Seamus O’Leary, who milks 130 pedigree Holstein Friesian cows at Coolnagree Dairy in Co. Wexford, splits his calving between autumn and spring, producing 8500L of milk and 650kg of milk solids annually.
In 2022, Seamus successfully installed SenseHub monitoring collars to improve heat and health detection levels and permit the increased use of sexed semen.
SenseHub Dairy Youngstock is the newest addition to the SenseHub ecosystem, representing the first dedicated solution to monitoring the health of dairy calves and heifers during their first 12 months of life.
Off the back of the success Seamus had with SenseHub monitoring collars, he added SenseHub Dairy Youngstock to his inventory this spring.
“I wanted to be in a position to monitor the calves on a 24/7 basis and SenseHub Dairy Youngstock has made that possible,” Seamus said, who sells 50 to 60 freshly-calved heifers at New Ross Mart each February.
“Since I was already a SenseHub customer, I had an antenna set up for the bulling heifers on the out farm (a mile away from the main farm), so there was no additional installation involved when it came to implementing the Youngstock system,” The Wexford farmer continued.
“In previous years, I’d had issues with summer scour and photosynthesis while the calves were on the out farm so having this monitoring system in place made complete sense.”
As part of the expanding SenseHub ecosystem, SenseHub Dairy Youngstock involves tagging the calf – which can be done as soon as day of birth – and measures four different behaviours: suckling; activity; rumination; and eating.
According to MSD Animal Health’s technical and customer success manager, Catherine Heffernan: “SenseHub Dairy Youngstock will pick up any indication of illness up to 12-24 hours before any clinical signs, with the SenseHub app alerting the farmer when this arises.
“Alternatively, the LED on the tag will display an orange flashing light on the calf’s ear when an issue arises.”
SenseHub Dairy Youngstock, which monitors the calf until it’s ready for breeding, is also key for: The early detection of youngstock health; reducing labour demands; protecting a farmer’s youngstock investment; and optimising breeding selection for replacement heifers.
For new SenseHub customers, a Wi-Fi-linked control unit is installed within proximity of the calf shed.
The data gathered from the calves’ tags is then transferred to a base station every minute, which in turn identifies calves with any issues to the farmer via the SenseHub app.
“Thanks to SenseHub Dairy Youngstock, I will now have lifetime health reports on each calf at my disposal,” the Wexford farmer added.
“This will help me to choose the best replacement heifers when it comes to breeding.
“Thanks to its 24/7 monitoring capabilities, it also helps me to detect early signs of sickness, especially when the calves are brought to the out farm when they’re being weaned.”
With no upfront costs, SenseHub Dairy Youngstock is available through SenseHub’s subscription payment model.
