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Gathering data on your cows: How Tru-Test makes life easy
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KiwiKit bring New Zealand Solutions for British Farmers, Fencing Contractors and Veterinary Surgeons. Our aim is to provide good quality product that will do the job at the right price with a first class service to our customers. KiwiKit has a long history of bringing innovative products to the UK market and providing our customers with choice and quality with products that add value to your enterprise, or your lifestyle. ROXAN provide the world’s leading brands in livestock management systems from the fully automatic ear tagging system for sheep, TagFaster, to the accurate animal health delivery systems from Simcro and easy to use EID readers from Tru-Test.
Datamars is a livestock management company that owns a number of trusted, respected brands, including Tru-Test which many farmers will be familiar with from things like weighing scales, stick readers and milk recording solutions.
Tru-Test is set to build on its reputation of innovation with the introduction of Tru-Test Active Tag solutions, their solution for heat and health monitoring.
The platform consists of both ear tags and collars, a web connected gateway and their cloud-based platform that delivers the insights from the data.
James Donovan, head of solution design for smart farming and product manager for Tru-Test Active Tag, said:
“The real advantage here is the time-saving and the confidence a farmer gets from knowing their cows are being looked at for the farmer by this software.”
“Farmers buy it for the heat monitoring but love it for the health monitoring.”
For dairy farmers, the Tru-Test Active Tag is an easy, simple to use and fast to install platform.
Due to the plug and play gateway, and advanced hardware technology for quick collar and tag activation, farmers spend less time setting up, and more time where it matters.
Tru-Test Active Tag provides full access anywhere, anytime, from all devices. Specifically built on a cloud-based platform, it enables unlimited connectivity and users, making accessing critical information and receiving crucial alerts possible 24/7, no matter where you are.
How does the Active Tag work?
The collar is simply placed around the cow’s neck or alternatively, the ear tag can be tagged in a cow’s ear – similar to a cattle tag. The monitors can be used on dairy cows or suckler/beef cattle.
When in place, the Tru-Test Active Tag device will monitor the animal’s activity throughout the day.
The device collects data on the cow’s rumination, standing, lying, feeding and resting, and processes the data to form a report on the animal’s activity.
The software will pick up early stages of common health issues and other illnesses much earlier than the farmer could identify it. It will generate alerts for sickness or illness in a cow before the issue has become a problem, allowing for a more proactive approach to herd management.
The Tru-Test algorithm compares each individual cow to its normal self, and to the group, to identify if the cow is in heat, dull and/or showing early signs of sickness.
Further the algorithm will identify outliers in data collection and adjust the reporting accordingly.
From the data capture insights are generated, with farmers receiving an alert to tell them which cows are in heat and which cows may be sick, and this data can be used to manage the cows accordingly.
The cow’s collar or tag connects to a unit known as a gateway which helps pass information to the cloud for processing the data and then feeds it back to the farmer via the app in a straightforward format.
The system has been trialled in Ireland; New Zealand; the US; Italy; Argentina; France; and several other locations. It will accurately identify cows in heat and sick sows in both an indoor and outdoor system.
The gateway takes in data from all animals within a 500m radius. However, the system is specifically designed to suit cows which are grazing outside that radius.
The monitors on the cows continue to record and save data when the cows are outside the radius and when they come within half a kilometre of the gateway (i.e walking in for milking) the cows’ data from the day/night will be instantly communicated back to the farmer.
© Datamars Livestock
How would the system save on time?
The device is guaranteed to save a farmer time as it eliminates the need for the application of other heat detection aids, also saving time that would otherwise be spent herding and checking for sick cows.
By using Tru-Test and it’s connected solutions, farmers are choosing smart farming practices and are making technology do the work for them.
Once in place continuous monitoring means heats, and other events, won’t be missed – with the information and alerts delivered directly to the farmers phone, anywhere they might be.
Heats and health events can be monitored anytime, for example when a farmer is sitting down to their breakfast in the morning, they can check on their phone to see if any cows require attention that day. Identifying if any cows need to be drafted and which cows need to be checked as they are coming through the parlour.
When Tru-Test is installed on the farm, a farmer can give access to the software to staff and trusted advisors, allowing the farmer to take a day off without having to worry about missed heats. Its simple app interface allows farm staff to see which cows may require attention and which cows are in heat, at a glance.
For more information, visit offers.datamars.co.uk/active-tag.