Computer technology has taken the hassles out of breeding management for Oscar, Wendy and Oscar Jnr Negus who run a 500-head Holstein herd at Tutunup, Western Australia.

The family moved their herd into a 60-unit rotary almost 12 months ago, with the new installation featuring a range of time and labour-saving technology, including Westfalia’s fully-computerised herd management program which incorporates the DairyPlan C21 software.

Heat detection and calving interval were issues of concern to the family which had previously milked in two dairies - now the new system gives them far tighter control over both and they are beginning to reap the rewards.

Oscar Jnr was quick to praise DairyPlan C21 program, saying.
“We would certainly give the five star thumbs up to the program,” he said. “It gives us complete control over our herd management and the reports are easy to interpret and provide comprehensive information relating to all aspects of the herd’s nutrition, health and breeding management.
“It’s very fool proof and from a heat detection point of view, has taken away many of the inconsistencies raised by using heat detection aids and visual assessments.”

The Negus family runs a split calving program for their milking herd - one batch of 250 cows is mated to start calving early February through till late April/early May while the second batch of 250 commences calving around the third week in July through till October. 

With the new herd management system, the family has been able to tighten up the calving interval and they expect to see the benefits of this in coming months as their July-October cows calve.
Oscar Jnr says calving interval had been “creeping out and costing us money” under their former management system. 
“By using data from the new program, we are in the process of reducing calving interval from more than 400 days per lactation to around 360,” he said.
“The bottom line is that we have estimated this is worth about $100,000 to our business, without any fuss or extra work. 

“With the system, all our cows are fitted with an identification collar which is read at morning and afternoon milkings.
“The system is able to monitor each cow’s activity during her time out of the dairy, including distance walked and activity relating to oestrus.
“After each milking we can print out reports which nominate cows ready for AI and cows recording a high amount of activity which may indicate that they are on heat. These cows are drafted out at the next milking and returned to the platform for a visual check for signs of heat.
“We then cross-reference this information with the computer records, checking where the cow is in her lactation so we can make a positive decision about whether or not she needs to be mated.”
A series of four graphs assists in the decision making process  - daily milk production, actual activity, corrected activity and conductivity. Spikes in the conductivity and activity graphs indicate that the cow may be ready for mating.
“A big spike in the graph indicates that the cow is ready for mating and small spikes indicate that she is coming onto heat and needs to be watched,” said Oscar Jnr.
“This system has taken the guess work out of the equation. We’re saving time and labour and there’s less stress because all the work can be done in the dairy, we don’t have to take notice of cows in the paddock.
“We’re also saving money as we no longer need to use commercial heat detection aids.
“Another bonus is that we have found that our AI program is far easier and much more accurate and this is also saving us money.
“We know when the cows are on heat and when is the optimum time for AI.”

The Negus family’s experience clearly highlights the cost benefits to any dairy business of better practice breeding management utilising programs like Westfalia’s DairyPlan C21 and their local WestfaliaSurge specialist ProFormance dealer, Farmwest of Bunbury WA.