Evolving technology

Will the sun soon set on heat-detecting tail paint? Certainly the technology for heat detection is evolving, says CRV Ambreed.

The company says tail paint has been the preferred heat detection tool for decades, helping improving industry standards in reproduction management. But the technology underlying heat detection has evolved.

ESTROTECT™ Breeding Indicator patches, which CRV AMbreed recommends, are now proving more accurate than tail paint, the company says. In a recent heat detection trial ESTROTECT™ Breeding Indicators were 20.96% more accurate as a clear indicator of standing heats compared to tail paint.

The trial, on two seasonal-calving Waikato dairy herds, had cows put up for AI based on first observed oestrus after PSM using a pedometer system and then scored for the degree of removal rub of ESTROTECT™ Breeding Indicators and tail paint.

Says CRV Ambreed, on the first farm ESTROTECT™ Breeding Indicators confirmed 84.6% were in oestrus compared to 63.64% with tail paint; on the second farm ESTROTECT™ Breeding Indicators confirmed 91.8% to be in oestrus compared to 83.3% with tail paint.

Both farm observations by the inseminators and scorers supported these results and it was noted that ESTROTECT™ markers were sticky, easy to interpret and indicated clearly if a cow was in standing heat.

Doug Storey, one of the trial farmers, says ESTROTECT™ Breeding Indicators were more effective when picking silent heats that tend to be missed with tail paint.

Source:
– Source: Dairy News
– Date: August 14, 2012
– Link: https://issuu.com/ruralnewsgroup/docs/dn_274_aug_14/28
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