Tipperary farmer uses the smart option to reduce daily workload

Timmy Dwyer is a dairy farmer from Holycross, Thurles, milking a herd of 120 spring-calving cows.

The farm is home to 123ac and an additional 35ac are leased.

While 120 cows bring a heavy workload with them, Timmy has help and takes every Sunday off to unwind and a relief milker comes in during the milking season.

In attempts to reduce the workload and make his life easier, he turned his attention to automation and technology, something that Timmy believes has benefited his farm and his system.

After first hearing about Herdwatch five years ago, Timmy now relies on it to help in the everyday running of his farm.

Some of the features which Timmy uses Herdwatch for include calf registration and animal movements. As Timmy has to deal with a lot of calves primarily on his own, he outlined that the scanning method for calf registration is a major time saver.

“I go out and tag the calf and then register all my calves as I go along. You have no messing up with breeds or male or female. Everything comes back properly on the card,” he says.

Timmy also uses Herdwatch from a breeding perspective. He can track what cows were served and when, and he can also track repeats.

Timmy also highlighted that Herdwatch has a live link with ICBF which means any information on your ICBF account, such as milk records, EBI information, Euro-Stars, past breeding records, AI technician serves and freeze brands will flow seamlessly into the app.

Notifications on the watchboard will allow Timmy to generate a calving report in the springtime, so he can see the list of cows that are calving and when.

Timmy finds Herdwatch helpful when it comes to recording remedies for Bord Bia inspections. Herdwatch allows farmers to simply scan their farm medicines into the app using the camera on their smartphone.

This gives farmers the confidence that their records are 100% accurate and in the event of a farm inspection, all the farmer need do is show the inspector his reports from Herdwatch.

“If you vaccinate cattle or inject or dose a cow, you bring out your phone there and then and it’s recorded. Before, I’d walk off and say I must do that tomorrow, but I might forget it,” he says.

Timmy is part of a growing community of over 10,000 farms using Herdwatch every day to manage their farms and eliminate farm compliance paperwork.

You can join Herdwatch by downloading the app for Free from the App/Play Store.

To find out more visit www.herdwatch.ie or call 0505-34400.