“You’re just crazy if you don’t use them…. so far it’s the best thing that I’ve seen”
“I would have been expecting, and happy to have had, a 60 percent in-calf rate from 4 weeks AB at best over spring. However, we ended up with 70 percent in-calf, it would have been the best 4-week-in-calf we have ever had.”
“What impressed me the most was when we checked over the pregnancy results, a lot of cows were in-calf to the first mating. They had been accurately identified first time, even the ones that did not rub with tail paint, which I made a point of noting down when the FlashMate had detected them as being on heat.”
“Normally over mating I would not have a single day off, you would not want to step away from it. But with Flashmate, I was able to have a day off, knowing I can rely upon the FlashMates and the staff to identify them.”
“I have been dairying for 14 years and honestly the FlashMates are the best thing I have come across in that time – they work and you would be crazy if you did not use them.”
Hamish Maclean, 1300 cows, Manuwaru, Waikato
“Very simple for inexperienced people to make good decisions… Tailpaint can be quite subjective”
“It enabled us to have a more sustainable resourcing of the mating period. For one person to consistently get up at 4:30am and repeat that process over a 4.3 week period is a big ask”
“Putting them on was very straightforward, that was a very successful result. Also they didn’t fall off. We only had 10 out of 800 cows that came off over four weeks, so that was very good”
“We had four people up, when typically we would have one or two, myself and one other. It enabled our less-experienced people to actually participate in the process…. and buy into the outcome”
“To be able to roster people on and give them another tool in their toolbox to make those quick decisions, that enables reassurance and feeling confident about that decision”
“I’ve had some comfort around handing over to four of the guys on the farm. Five including myself, rotated the job”
“we only got about 10 that fell off over the whole herd which was an exceptional result, so it was that preparation time and prepping our staff to be able to deliver the product really well”
“I have reservations over some products obviously, until you can see it making the boat go faster. We’ve got to reduce the human factor in farming as much as we possibly can. So where we can save labour units, or create a more sustainable working environment through using technology, then absolutely; it’s the way of the future”
“I’ve had some comfort around handing over to four of the guys on the farm… For one person to consistently get up at 4:30am and repeat that process over a 4.3 week period is a big ask”
Angela and Steve Reed, 800 cows, Darfield, Canterbury
“You’re definitely picking up more cows earlier on with the FlashMates”
“We’re picking up silent heats with hardly any marking on the tailpaint”
“Our empty rates have dropped a lot… Last year we didn’t have any empty two-year-olds and I had one empty three-year-old, so something’s obviously working for us…I do attribute the FlashMates to being a big chunk of that lift”
“FlashMates are another visual thing you can say; `that cow she’s definitely not on’ you don’t put that cow up for AI, so you’re not getting that embryonic loss…. It makes the FlashMates pretty cheap I reckon”
“I think it’s a really good product. More and more people should be using it”
“there’s no lying with it really, it’s either on or off”
“The FlashMates definitely help you pick up those cows that you’d normally miss”
“It definitely does help get your eye in with finding those cows that are having more silent or quiet heats”
“We’ve trialled a bit with neck collars and the FlashMates are a lot more attainable in terms of cost. It all corresponds so it fits in well with a system like this. We try to keep the costs down”
“We went to another product, but then we’ve gone back. I‘ve used it five years now in a row and found it really good”
“Using one FlashMate per season it stays with the cow the whole mating and it works well”
Robert Buchanan, 280 cows, Inglewood, Taranaki
“I can save money, I’m a profit-based farmer…. mating cows unnecessarily can be a huge cost”
“FlashMates appear to cost about the same as two rounds of other heat detection devices…. and it appears to save a lot of money at no extra cost”
“Using Flashmate we picked up cows I would have missed. It’s quite good on the wet days… quite often you miss those handful of extras that day”
“I suppose the biggest noticeable difference so far is the lack of short returns. We do a double PG programme and it typically means that 10-12 days after we mated we get quite a few returns. I’ve tried a few different things this year to improve that and FlashMate’s been one of them; and it appears to be helping a lot”
“They are quite simplistic to use, I can draft from cups off or cups on rather than standing on the top and waiting for cows to go by me”
“the best thing it does give you is a `yes’ or a `no’… less confident people feel more confident doing it”
Erik Lenssen, 1280 cows, Leeston, Canterbury
“With the flashmate we picked up cows that we wouldn’t have seen, with slightly lower heats and less rubbing. I had none come off the cows in the first 6 week and most of them lasted 9 weeks. I was very, very happy with that!”
“Easy going, my 4 year daughter could pick cows out, the ones that were flashing and it was interesting going in the paddock at night and seeing all the red lights flashing”
“I was a little bit nervous trying them this year and tailpainted as well, and after about 10 days I stopped relying on tailpaint and relied solely on FlashMate. The reason being; Autumn calving we’re mating in June, less likely to pick up cows on heat; they don’t show as strong. And we found really good results, cows that we were putting up were `on’ and just really happy with how they went.
“There were definitely some that were picked up with the FlashMates rather than the tailpaint. And I think, having staff they’d be a great tool for less experienced people.”
“It also gives you the delayed flash for when they’re actually on heat, rather than putting them up too early. I did like that. We had a couple of cows that I’d seen riding and standing and thought they should go up. I left them and sure enough the next day they were flashing ready for the AB.”
“I’ve heard from a farmer that has used them, that he doesn’t have to worry if he goes away for a weekend that staff can see a flashing light and pull them out with no hesitation.”
“They take away stress from farmers for decision-making. Especially for us with autumn calving, less likely to cycle, or harder to pick up on the heats. I definitely felt it was an added edge in heat detection, after 2 weeks using them, felt very comfortable that the right cows are going up for AB.”
Shaun Gardner, 120 cows, Waiiti, Taranaki
“I’ve been using Flashmates now for five seasons… you certainly gain confidence in the product very quickly.”
“I was an AI technician with LIC for 17 years… I use quite a bit of sexed semen and FlashMate means I can judge the heat length with a lot more certainty and mate those cows at a later time”
“We rely on them with a fair amount of accuracy”
“If the flash is not going; She’s not bulling!”
“we’re 6 wks through AB now, and we haven’t put any bulls out at all and just carried on with AB. And for us that’s testament to using these FlashMates. This time of year you usually start to get a bit sick of AB”
“It takes a lot of the guesswork out of these later cycling ones”
“They’re doing what we were told they would do”
Wayne Taylor, Board Member and former President of Holstein Fresian NZ, 260 cows, Waitara, Taranaki
“What they said they would do, they actually do. They go off, cow is on heat. Everyone’s a winner!
“It’s a lot easier for the staff to see a light flashing than look at tailpaint. Next year we’ll put the whole herd with FlashMate and tailpaint, cause it’s a lot easier…. and they’re not that expensive”
“it’s less workload… It’s just less stressful than having to get up every morning to have a look. The staff can get the idea of it and just do it”
“The young fellas picked up some cows that were on silent heats. We do have tailpaint on them, but the tailpaint wasn’t rubbed and the FlashMate was going. The AI Technician said `she was easy to inseminate’ so they’re certainly picking up the silent heats a lot easier for us”
“It’s just easy really. I thought it’d be a bit more complicated than what it is -but it’s not”
“Easy to apply, easy to operate, the whole process of applying them, getting the staff to look at them, it was just totally easy to do… It didn’t actually take any longer than tailpaint would take really”
John Tanner, 680 cows, Leeston, Canterbury
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