As we come to the end of another busy scanning season, we’re often asked how reproduction results are trending and whether farms using wearable technologies (like collars or tags) are performing any better than those without.
Below is a brief overview of the results so far from our farms in the East (Gore, Tapanui, Clydevale and Balclutha areas). Note: This doesn’t include data from our Winton clients.
As you can see, the results are broadly similar – particularly the 6-week in-calf rates, with only a 0.1% difference between the two groups.
From this dataset, wearable farms have a 2.5% higher 3-week in-calf rate and a 0.3% higher conception rate.
Not-in-calf-rates are 2.1% higher on wearable farms and mating periods are, on average, one day shorter. However, it is important to consider that wearable farms may be deliberately marking some cows as “Do not breed”, who will then not be drafted even if on heat, which impacts these final empty results.
More of our wearable farms are doing AI for the entire duration of mating, but some are still using bulls too.
My conclusion from this initial data is that using wearable technology is not any better than well-executed manual heat detection for mating, and if you choose to use wearables to monitor your herd, it’s unlikely to significantly impact your reproductive performance.
