CattleEye

BBC One’s Countryfile visited George and Jack McMaster’s 300-cow pedigree Holstein herd in county Antrim to see how CattleEye works on a real dairy farm.

Dairy margins are tight right now. George McMaster is a third-generation farmer who has run the family farm on the Islandmagee peninsula for more than 50 years.

It’s a very challenging marketplace for dairy farmers at the moment. “At the minute we would just be breaking even,” says George.

Lameness is one of the biggest drains on a herd, and according to industry figures a lame cow can cost around £6 per day in treatment costs and lost productivity.

According to George, “Since we’ve put it in, our lameness has gone down almost 10%.”

Jack McMaster, who came home to farm full-time after finishing his degree, explained why it matters so much.

“Whenever a cow is lame, she’s not as keen to get up out of her bed to eat. And if a cow eats less, her body condition goes down,” says Jack.

A small camera above the parlour

Jack used to keep track of mobility by walking the shed and watching the cows. Two years ago the family installed a new rotary parlour and added CattleEye at the same time.

“It’s really simple... it’s just a camera, like a CCTV camera just mounted up above them,” he told Countryfile.

There are no tags, no collars and no wearables. As each cow walks out of the parlour, CattleEye analyses how she moves and gives her a mobility score. It typically scores every cow every day, and it scores body condition too.

“So the cow just walks by, the camera picks up her walking motion and detects changes in it,” he says.

CattleEye is on par with a trained mobility scorer, present and delivering objective, consistent scoring 365 days a year.

Three cows flagged, three cows checked

On the day Countryfile filmed, CattleEye flagged three cows from that morning’s milking. Foot trimmer Stephen Crooks lifted their feet and found the cause, including sole ulcers in their early stages. The cows were trimmed and treated, with a block fitted to take the weight off the sore claw.

“If that had been left, it would have progressed and eventually the cow would have got quite sore. So with the camera, we’ve been able to identify her early and get her trimmed before she’s went badly lame,” says Jack.

For Jack, it was the clearest proof of what the system does on his farm. CattleEye flags the cow, then the trimmer finds what’s wrong and fixes it. CattleEye works alongside the vet and foot trimmer, and doesn’t replace either.

A farmer’s eye still matters

Jack is clear that the technology adds to good stockmanship rather than standing in for it.

“I still believe there’s a place for farmers to keep an eye on their stock because we have to make sure it is working and doing what it says it’s going to do,” he says.

CattleEye supports herd welfare and could save farmers around £110 a cow, every year, based on UK farm data.

See if the CattleEye Starter Kit fits your farm

Watch the McMasters’ segment on Countryfile, BBC One, available on BBC iPlayer here, from 26 minutes.

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