Dairymaster Moo monitors

tomnjerry

Was just wondering what exactly are the main function of this ?? I know it obviously heat detection but can't find a precise answer anywhere not even on Dairymasters website.
Does it just basically just indicate greater movement /activity / mounts of a cow or does it give body temperture and more information???
Also are they any good and what price range would they be??

whelan2

save your money and use tail paint

Timmaay

whelan2 wrote: »

save your money and use tail paint

Agreed, block calf and tail paint. Not only will you save the cost of the moo monitors, you'll also produce more milk for cheaper, use less labour, have alot simpler system.

Cow Porter

Timmaay wrote: »

........
........, use less labour, have alot simpler system.

Thought that was the point on auto heat detection???

Timmaay

Cow Porter wrote: »

Thought that was the point on auto heat detection???

True, but most people I know with them are AYR or close to it, they need them as the breeding season too stretched out to keep up the intensity needed to catch all heats, rigorous block calving will solve this problem for you, alongside the other benefits I listed.

whelan2

Cow Porter wrote: »

Thought that was the point on auto heat detection???

i used heat time worked well for what i wanted it for, had very young kids didnt have time for heat detection etc. There was also the time spent putting collars on etc.... sold the system earlier in the year and just use tail paint now, vasectomised bull with chin ball would be good too imo

stretch film

whelan2 wrote: »

i used heat time worked well for what i wanted it for, had very young kids didnt have time for heat detection etc. There was also the time spent putting collars on etc.... sold the system earlier in the year and just use tail paint now, vasectomised bull with chin ball would be good too imo

+1 on the vas bull with chinball ....aut born bull calves have an extra bit of size @18mths for cows and heifers .fatten them up post breeding and sell at 2 yrs . averaged 1500 for two crossbreed (fr12 je4) lads this aut. their replacements for next may are done already b4 the winter. will outwinter, easier done with two young bulls(and safer).

Mulumpy

Heat detection aids have their place on some farms. I put in Heat Time last year and I'm very pleased with it. I had a near miss with a bull a couple of years ago and would never let one in here.
I work over 42 hours a week off farm and I was missing too many even with vigorous tail painting. It's taken over an hour off my working day. This year I've 15% more in calf and down to ten week calving period.
If I was at home full time wouldn't bother with it though.

Cow Porter

Have heat detection collars here with a year and a half (not dairymaster). Was put in with the parlour so a good enough deal was got tbh. Reason for getting it was we're in winter milk and intend staying in it. We did have trouble picking up cows on heat in the sheds. In the spring bunch there are definitely cows we wouldn't have seen bulling. And if you look at the graph most of the cows high activity was in the middle of the night / early morning. Cow comes in parlour and shouts high activity (doesn't shout out every cow annoying operator like dairymaster just what alerts you want) for that cow and from milk meter I can check how long she is calved or how long since last serve and can then make a decision to draft her out. Battery should last 8-10 years and after that while it won't do heat detection it will do the auto id. Sealed unit.

bogman_bass

tomnjerry wrote: »

Was just wondering what exactly are the main function of this ?? I know it obviously heat detection but can't find a precise answer anywhere not even on Dairymasters website.
Does it just basically just indicate greater movement /activity / mounts of a cow or does it give body temperture and more information???
Also are they any good and what price range would they be??

The basic units with moo-monitor or hearine are just a basic pedometer. It's transmuting and analysing the data that's the tricky bit

tomnjerry

bogman_bass wrote: »

The basic units with moo-monitor or hearine are just a basic pedometer. It's transmuting and analysing the data that's the tricky bit

Think ill stick with the tail pain so and buy myself something nice for christmas!
Thought they were more than just a pedometer.
Are the devices put on cows with robots give the same info or do they give more than a moo monitor??

Timmaay

tomnjerry wrote: »

Think ill stick with the tail pain so and buy myself something nice for christmas!
Thought they were more than just a pedometer.
Are the devices put on cows with robots give the same info or do they give more than a moo monitor??

The lely robot collars are the very same as heat time ones, other than different case. I know a lad who had the heattime system, got 2lelys and was told he needed all new collars. It was only after he bought them he found out the old ones worked fine with the lely!

The Grazer

Hi Guys just wondering if and of ye have come across the new moo monitor with the health updates as well, think it was launched at the ploughing??

Strongly considering it to help me pick up more sick cows after calving time .The sales rep said its based on activity over three levels low medium and high based on an accelermoter within the collar. Does anyone have this new system yet????

whelan2

one thing that annoyed me was when the cows where out if they where in a far away field they would nearly all be picked as being in heat

Cow Porter

Most of the latest ones incorporate rumination monitoring. Gea Westfalia ones can draw a list if cows with low activity, also cows far away one day not a big problem as it compensates for herd trends.

The Grazer

whelan2 wrote: »

one thing that annoyed me was when the cows where out if they where in a far away field they would nearly all be picked as being in heat

They say you can achieve 1km line of sight with the new system from dairymaster

tomnjerry

Timmaay wrote: »

The lely robot collars are the very same as heat time ones, other than different case. I know a lad who had the heattime system, got 2lelys and was told he needed all new collars. It was only after he bought them he found out the old ones worked fine with the lely!

Good old Lely as if the robots werent expensive enough!!

kowtow

The Grazer wrote: »

They say you can achieve 1km line of sight with the new system from dairymaster

Sounds great - but by the time my heifers are a kilometre away flashing their eyelashes at some neighbours Hereford I hardly need a moo monitor to tell me what they are after.

JimP_Cork

The new Dairymaster MooMonitor+ system is well worth checking it out.

I first looked at the ploughing, it won an award there and again at the World Dairy Expo in the USA.

The main difference is that in addition to fertility and heat detection it now does health monitoring and it’s all cloud based and alerts are sent out to your phone.

I have seen graphs where the system flagged cows with ketosis, mastitis and salmonella. There is also huge wireless range which they say is a big advantage from a health viewpoint as you get information in real time.

The main thing with it from a fertility point of view is that you want to identify problem cows sooner & deal with them so you get a more compact calving pattern.

Research has shown that over 70% of heats start at night time so with all the above it makes sense.

I also spoke to guys that have the MooMonitor and they all were happy and said it paid for itself in 2 years.

I was also told the new system is based on all the experience gained to date on the previous system with lots of improvements based on experience in farms large & small.


Price of the new one is ok too considering it gives a lot more information.

In short I think it's a good product.

Mad4simmental

Vested intrest, cough cough

cjpm

Hi Ned!!

kowtow

I am always suspicious of companies who tout "cloud based" as a benefit of some kind. Unless it's a rain cloud in a dry season.

There are certainly applications where cloud implementations have advantages, but those advantages are usually for massive scaleability (think google, not cow collars). To the end user there is no difference at all in a niche application, other than the fact that their data is on a shared hosting platform outside the direct control of the vendor (and usually outside the country as well).

Unless of course the company uses the word "cloud" to mean the internet in general, in which case run a mile from their technology, because they havent the first clue what they are talking about.