Livestock
New chief executive for livestock centre
Former agriculture director Lyndsay Chapman has been appointed chief executive of the Centre for Innovation Ex- cellence in Livestock (CIEL). Mrs Chapman, who joined CIEL on 18 September, was previously the Agriculture Di- rector for Müller Milk & In- gredients. She was part of the team responsible for the in- tegration of the Dairy Crest Dairies business, where she was director of agriculture and communications. In her new role, Mrs Chap- man will be responsible for leading the organisation, working with industry to iden- tify key challenges and priori- ties, and ensuring relevant re- search is driven through new world-class facilities.
Livestock records made simple with Herdwatch app
• Detailed information easily available • Accessible from anywhere on the farm • Fast search facility for entire database
A
new farming app – Herd- watch – is helping Leices- tershire farmer Andy
Webb access calf weights and per- formance records anywhere on the fi eld – saving him at least two hours of paperwork every week. Together with his parents, Au- brey and Marion, Mr Webb farms a 26ha council holding at Usher Farm, near Gilmorton, with 237ha of additional rented land, contract- ed land and grass keep in differ-
ent blocks nearby. In total, the unit supports 120 milking cows with some 70 follow- ers – including in-calf and bulling heifers – and 60 pedigree Shrop- shire sheep. Every calf and every lamb is reared on the farm, and about 100 additional calves are brought in annually, from local farmers, and reared on a varie- ty of systems according to breed. “I use Herdwatch mainly with- in the beef units,” says Mr Webb. “The links to the British Cattle Movement Service are great. I can automatically update and get all the records transferred to my phone. It’s easy to sort them into age groups, and I have all the records at the touch of a button.
Time-saving “For me, with three sets of build- ings and land around the par- ish, it’s perfect. I never have to waste time going back to the of- fi ce to check the record of a par- ticular animal, I just type in the last three numbers on the ear tag, and I have access to all the infor- mation I need.” Fat cattle are weighed month-
INCORPORATING THE NATIONAL PEDIGREE CALF SHOW
www.staffscountyshowground.co.uk Show Secretary: Sue Mellor Tel 01785 258060
Email
sue@staffscountyshowground.co.uk Entries close 18th October
ly, with Mr Webb recording growth rates and quick- ly weeding out animals that are not growing
and converting to target. Target liveweight gain is over 1.2kg per day. Once stock stop performing to this level, it’s easy to select the ones to send off early.
“The ones that are doing par- ticularly well I move to another group,” explains Mr Webb. “The weight recording on the app is excellent, it allows me to see the weight gain of any ani- mal at the touch of a button and as I can print reports, we often sit down as a family and go through them over the dinner table. Herd- watch has made my job so much easier.” Each calf has an individual re- cord on Herdwatch – so Mr Webb keeps information on about 400 animals on his phone at any one time. “I always have my phone with me as I move around, so it’s the ideal place to store informa- tion. I love the fact that it’s cloud- based too – there is no need for an internet connection.” The only ‘hurdle’ for the app
is that a lot of farmers are older – and not used to new technolo- gy. “I think we have to help them move forwards with this, because
Proudly sponsoring the English Winter Fair Proudly sponsoring the English Winter Fair 10 MIDLAND FARMER • OCTOBER 2017
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