Gold Creek charolais stud in the Wairarapa are the first cattle in New Zealand to receive an eSense ear tag that
monitors their heat, health and rumination activity at both a group and individual cow level. The ear tag connects to
the SenseHub™ Beef monitoring system distributed by Allflex Livestock Intelligence. Shane and Lynnette McManaway own the
Wairarapa property, and Shane is also known to many as the chief executive for Allflex Asia-Pacific. “We are absolutely
thrilled to have this technology on our charolais stud” explains Shane, “what better way to understand our customers
than to have the system running on our own farm.”
SenseHub™ Beef monitoring system was developed specifically for beef producers and modeled off the award-winning dairy
monitoring system that has been in the market for a number of years. This technology enables beef cow-calf operations to
shorten the calving interval and optimise conception rates, providing additional calves for sale each year. It is
suitable for both artificial insemination (AI) and natural breeding farms and sends the data directly to smartphones and
tablets. Farms that use AI can benefit from precise guidance on insemination timing. In natural breeding herds, knowing
when a cow’s last heat was, as recorded in the system, helps to predict the calving date, instead of relying on
pregnancy checks only.
Gold Creek Farm Manager, Kaye Slater oversees the day-to-day running of the 182ha Gold Creek farm. Kaye said, “I’m
looking forward to seeing the data come through on my phone.” SenseHub™ Beef can monitor the health of cows and alert
producers of any pre and post-calving issues such as ketosis. The system also provides an insight into the effectiveness
of veterinary treatments and rumination patterns throughout the calving period. Abnormal activity will trigger an alert
and facilitate early intervention.
The SenseHub™ Beef system is available with either the eSense ear tag or the cSense collar and three different plan
levels. Real-time monitoring, with remote management and alerts, improves farmers’ quality of life by providing peace of
mind and freeing them to perform other activities.