Silent Herdsman, the developers of heat detection and animal behaviour monitoring systems for the dairy and beef farming sectors, today announced the launch of mySilent Herdsman Health Alert.
The mySilent Herdsman Health Alert software-service has been developed to provide early identification of animal illness before being observed or identified as so by a farmer, staff member or vet, and builds on research carried out during a three year programme supported by Innovate UK.
It has been proven to accurately and reliably alert farms to the signs of illness, most commonly to the early onset of acidosis, ketosis, mastitis/E coli mastitis and lameness.
The 24 x 7 software-service continually monitors eating and rumination via a single collar-based sensor. (The sensor also identifies heats (oestrus)). The graphs display the average time spent by the cow eating and ruminating. Alerts are received when eating or ruminating declines, with users able to adjust the sensitivity setting for the health alert via the Silent Herdsman system.
As with heat detection, alerts can be received via any Smartphone, tablet, laptop or PC and through accessing the Silent Herdsman and mySilent Herdsman software.
In addition to the significant value and benefits achieved through heat detection, the new software- service contributes to healthier and better performing cows by:
- Identifying sickness and enabling the user to decide on the required response or treatment earlier than through observation.
- Reducing the impact on milk yields and quality due to sickness by making quicker corrective actions.
- Providing access to greater health related real-time information around calving and transition
- Corroborating the accuracy of oestrus detection.
- Delivering greater all round intelligence on animal health and performance, enabling the farmer to make informed adjustments to optimise yields.
Drew Sloan, Silent Herdsman’s CEO, commented, “With farms increasing in size and skilled labour in short supply, it is becoming much more difficult to effectively monitor the health and productivity of every cow. With mySilent Herdsman Health Alert, farmers receive early indications of health problems of individual cows, enabling them to focus on these few cows and take preventative action before a productive cow becomes a cull cow. The system will only need to save one cow per year to pay for itself.”
The software-based-service is an optional add-on to the mySilent Herdsman system, with a 12-month farm license.
