{"id":7960,"date":"2022-07-18T08:41:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T08:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/herdwatch.com\/farm-smart-galway-farmer-ditches-bookwork-to-manage-herd-flock-performance-from-his-phone\/"},"modified":"2022-07-18T08:41:05","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T08:41:05","slug":"farm-smart-galway-farmer-ditches-bookwork-to-manage-herd-flock-performance-from-his-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/herdwatch.com\/en-ie\/farm-smart-galway-farmer-ditches-bookwork-to-manage-herd-flock-performance-from-his-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"Farm Smart: Galway farmer ditches bookwork to manage herd & flock performance from his phone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Farmer<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Farming in the scenic stone wall country of Cregmore in Co. Galway, Barney Carroll, and his uncle, Tom McGrath, farm in partnership together. The duo run a dairy store-to-beef system along with 70 commercial ewes and a small flock of pedigree Suffolk ewes. Barney\u2019s uncle owns the farm, with Barney saying that his uncle knows a lot more than he does, as Tom has been farming a lot longer than him. Barney noted that the only way to grow is to learn from the people around you and that\u2019s what he\u2019s doing. However, he is bringing his own stamp to the farm by adopting new technologies on the farm to increase the efficiency and productivity of both their cattle and sheep enterprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A common headache on farms is that of recording. Whether it be the performance recording of animals, or keeping track of purchased medicines or feed, and making sure dockets from purchases are kept safe.<\/span> This is no longer an issue for Barney and his uncle however since turning to the Herdwatch\u00a0app. Barney heard about the app through the former captain of the Irish rugby team, Rory Best, after he saw him using it on his farm through\u00a0Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Discussing his initial experience with Herdwatch, Barney said: \u201cI listened to what he had to say about it and ended up downloading the app afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfterwards, Herdwatch got in touch with me about joining and they were top class and fierce easy to deal with.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cIt has been the easiest thing to get signed up to, with only a few details needed like your herd number and few other bits and then you\u2019re ready for off.\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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Benefits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Herdwatch app has offered many benefits to Barney, such as logging purchased medicines at ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRecording any medicines purchased at the vets is one straight away. \u201cThere is no more going back to the shed at night time to get the package to record it in the book and it\u2019s the same way with Flockwatch, as soon as I get anything I need for the sheep, it\u2019s recorded straight away on the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSimilarly, if we are selling cattle privately, all you need is the buyer\u2019s herd number and put it in and you\u2019ll get a movement number that you can send on to the buyer as a link and that\u2019s it done,\u201d said Barney.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Talking about the app\u2019s ease of use, Barney said: \u201cIt\u2019s the simplest thing I\u2019ve ever used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn terms of farm inspections, I have only started using the app since our last inspection, but I think going forward it\u2019s going to be very beneficial.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just have to print off the Bord Bia inspection report form and it\u2019s there ready to hand over.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cAll the land on the farm is marked out on the phone and it allows for me to keep track of what and how much fertiliser and\/or pesticides have been applied where on the farm.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Barney continued: \u201cRecording feed purchases is also another useful benefit. \u201cOnce concentrate feed is dropped at the farm, the docket is left by the deliverer and all I do is input it straightaway on the phone in Herdwatch. \u201cYou can keep track basically of everything you buy without having to go back looking for and over dockets \u2013 which we did in the past which took up a lot of time and ran patience dry,\u201d concluded Barney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flockwatch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Barney said that he has only started using Flockwatch<\/a><\/strong> since the middle of spring but is already seeing the benefits it brings to the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe find it excellent and going forward it will really be of benefit to us here. \u201cFor example, when the ewes lamb down, input the tag number and input what they and any other information you\u2019d like to record about them then and there”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe folks in Herdwatch recommended the EID reader and when I\u2019m using it, all I have to do is have the app opened on the phone as they are connected using Bluetooth and as easy as that, information is recorded,\u201d said Barney.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Discussing the benefit of recording animal health and performance on Flockwatch, Barney said: \u201cIf I see a lamb that is not thriving as well as I\u2019d hoped for, I can make note of that lamb and the mother of the lamb and juts keep an eye on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf some lambs haven\u2019t reached a certain target we can look at then maybe culling some ewes and continue to increase the efficiency and output of the flock by not keeping unproductive animals”.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThis backend we\u2019ll be splitting up the ewes and running two rams, so on Flockwatch we can create two groups and when the ewes lamb down, we can see what group they were in and what ram served them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cSo instead of putting marking spray on ewes, this cuts outs ewes having different spray marks all over them and everything we need to know about the ewes is on the phone now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Easy to use\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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According to Barney, you can\u2019t go wrong with the app; he said it\u2019s the easiest thing you can use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barney told the team at Agriland<\/em> how helpful the team at Herdwatch has been. He said: \u201cEven if you do run into trouble, the guys in Herdwatch are only a phone call away and are very helpful with any queries or help you need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are no longer writing down information on the backs of books. When I split the ewes last year for the rams, I had a list of tag number recorded in the diary that you\u2019d be digging out to see what ewes were with what rams and it was just all very untidy and messy”.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow it\u2019s all on the phone and easy to get up information on those ewes and it\u2019s the same with the cattle,\u201d said Barney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You too can join Barney and a growing community of over 17,000 farmers saving time on farm paperwork and making better on-farm decisions <\/h2>\n\n\n