24/7 heat and health monitoring
Explore the full functionality of Nedap CowControl
Submission rates and heat detection are vital to farm profits
The key to reproductive efficiency in your dairy herd is in submission and conception rates. In fact, pregnancy rate is a product of both. But what do we mean by these terms and what should we be aiming for?
90% Submission rate
The ideal target for an Irish dairy farm is a submission rate of +90%. This is 90% of the herd coming into heat and inseminated in the first three weeks from the beginning of the breeding season of the portion of the herd you want to breed.
Nedap customers report a dramatic rise in their submission rate since installing Nedap CowControl. Previously, dairy farmer Enda Doran would rely on tailpaint but was not overly successful. “Submission rates were about 50% in three weeks. Since installing Nedap, it was already up to 97% in the first spring. And we completed a 100% submission rate in less than four weeks, which we could never come near that before with the old system.”
How much does preventing a missed heat save you?
There are only 1.5 mounts/hour/cow and each mount lasts four-to-six seconds. A cow’s heat lasts six-to-eight hours.
Collectively, these numbers tell us cows are in heat for one-third of the day and spend just three-to-five minutes standing to be mounted. That’s a very small window to catch a heat.
Enda Doran: “We find with missed cycles that there is a loss in production of an average of €250 per cow. If you take this in account, the investment in the system is paid back within a short time.”
Detect health issues before they become problems
Nedap CowControl can help you quickly detect health issues days before their symptoms are visible to the human eye. Finding and addressing potentially sick cows saves time, medical costs, death loss and milk production because the cows can bounce back quickly and return to peak milk sooner.
Dairy farmer Morgan O’Sullivan: “Recently enough, we had the vet out. We had three cows with pneumonia, and the system had picked up that the cows had high levels of inactivity, reduced grazing and reduced rumination. The system attention picked it up before we did ourselves. It allowed us to act that bit sooner and get the vet out. And they got back into full production again a lot quicker than they would have in an ordinary scenario.”
The investment in Nedap CowControl has paid for itself
Dairy farmer John Phelan estimates the investment in the system paid for itself within two to three years. “Mainly because you’re getting more cows in calf earlier.” Improved fertility results are significant on John’s farm. “More compact calving equals more milk in the tank.”
“Higher submission rates, higher conception rates, more cows calving earlier, more compact calving, higher milk solids per hectare. Whatever way you look at it, it’s more profit. And less work, you don’t have to go watch the cows. It takes care of it, watching them all day, every day.”
Get Nedap CowControl now and integrate it with a future drafting system
Whether you already have a drafting system in place or planning to get one in the future, Nedap CowControl has you covered. Nedap CowControl integrates with a wide array of drafting systems from all major equipment manufacturers.
Dairy farmer Brian Mooney: “Nedap CowControl I felt was the best health monitoring and heat detection that I can integrate with the drafting system later on down the road.”
Learn more about Nedap CowControl
Read our references
See more Nedap technology in action across farms in Ireland:
“It‘s like a second set of eyes on the cows when we‘re off the farm.”
“Higher submission rates, higher conception rates, less time down in the field watching.”
“Nedap allows me to be free to spend time with the family”
“I know now that it's excellent in accuracy and I can trust it completely”
"It’s not how it changes it, it‘s how it keeps things the same."
Leading international dairy farming companies, including genetics and milking equipment suppliers, partner with Nedap to include our technology in their systems. Our distribution and support network ensures a global knowledge base with local service and support. Find your Nedap distributor here.
