Farm Smart: Removing the paperwork on this 260-head finishing unit in Co. Derry
Dungiven, Co. Derry beef finishers Derek and Jennifer Glenn run 280–300 head of Limousin, Charolais, and Aberdeen Angus cattle across 200 acres — and use Herdwatch to track every animal from the day it arrives to the day it leaves for the factory.
Derek and Jennifer Glenn farm just over 200 acres in Dungiven, Co. Derry, finishing Limousin, Charolais, and Aberdeen Angus cattle for the Foyle Food Group — their local factory — with some of the Angus beef going directly into Tesco. At any one time, there are between 280 and 300 head on the farm. In 2018, they finished 260 head.
Derek works full time managing an agricultural co-op, where his day-to-day role covers nutrition, soil fertility, and fertiliser. As a result, he is on the farm at evenings and weekends. Jennifer, meanwhile, runs the farm full time, five days a week. Together, they make a highly efficient two-person operation.
A precision beef finishing system — built around factory specs
Weanlings are bought in at six to twelve months, weighing 300–350kg, from local marts that Derek and Jennifer attend twice a week. From there, the goal is to finish cattle at 24–26 months with a carcass weight of 340–350kg — exactly what the factory is looking for.
Attention to detail runs through every part of the system. On arrival, cattle are housed in well-ventilated units and given time to settle. Subsequently, all cattle are weighed coming off grass, at housing, before they are pushed on, and at regular intervals during the finishing period. Furthermore, rations are formulated by Derek himself at Clonleigh Co-op. Consequently, any issues with average daily gain are caught early and dealt with before they affect the final result.
Trying another app first — and finding the one that actually worked
Before Herdwatch, Derek and Jennifer had already tried a different farm app. It did not suit their system. They needed something specifically designed around finishing cattle — weighing, dosing, withdrawal periods, and performance tracking from day of purchase to factory. In addition, they were one of the original trial farms for Herdwatch in Northern Ireland.
Once they found Herdwatch, it fitted their operation from the start. Everything they needed was there — and the customer care team worked with them to develop additional features that suited their specific system.
Day one to factory — every animal tracked in full
On the day weanlings arrive from the mart, Jennifer enters the purchase price and weight into Herdwatch straight away. From that moment, every animal’s performance can be tracked individually from arrival to slaughter. Six weeks later, when cattle are weighed again, the app calculates average daily gain automatically. As a result, underperformers are identified early and the system stays on track for factory targets.
Feed deliveries are also entered into the app as soon as the driver drops off the docket — batch numbers and all. Consequently, feed records are always accurate and complete without any additional effort.
Medicine recording — done on the way home from the vet
Before Herdwatch, the medicine book was always something to be filled in later — usually in the evening after treating cattle, when the detail was already fading. Now, however, medicines are scanned on the way home from the vet and the record is done. The app then deducts the volume used from the bottle and tracks what remains.
Furthermore, the withdrawal period is recorded automatically and assigned to the specific animal. This is particularly important when cattle are being prepared for the factory — Herdwatch flags any animal still within a withdrawal period so nothing is sent before it is clear.
The Watchboard — a morning notification that keeps finishing on track
One of Derek and Jennifer’s favourite features is the daily Watchboard notification. Every morning, Herdwatch sends them a message listing which cattle are coming close to slaughter weight. Notifications begin at 28 months — giving them time to pick out the cattle and book them in before they go overweight and get penalised at the factory.
A paperless Quality Assurance inspection — and an impressed inspector
For their most recent Quality Assurance inspection, Derek and Jennifer used no paper at all. Instead, they handed the inspector a tablet with all the records already loaded in Herdwatch. The inspector was visibly impressed — it was the first time he had seen the system working on a farm. Moreover, the whole process took a fraction of the time a paper-based inspection would have required.
Derek and Jennifer use Herdwatch across every aspect of the operation:
- Purchase weight and price — entered on the day of buying, from the mart
- Weight recording — ADG calculated automatically at each weighing
- Medicine scanning — recorded on the way home from the vet
- Bottle stock tracking — volume deducted automatically per treatment
- Withdrawal periods — assigned to each animal automatically
- Feed docket recording — batch numbers entered at delivery
- Watchboard notifications — daily alert for cattle approaching slaughter
- Quality Assurance reports — fully paperless, generated from the app
Watch Derek and Jennifer’s story
In the video below, Derek and Jennifer walk through how Herdwatch fits into the daily running of their beef finishing operation — from mart day to factory day.
You can read more real farmer stories on our farm case studies page.
Track every animal from mart to factory
For Derek and Jennifer, Herdwatch gives them a complete performance record for every animal — from the day it arrives on farm to the day it leaves for the factory, with no paperwork, no books, and no bits of cardboard.
“We are very impressed — the customer care team did their very best to add the bits we thought would help us, and they delivered.”
Join Derek, Jennifer, and over 22,000 farmers using Herdwatch to simplify records, track performance, and make every inspection stress-free.