Herd management systems

[Verney_R]

What do you use and how do you get on with it?

We're planning on updating our parlour and linking it all to the computer and putting in heat time.

We're looking at Fullwood crystal peds and GEA, which I believe GEA to use the same collars as boumatic and delval?

What's the computer software like? Ease of use to do vet clinic sheets, link to NMR and so on....?

Should we be looking at anything els?

Thanks in advance

 

[Milkcow365]

Crystal is a nightmare I'm going to get dairy comp or uniform Agri

 

[Sparkymark]

+1 for Uniform agri

 

[Boysground]

Uniform here. Don't bother looking at the rest. Gea parlour. It links easily with the parlour. Vet Meds bcms and pedigrees all done from it. It is simple to learn. The helpline is the most knowledgeable of any i deal with. don't think I have ever had to do 2 calls for the same problem and My staff have phoned some fairly daft questions over the years. Also can fix it remotely if needed.

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[sjt01]

Fullwood/Afiflow parlour linked to Crystal for milking. Milk yields downloaded to Interherd which is excellent if a bit quirky on data entry. Both vet and nutritionist use Interherd which is a big plus. We used to use Alpro linked to Interherd, updated parlour hardware and are happy with what we have now.
Stephen

 

[Fergieman]

Delaval parlour linked to Uniform Agri. As said above good program which does all the registrations and BCMS notifications in one go. No duplicate entering data. Good backup with telephone support or teamviewer if they need to sort anything out. All in all a very good package.

 

[buffalo_soldier]

Another vote for uniform agri here.

Don't have the fancy parlour link up malarkey. Do have the app though.
What i like about it is the app. I just tap in the relevant data as i go along and then sync it with the main programme. Which in turn does all the stuff it needs to.
It has more or less completely eliminated me sitting down to do data entry.

A problem i am finding however is the exchange of data between Uniform agri and CIS.
I should stress though it is CIS that are causing the issue and not Uniform agri.

 

[Boysground]

Another vote for uniform agri here.

Don't have the fancy parlour link up malarkey. Do have the app though.
What i like about it is the app. I just tap in the relevant data as i go along and then sync it with the main programme. Which in turn does all the stuff it needs to.
It has more or less completely eliminated me sitting down to do data entry.

A problem i am finding however is the exchange of data between Uniform agri and CIS.
I should stress though it is CIS that are causing the issue and not Uniform agri.

I have the Cis issue. It keeps duplicating bulls. It's a pain.

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[Hill Dairy]

Is anyone using the herdwatch software and app? Any good? i just want a simple software that can link to cis and work well with block calving. No parlour link up. Is uniform agri better?

 

[Verney_R]

Crystal is a nightmare I'm going to get dairy comp or uniform Agri

Will they link to your parlour okay?

 

[Milkcow365]

Will they link to your parlour okay?

Yeah should do

 

[Fergieman]

I have the Cis issue. It keeps duplicating bulls. It's a pain.

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You need to merge the bull together. There is a bit of info missing on your original entry if it keeps duplicating bulls. Your CIS manager should be able to help you out.

 

[Fergieman]

Another vote for uniform agri here.

Don't have the fancy parlour link up malarkey. Do have the app though.
What i like about it is the app. I just tap in the relevant data as i go along and then sync it with the main programme. Which in turn does all the stuff it needs to.
It has more or less completely eliminated me sitting down to do data entry.

A problem i am finding however is the exchange of data between Uniform agri and CIS.
I should stress though it is CIS that are causing the issue and not Uniform agri.

What problems are you having?

 

[Boysground]

You need to merge the bull together. There is a bit of info missing on your original entry if it keeps duplicating bulls. Your CIS manager should be able to help you out.

That's what I keep doing. Just it's with every new bull and it's a bit of a pain. I know they are working on a solution.

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[buffalo_soldier]

What problems are you having?

There isn't a direct link to upload data to cis, so I have to send an email of the data to some chap.
Sometimes he puts it on, sometimes he doesn't and sometimes all I get is an I'm out of the office reply.

Just a niggle really.

 

[Boysground]

There isn't a direct link to upload data to cis, so I have to send an email of the data to some chap.
Sometimes he puts it on, sometimes he doesn't and sometimes all I get is an I'm out of the office reply.
Just a niggle really.

I use Cis. I go on the Cis Web page. Download the datastream file for the months recording. This can then be uploaded straight into uniform. Why won't this work for you?

Also just send the data to the milk recorder by email just before each recording.

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[Fergieman]

I use Cis. I go on the Cis Web page. Download the datastream file for the months recording. This can then be uploaded straight into uniform. Why won't this work for you?

Also just send the data to the milk recorder by email just before each recording.

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Thats what I do also.

 

[Farmersdaughter]

Crystal is a nightmare I'm going to get dairy comp or uniform Agri

+1 for crystal begin nightmare. It does day to day OK but no easy of analysising data and real pain if you want get data to interherd or the like.

 

[buffalo_soldier]

I use Cis. I go on the Cis Web page. Download the datastream file for the months recording. This can then be uploaded straight into uniform. Why won't this work for you?

Also just send the data to the milk recorder by email just before each recording.

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Me not explaining properly again sorry.
The stuff from cis comes onto uniform perfectly as you describe above.

The issue ive found is data going the other way.
The vet downloads the cis data to her programme to monitor fertility. Doing this monthly during my breeding window is too slow and as such a lot of errors creep in. So a weekly upload is needed. There is no direct link from uniform to cis to do this, hence the need for manual input.

Call me awkward if you want but the point of spending money on these systems is to avoid me doing multiple data inputs.
So a file is sent weekly to cis in order for them to do it. Which is where i'm finding the issue i detailed earlier.
Phone calls have been had and hopefully it will improve. The last 2 or 3 uploads have gone on fine so i think we are getting there.

Outside of my breeding window the file will be sent to the milk recorder monthly the same as you.

And in anticipation of a question, i know uniform does the work that the vet is covering but this is my first season with the programme so didnt want to make too big of a change in one go.
Plus another pair of eyes on breeding isnt such a bad thing anyway.

Hope thats clears it up

 

[jimmer]

we have alpro windows and dairy comp

alpro is easy to use and is extremely easy to access milk yield data and make lists and reports

dairy comp is harder to get to grips with doesnt thrill me with its parlour data