As calving season is about to begin, farmers up and down the country are facing into long days and even longer nights doing night checks, feeding calves, cleaning out calving pens and basically carrying out the role of a midwife.
As working an 18-hour day during the calving season would not be unusual during the annual early spring rush, many farmers have precious little time to devote to other time-consuming yet important aspects of their farm such as record-keeping.
With the current shortage of skilled farm labour in Ireland, even if farmers are willing to pay for it, the only remaining option for farmers is to find efficiencies inside the farm gate.
While it can be easy to let calf registration fall by the wayside, it is still a vital part of herd management. Ensuring that data (namely sires and calving ease) is recorded comprehensively and accurately is vital, not only to the work that ICBF does, but also to the development of our agri-food industry.
According to the ICBF, this will in turn lead to more informed breeding decisions, which will leave more profitable stock on farms and increase output at both farm and processor levels.
For this reason, it also says that people across the industry who find themselves in regular contact with farmers, eg agri advisers, breed society representatives, AI company reps and technicians, etc, need to constantly stress the importance of recording basic breeding information when registering calves.
Luckily, over the course of the last number of years there has been a number of technological developments which have greatly enhanced the speed and efficiency at which farmers can register calves online.
Herdwatch
Cost: €130/year (first month free).Free updates.Free technical support.Use on multiple phones/tablets.The Herdwatch mobile app is one of the success stories of the Irish agribusiness sector over the last five years. A subsidiary of FRS (Farm Relief Service), it was founded in 2013 by Fabian Peynaud.
Herdwatch is approved by the Department of Agriculture and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, and is compliant with Bord Bia’s quality assurance scheme, helping farmers pass inspections.
It has a number of handy on-farm features, with calf registration being one of the most important.
Over the course of the last number of years, the number of calves being registered on Herdwatch has increased, with over 200,000 calves registered in 2017.
One of the main benefits of using Herdwatch is its speed. As mentioned above, farmers need to increase their efficiency levels due to the current labour shortage.
Herdwatch enables this as it allows farmers to tag calves as soon as they are born, enter the relevant information and have it registered within a minute.
It also has a handy offline feature, meaning you can enter information without an internet connection and the app will store it until you gain access to the internet and then send it on.
Over the course of its short existence, Herdwatch has gradually gained momentum and at present has over 6,500 users, most of whom are dairy farmers, although sucklers make up a significant portion of their customer base, with beef to lesser extent and sheep making up the rest.
It was established in the UK (England, Scotland and Wales) in late 2016 and they are currently looking at plans to go into the Northern Ireland market in the near future, while also looking to establish themselves in mainland Europe, via France, the homeland of their founder Fabien Peyaud, which is also the largest agricultural producer in Europe.
Agrinet
Cost: €220/year.Includes full grass, beef herd, milk herd, accounts and herd smartphone software as well as technical support. Agrinet has also launched a new app which allows for online calf registration and a whole host of other functions, such as financial planning, grass management, medicine compliance and accurately tracking animal weights. Some of the benefits of using the Agrinet app for calf registration include:
Manage your herd using only your smartphone.Work offline when out of coverage.Switch easily between multiple herds.Register calf births instantly. Data is synchronised with both ICBF and the Department of Agriculture.Farmers have a number of other options for registering calves, including the Department of Agriculture’s site Agfood.ie. It is free to use, although you must first create an account with on the department’s website at agfood.agriculture.gov.ie.
Read more
Positive outlook hinges on ferry approval
Key things you need to know about calf welfare
As calving season is about to begin, farmers up and down the country are facing into long days and even longer nights doing night checks, feeding calves, cleaning out calving pens and basically carrying out the role of a midwife.
As working an 18-hour day during the calving season would not be unusual during the annual early spring rush, many farmers have precious little time to devote to other time-consuming yet important aspects of their farm such as record-keeping.
With the current shortage of skilled farm labour in Ireland, even if farmers are willing to pay for it, the only remaining option for farmers is to find efficiencies inside the farm gate.
While it can be easy to let calf registration fall by the wayside, it is still a vital part of herd management. Ensuring that data (namely sires and calving ease) is recorded comprehensively and accurately is vital, not only to the work that ICBF does, but also to the development of our agri-food industry.
According to the ICBF, this will in turn lead to more informed breeding decisions, which will leave more profitable stock on farms and increase output at both farm and processor levels.
For this reason, it also says that people across the industry who find themselves in regular contact with farmers, eg agri advisers, breed society representatives, AI company reps and technicians, etc, need to constantly stress the importance of recording basic breeding information when registering calves.
Luckily, over the course of the last number of years there has been a number of technological developments which have greatly enhanced the speed and efficiency at which farmers can register calves online.
Herdwatch
Cost: €130/year (first month free).Free updates.Free technical support.Use on multiple phones/tablets.The Herdwatch mobile app is one of the success stories of the Irish agribusiness sector over the last five years. A subsidiary of FRS (Farm Relief Service), it was founded in 2013 by Fabian Peynaud.
Herdwatch is approved by the Department of Agriculture and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, and is compliant with Bord Bia’s quality assurance scheme, helping farmers pass inspections.
It has a number of handy on-farm features, with calf registration being one of the most important.
Over the course of the last number of years, the number of calves being registered on Herdwatch has increased, with over 200,000 calves registered in 2017.
One of the main benefits of using Herdwatch is its speed. As mentioned above, farmers need to increase their efficiency levels due to the current labour shortage.
Herdwatch enables this as it allows farmers to tag calves as soon as they are born, enter the relevant information and have it registered within a minute.
It also has a handy offline feature, meaning you can enter information without an internet connection and the app will store it until you gain access to the internet and then send it on.
Over the course of its short existence, Herdwatch has gradually gained momentum and at present has over 6,500 users, most of whom are dairy farmers, although sucklers make up a significant portion of their customer base, with beef to lesser extent and sheep making up the rest.
It was established in the UK (England, Scotland and Wales) in late 2016 and they are currently looking at plans to go into the Northern Ireland market in the near future, while also looking to establish themselves in mainland Europe, via France, the homeland of their founder Fabien Peyaud, which is also the largest agricultural producer in Europe.
Agrinet
Cost: €220/year.Includes full grass, beef herd, milk herd, accounts and herd smartphone software as well as technical support. Agrinet has also launched a new app which allows for online calf registration and a whole host of other functions, such as financial planning, grass management, medicine compliance and accurately tracking animal weights. Some of the benefits of using the Agrinet app for calf registration include:
Manage your herd using only your smartphone.Work offline when out of coverage.Switch easily between multiple herds.Register calf births instantly. Data is synchronised with both ICBF and the Department of Agriculture.Farmers have a number of other options for registering calves, including the Department of Agriculture’s site Agfood.ie. It is free to use, although you must first create an account with on the department’s website at agfood.agriculture.gov.ie.
Read more
Positive outlook hinges on ferry approval
Key things you need to know about calf welfare
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