Fraser and Amber Carpenter were drawn to SenseHub’s Dairy monitoring three years ago by the chance to keep a close eye on the herd without being on farm 24/7.
The couple run Amorangi Farms at Papakura, milking 465 cows on 200ha through a 40-a-side herringbone, with a winter milk contract and a beef operation alongside the dairy.
Mating was front of mind from the start, the one area the couple most wanted the technology to prove itself. They had spent years trying to lift their in-calf rate, and the manual approach kept costing time without shifting the numbers.
"We always had three people in the shed with mating, and we knew it wasn't working," Amber says.
They came in with defined targets rather than expecting an overnight shift.
"We came into it with really clear goals and expectations, so we didn't overload ourselves thinking, 'This is gonna change our world overnight,'" she says.
Today, the herd sits at a 78% in-calf rate and a 12% empty rate, with the six-week in-calf rate climbing 5% a year since the collars went in. Staff now pick in-heat cows through the SenseHub Dairy app rather than waiting for Fraser.
The standout shift for him is the ability to manage cows one at a time.
"Having the information at your fingertips and being able to pick cows out and treat them as individuals has been the biggest game changer," he says.
It has reshaped their transition management.
"We put a cow on once a day for 10 days post calving as a general rule, but we now realize that some cows only need four days, some might need three weeks, and now we’re able to absolutely look after those cows individually.”
Kirstin Watts, Monitoring Training Specialist at SenseHub Dairy, says the gains come when farmers treat the system as a tool rather than a replacement.
"It's not going to take day-to-day farming away, but it is going to help with management a lot more," Watts says.
Fraser’s message to farmers weighing up the system is to just get into it.
“You should've done it two years ago.”
This episode featured as part of the Agritech segment in partnership with SenseHub Dairy powered by MSD Animal Health. Leading agritech innovation with SenseHub® Dairy — the modular, end‑to‑end dairy system combining animal behaviour monitoring, milk intelligence and automation in one connected platform, backed by MSD Animal Health. For more information visit www.sensehub.co.nz
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