{"id":8106,"date":"2020-02-14T19:02:06","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T19:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/herdwatch.com\/farm-smart-balancing-life-as-a-suckler-farmer-and-ai-technician\/"},"modified":"2020-02-14T19:02:06","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T19:02:06","slug":"farm-smart-balancing-life-as-a-suckler-farmer-and-ai-technician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/herdwatch.com\/en-ie\/farm-smart-balancing-life-as-a-suckler-farmer-and-ai-technician\/","title":{"rendered":"FARM SMART: balancing life as a suckler farmer and AI technician"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Farming in Rhode, Co. Offaly, Tom Groome is a suckler farmer with 115 animals. Tom also works with Dovea Genetics as an AI Technician so has to use his time wisely. He has been using the Herdwatch farm management solution to reduce the amount of time he needs to spends on farm paperwork since 2015 as it \u201cit makes everything much simpler and faster\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last year, Tom was picked by ICBF along with 2 other farmers in Ireland for a visit from an American research group. The visiting group were amazed at how easy to use the Herdwatch app was, and how Tom was able to register calves using his phone matter of seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Calf registration in seconds <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI register my calves the minute they are born. I used to use the old paper book to register my calves but using Herdwatch is way more efficient. It\u2019s faster and simpler and I honestly can\u2019t fault it. When serving cows, I use a handheld device that sends information to ICBF and that information is then sent straight to Herdwatch, I can also put my AI serves straight into Herdwatch who send them onto the ICBF either. The app is clever and tells me all the information I need like when a cow is due to calf or how many days since she calved, so if she comes back into heat after a month, I know not to AI her because she\u2019s not long enough calved\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Animal Movements now in Herdwatch<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tom understands the potential impact animal movement rules could have when it comes to selling and finishing animals. To help him make the best decisions quickly, Herdwatch has added a brand new feature where he can now see the number of movements in the \u2018Residency Count\u2019 right in each animals\u2019 details within the app to support his selling and finishing decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recording Remedies on the spot<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRecording remedies is absolutely brilliant on Herdwatch. You can scan the barcode on the box or bottle, and all the relevant information pops up in front of you, so you don\u2019t need to go writing it into the blue book anymore. Once again, it\u2019s a lot faster and I have complete control over what I have used and what I have in stock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reports at your Finger Tips <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tom has no need to worry about compliance inspections as the Herdwatch app helps him ensure all records are captured accurately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cPassing my Bord Bia inspections have most definitely been the biggest benefit of Herdwatch, no more writing, just hand the phone to the inspector when he arrives, it\u2019s all there, remedy purchases, feed purchases, movements in and out, calf registrations, it\u2019s absolutely brilliant\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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