Background

Kevin Fraser is a dairy farmer in Underberg, Kwa-Zulu Natal. His farm is family-run and was founded in 1988. The farm is a pasture-based system supplemented with silage in the winter. The 10-hectare irrigated pasture has a split calving system of 60% in the spring and 40% in the autumn. They are breeding towards a Jersey-based herd.

Kevin has chosen the SenseHub Dairy monitoring system, to assist him in his time management. He can monitor daily cow production and feed intakes, as well as concentrate on cows that need attention before a decrease in milk production or body weight is noticed. The eSense system produces reports that indicate possible abortions, anestrous cows, cows on irregular heat, which all get used in the bi-monthly vet visits. This in turn leads to a better financial position for the farm as they are able to spend money where it is needed, treating specific cows instead of the whole herd.

“Using SenseHub we are able to make more informed decisions, we are able to breed the correct cow to the correct bull, we are able to treat cows that need to be treated. We are able to make decisions on who to cull, who to keep. In the 3 to 5 year period that is really going to make some big changes on the farm.”

Kevin Fraser, Underberg Farm

Gaining confidence

SenseHub gives the farm a lot of control over how they manage their system so they are able to pick out the repeat offenders, the cows that are permanently cystic, the cows that are re-absorbing. They are able to have a more informed decision on the cows they need to cull out of the herd. The breeding window gives them the ideal time to AI the cow and the heifer. They have seen improvements on a day-to-day basis and expect a bigger impact with long-term use.