There’s never been a more challenging time for farmers than now. Climate change, COVID-19 and sprinkled with Brexit, it’s become a never-ending cycle of challenges for farmers.

Lest we forget the #nofarmersnofood during the dark days of COVID-19 when people were queuing at the shops wondering if there would be enough food. It appears to be long forgotten now.

Added to this, that farmers now appear to be the centre of the climate change argument as well, will they be able to adapt and will their business and farming practices be sustainable?

Resilience

Farmers have proven time and time again their resilience. Farmers must adopt and adapt to new ways of doing things, perhaps more than most in society.

Farming is a lonely job, sometimes so isolating that it can take its toll on people’s mental health. This has been compounded by COVID-19, with social isolation for farmers a common trend across the country.

Living socially distanced lives has highlighted the importance of being able to interact with neighbours and the social aspect of going to livestock marts and the sense of community that comes with it.

Farmers have risen to the challenge before and will continue to do so in the future.

Climate change

Climate change and agriculture can be looked at in two ways - how agriculture is contributing to climate change and how climate change may affect the viability of certain farming enterprises; both are of concern to farmers.

It is a challenge for everyone and not just one sector of industry or a single market. It transcends this silo thinking which has dominated the political agenda from one Government to the next.

Farmers have demonstrated that if Government provide the support and tools to change, then they will find no better ally than them.

Technology will play a part in education and implementation of farming practices

Never will technology be more important as when farmers will have to tackle emissions at farm level, technology will play a part in education and implementation of farming practices to ensure sustainability.

With these new technologies, it can mean that farming methods may need to change, but not in all cases.

Calving patterns can be tightened up. Farmers can be more productive and be more efficient at the same time. These two areas are not mutually exclusive.

Better calving detection and better heat detection are some of the areas that will help farmers overcome this latest challenge.

While Moocall provides solutions to both, it’s important to say that there are plenty of technologies on the market today which both compliment Moocall solutions and indeed compete with them.

We all have our part to play in supporting farmers and contributing to the solution for climate change.

Moocall

Since 2014, Moocall has aimed to empower farmers to do what they love in an efficient and cost-effective way.

Moocall specialises in providing innovative solutions to both dairy and beef farmers which makes life easier on the farm.

The Moocall Calving Sensor was launched in 2014 and is trusted and used in 65 countries worldwide.

The calving sensor alerts two hours before calving by monitoring contractions through the cow’s tail. This allows you to be there to assist if necessary.

Launched in 2017, Moocall Heat is a revolutionary heat detection system that uses bull behaviour to accurately alert the onset of standing heat in cows.

Moocall Heat is proven to increase heat detection rates and improve herd fertility, while drastically reducing the time needed observing cows.

To learn more about Moocall or to contact the Moocall team, call 01-969 6038 or visit www.moocall.com.