Scott Browne has been working on his family farm in Gippsland for 15 years.
A lot has changed since he started using a cow monitoring system last season, opting for ear sensors because of the accuracy of the data.
It hasn’t just changed his work life, but his personal life as well.
“Once you get it all set up and going you think ‘why didn’t I do this earlier?’,” Scott said.
Being a cattle farmer initially wasn’t Scott’s passion. But after completing a building apprenticeship, he returned to work at the family farm and has been there ever since.
“I thought ‘I might give farming a go’, but I didn’t really want to milk cows. I always liked tractor work and that sort of thing. Now I’m the opposite. I like cattle work now and only like driving tractors a bit.”
Scott and his wife Bec are raising their children on the family farm. His parents are still involved in the business. Mum helps around calving time, and Dad still goes down to the shed every morning to do the last bit of milking.
Bec, who works as a schoolteacher, helps on the farm when she can with calving and milking.
“We’re pretty lucky, the worker we’ve got has been with us for three years, and then I’ve got a couple of relief milkers, so it takes the pressure off,” Scott said.
They run a mixed operation, with the farm separated for dairy and beef. Scott started using a cow monitoring system in 2021 to help with ease of operation.
“We used to put stickers on the back, and I’d always have to paint some cows, and I was over that. I’d always miss a few and I just wanted to be more accurate. A lot of times with them I’ve found a cow would rub the sticker off, so you’d never know whether to join.”
Scott went all-in with an ear sensor system for the first year, trusting that it would work without the need for added tail painting or stickers.
“We put them in about four-to-five months before joining, so we could collect a bit of data. I got that tip-off from a mate; he also put his in a bit earlier before joining.”
Scott said it was also an easy installation around that time. “It was good to do it in a dry period when there wasn’t so much going on.”
They installed Easy Dairy drafting gates at the same time. “I didn’t have any of that sort of stuff, but I’m finding them magnificent — best money I’ve spent.”
The monitoring system they use is CowManager, which has multiple modules for monitoring specific aspects of cow health and herd behaviour.
“We just use the Fertility Module (for heat detection) at the moment, and I’ve got a nutritionist that helps with nutrition advice. If my cows look healthy and they’re milking well, then I’m happy.”
When asked how his first joining with the CowManager ear sensors went, Scott has one word: “magnificent”.
“I was able to just feed my calves and all that extra work and know the cows were getting caught, that’s a big plus. I wasn’t running around like a headless chook at any point, and I didn’t have to catch the cows manually with the auto draft gates. It took all the stress out.”
That added ease also came with improved results for the farm.
“We had the best results we’ve had in a long time. Our empty rate usually sits in the 20s, but this time it was about 17 to 18 per cent.
“The cost of things like CowManager always threw me a little, but there’s no comparison from no system to what we’re using now, it’s like chalk and cheese.”
Scott and his family are focusing on making things on the farm easier, and the cow monitoring system has helped a lot in making everyday work more efficient. It’s taken away some labour as well, which has been a huge stress reliever for Scott.
“It’s just been less work in the dairy with no tail paint. This year is the first year we’re doing all spring calving — we usually do split calving — but we got rid of all that and made it all one calving which has made it easy too.”
Scott’s excited to see what the system will bring him in the long run.
“I was sort of just feeling my way through it the first year. I’m excited to see how much we can improve again this year.”