ADOPTING the latest herd management technology has made moving electric fences a thing of the past for Yolla dairy farmer Duncan MacDonald.
A new electronic collar management system, which includes virtual fencing capabilities, has been a game changer for Mr MacDonald.
The Halter herd management system was developed in New Zealand and after watching its progress for a number of years, Mr MacDonald was one of the first Tasmanian farmers to adopt the technology.
After initially installing it on his 750-800 cow operation, in October last year, Mr MacDonald then also extended it to his second 550-cow farm in May.
“We were looking for ways to improve efficiency and better monitoring of cow health,” he said.
“I guess with the whole thing of herds getting bigger and staff getting less experienced, we wanted something that would help with those two key things.”
The system uses solar powered collars with batteries that track each cow and can collect a large range of data including rumination and resting times, grazing activity and movement including heat detection.
One of its key features is that the collars can use a system of noises and vibrations to train the cows to move as required.
This means Mr MacDonald can now set up virtual break fences in the paddocks to allocate pasture.
The system also prompts the cows to move to the dairy for milking or to a different paddock when required.
Mr MacDonald said it can also be used to exclude cows for certain areas when needed, such as riparian zones or even wet patches in the paddocks to prevent pasture damage.
“One of the biggest things is we can precisely allocate breaks for the cows,” he said.
“There’s not the work involved in putting up a portable fence, so we can change it or adjust the break if needed quickly and easily without even having to go out into the paddock.”
Mr MacDonald said being able to bring the cows to and from the dairy for milking has also been a big time and labour saving.
“That makes a huge difference especially when we’re already milking really early in the morning, because we try to have cups on at 4am in the morning in the peak here,” he said.
“So, we’ve taken a solid hour out of that in the morning for people and it’s the same in the afternoon. We’re running two herds here too so it’s that again … so there are huge labour savings with that.”
Mr MacDonald said they are also running more groups of cows now because the new system allows them to do that without any an extra work.
The system uses an app, which Mr MacDonald can access on his phone. Each cow is shown in the system in real time, so if there is an issue they can quickly be identified and located if needed.
Being able to monitor individual cow health more easily is a significant benefit.
“I sort of treat it like another set of eyes so you’re not going to rely on that 100 per cent and not look at the cows any more,” he said.
“But it’s another set of eyes, giving you an alert if you need to have a closer look at one of the cows.”
If a cow is down and not moving, the system sends an alert which makes identifying unwell cows easier and faster.
Mr MacDonald said the system helps to support their less experienced staff and allows him to monitor the cows without having to physically be on farm.
Halter partnerships manager Steve Crowhurst said Tasmanian farmers have been quick to adopt the technology and they were now rolling out one to two new systems each week across the state.
The system was first introduced in New Zealand seven years ago and Mr Crowhurst said it is now on farms across the country over there.
There were over 100,000 cows trained in the system in New Zealand last year.
“The farming systems in New Zealand are very similar to Tasmania, so that’s why we thought it would work well here too,” he said.
Mr Crowhurst said while the system has generally been designed to operate within existing fence lines on established farms, it could also be used on dairy conversions, which do not have pre-existing internal fences.
“Farmers don’t have to remove their existing physical fences, but what we find is there are some efficiency gains if they merge some paddocks,” he said.
“When you have the flexibility of virtual fencing farmers quickly realise they can use bigger paddocks.”
The collars tell the cows to turn left or right by making a noise on either side depending on where they need to move.
“Basically we train the cows to understand the cues of the collar,” Mr Crowhurst said.
“So instead of seeing fence they hear the fence, so sound lets them know when they’re approaching a boundary.
“The vibration is the cue to walk forward, so to go to the dairy or look for fresh grass or move forward. Each cow is guided forward individually relative to her position in the paddock.”
Because the collars deliver the cues consistently every time, the cows learn the system in a week or less.
“It’s amazing how quickly they learn the cues, especially the turning around,” Mr MacDonald said.
“They come out of the paddock to go to the dairy probably quicker on average, because they get the cues at the same time, but they are a lot more relaxed and they spread out more on the way there.”
One of the biggest benefits of the system is better pasture usage.
Since installing Halter, Mr MacDonald said he has been using back fencing to prevent re-grazing of pastures which is improving the re-growth rates.
He said the ability to more accurately allocate pasture means they have also improved utilisation across the farms.
“Even with GPS systems these days, if you send someone out to put up a fence, they can never get it 100 per cent right every time, so the cows might have too much pasture day then not enough the next,” he said.
“With this system we can give them exactly the right amount every day.”
Both farms run spring calving herds and all the cows are kept on farm over winter, which Mr MacDonald said made correct pasture allocation even more important.
Mr MacDonald said as they get into the busy calving season, the system means staff will not be tied up physically moving fences, so they can do other tasks instead which helps take pressure off.