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Heat Detector Works 24 Hours A Day
A new electronic heat detection device that fastens to a cow's back solves the problem of detecting when cows go into standing heat, according to the manufacturer.
The heart of the "Cattlescan 1000" is a 4-in. dia. disk, about 1-in. high, containing a remote sensor and programmable transmitter. The transmitter,
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Heat detector works 24 hours a day LIVESTOCK Dairy (17) 13-3-3 A new electronic heat detection device that fastens to a cow's back solves the problem of detecting when cows go into standing heat, according to the manufacturer.
The heart of the "Cattlescan 1000" is a 4-in. dia. disk, about 1-in. high, containing a remote sensor and programmable transmitter. The transmitter, coded with the cow's identification number, sticks to the cow's back with a Velcro patch. Every time a cow is mounted, the transmitter sends a message to a microcomputer in the farm office. The cow's identification number is recorded into the microcomputer and printed out.
"It automatically tracks the number of mounts 24 hours a day, providing `round the clock surveillance that's otherwise impractical to do. It helps predict the best time to inseminate open cows, increasing first-service conception rates and lowering calving intervals," says Stan Whitehead, president.
Whitehead says other devices used to detect standing heat don't provide the quantity or quality of data that the Cattlescan 1000 can provide. "No other system records every mounting around the clock and breaks it down by time and duration of mounting.
The Cattlescan 1000 will tell you if the mount was only a -short one, suggesting the cow rejected the mount and isn't in heat, or a longer one. If no mounting is recorded, it means the cow hasn't recycled and that she is probably in calf.
"The Cattlescan 1000 offers good backup information. Using visual observation you might suspect that a cow is in heat but you're never 100% sure. If the printer shows you three or four hours of prior activity, your confidence level goes from 50-50 to 90-10."
The transmitter can be moved from one cow to another. Signals travel about 700 ft. The transmitter's range can be increased if, for example, your cows graze in a distant pasture, or if you milk cows at two different farms.
Whitehead hopes to have the Cattlescan 1000 in production later this year. It will sell for about $2,000.
For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Advatel Systems, Inc., 845 Prescott St., Kemptville, Ontario, Canada KOG 1JO (ph 613 926-2252).
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