GEA, getting heat detection right for cows and farmers

GEA, getting heat detection right for cows and farmers

Hamilton, 29 July 2013 – With calving underway and the industry knuckled down for the busiest period of the season, GEA Farm Technologies is reminding farmers that mating is also just around the corner and to give some thought to the best methods of heat detection for your farming operation.

From tail paint to beacons, activity collars and rumination monitoring, there are many forms of heat detection available that vary in price and the level of skill required to interpret and use - so it’s important to find the method that works for your farm.

Tail paint is one tried and true, albeit somewhat low-tech, method that has a long history in New Zealand.

GEA Farm Technologies’ dairy hygiene and animal health supplies company FIL manufactures and supplies tail paint to most of the country’s dairy farmers.

Business and new product development manager Trevor Gulliver said tail paint is a reliable, cost effective form of heat detection, and is used by around 80 – 85 per cent of New Zealand’s dairy farmers.

“Tail paint has come a long way, but it is still a classic example of good old number eight wire kiwi ingenuity,” said Gulliver.

First developed in the mid-seventies by a group of innovative farmers who decided to paint the top of the cow’s tails with house paint to detect rubbing, Gulliver said in the early days any sort of house paint was used, although it was not really fit for the purpose.

In the late eighties FIL launched a one litre tin of oil-based paint specifically designed for heat detection, because it lasted on the animal for at least 21 days.

“Farmers found the tin and brush application fiddly and time consuming and Te Puke dairy farmer Doug Pamment challenged FIL to come up with something that would make the job easier. The answer to Doug’s request was relatively simple - all we had to do was to put a brush on a bottle - problem solved,” said Gulliver.

It was this innovation that launched Tail Mark - a fit-for-purpose applicator bottle with a specially designed brush attached to the head of the bottle.

“We launched Tail Mark at the National Fieldays in 1995. We were astounded at the amount of interest this product created as we had never seen such high demand for a new product.”

In 1999 it was time for yet another colour and name change. Tell Tail, a fluorescent based paint was developed, which moved away from pastel colours to more intense colours, which enabled the farmer to identify cycling cows much easier, even in poor light.

Fast forward to 2013, and Tell Tail remains largely the same – although Gulliver said there is a gradual shift towards water-based paints, which when applied to a cow and given five minutes to dry will handle up to 25mm of rain without being washed off.

“We’ve always worked on the philosophy that if we get it right for cows then we get it right for farmers. FIL is the only New Zealand company currently manufacturing water-based tail paints. The two litre bottles fit neatly into a back pack which has its own draw tube and specially designed brush head for ease of application – this system is perfect for those farmers operating rotary sheds.”

Over in the South Waikato, the Putaruru-based Scheres family stopped using tail paint about a year ago and started using Milfos HEATIME collars. Third generation farmers, the Scheres’s have four farms milking around 1500 cows.

Jack Scheres said they made the change because being a high input farming system they were struggling with getting cows in calf and wanted to use better technology to detect heat. Jack added that HEATIME also detects changes in rumination, a critical sign of a cow’s wellbeing after calving and mating.

As well as being accurate, he said HEATIME collars have other advantages and labour saving benefits.

“We have a very small labour force and we’ve saved time by not having to apply tail paint – we only have to put collars on heifers once each season. We also get pre-mating data from the time cows are calved, which is a lot more accurate and we save on inseminations by not putting cows up for AI unnecessarily.”

After only one year, Scheres says the results have been outstanding.

“We’ve increased our in-calf rate and get them in calf sooner, so more days in milk. Our empty rate went down from 16 per cent to nine per cent last season. We also don’t use bulls to finish off because all the cows are artificially inseminated.

“Yes, it costs, but you really appreciate it once you start experiencing the benefits – it essentially starts to pay for itself,” said Scheres.

GEA managing director Jamie Mikkelson said it was critical to get heat detection right and think carefully about what method you’ll use this season.

“Sticking with tail paint might be the best solution for you or perhaps this is the season to look toward a higher tech option, such as collars, to boost your in-calf rates. Your local GEA service representative can help you evaluate the costs and benefits of these options and decide what’s right for your operation.”

ENDS

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