks ago, pm sent

straight

I see there is another provider of such systems now. Herdinsights from Alanya. A cork company.

mickey1985

Any idea of the cost of there system?

Nettleman

Moocall went off last night-cow calved within half hour-its a bit expensive , but does the job alright

Hugh 2

Nettleman wrote: »

Moocall went off last night-cow calved within half hour-its a bit expensive , but does the job alright

Would moo monitor or heat time help with calving alerts?

Mulumpy

Hugh 2 wrote:

Would moo monitor or heat time help with calving alerts?

Heat time doesn't unless a cow is in serious bother trying to calf for couple of hours.

PJcork

Does anyone know anything about the herdinsights product? Their figures look great and there are a good few guys here in Cork using it but I dont know any of them. Is anyone on here using the system? They are claiming 97% heat detection rates and very high 6 week in calf rates but at what cost? Does anyone know how much it costs and is it worth the investment?

Carrigogunnell

It's even more than heat dection it's the health monitoring side of it too. I think it's 150 per collor and 3300 for the base station that's in the palour which reads the data.