Electronic Heat Detection Systems

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Mueller Show Cattle

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I was wanting to get some feed back on some of the different electronic heat detection systems. Such as Heat Watch, Heat Watch Express, Mount Count, AccuBreed and Bullseye Heat detection system. The regular Heat Watch system is $4,000 by its self and that is alot to bite off for me as someone just AI 10 cows a year for club calfs. The other systems are not as expensive such as theBullseye is half that price, so I was wanting t see if anyone has used any of these systems and how they liked them or what they did not like about them. I waiting to get some prices on the others IE Heat Watch express, Mount Count and AccuBreed.  Thanks for any input you have.  <cowboy>

 

Radio Ranch

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Apr 26, 2010
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We use the Heat Watch system.  It definately tells you when a cow is in heat and when to breed.  It can be a lot of work if you are doing a lot of cows.  BUT, it will definately increase your conception rate.  So the question comes if you settle 10% more cows how much more are you able to make off those calves.  It might not be ideal for a small herd if you are selling $1000 - $1500 calves, but if you are selling $2500-$5000 calves it will pay for it self in one year if you settle 1 or 2 more at AI'ing.  Another option is to look at a used system or a rebuilt system.  The price goes down on those units.
 

CAB

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How many transponders come with a system & how much do extras cost? What % are lost or broken during a breeding season?
 

bcosu

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i can't tell you how many transponders come with it but i will say that over half of the pucks came off the cows after getting ridden hard.

i'm not sure if it is the glue that was bad but it didn't work really well. the patches are easy to see so they relatively easy to find.

we also use zip ties around the tail snugly. many times we found the patches dangling from the bottom of the tail of the cows.

it's really nice being able to see that a cow came in heat at 2 am and only stood for about 3 hours. and it will show that some of our cows will stand for for over 24 hours.
 

Radio Ranch

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Transponders are expensive and I believe are extra.  As far as the glue is concerned occassionaly you will get a bad tube.  Usually something that has been carried over from the previous year and probably got froze.  If you ever notice that the glue appears black, through it out.  I have heard of a guy using hog rings and attaching the strap to the tail up high in the meaty part of the tail.  We let them fly and take our chances.  We usually patch 100-150 cows each year and havnt lost one yet.  I do know that the longer the patch is on the better chance you have of them falling off.
 

BullsEye

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Hey guys, I'm really glad I ran across this post. I can tell you about the BullsEye system. I have been using the system about 15 years. Basically there is only two types of electronic heat detection systems on the market. The difference is BullsEye has memory in the unit on the cow. The good side to this is the stand times are safely recorded were the action is on the cow, the system can be used in multiple remote locations and it is cheaper for small breeders. On the down side you have to go look at the cows to get stand times. At most locations we can retrieve data from 100 feet to 300 feet from the cow. I do have one customer that has to get withing 60 feet. I am still working to make that one better. With our system you get the time of the first stand, the time of the last stand and the total number of stands. You set the parameters on what a good stand is. I built this system for the small breeder AI'ing 100 head or less. Although, the system will do up to 999 head at a time. I can show you where we are cost effective for 10 to 25 head operation, too. Our system is not perfect, I have learned something from every customer that could make it better. I do my best to make sure all my customers get their cattle bred. Let me know if I can work with any of you interested in electronic heat detection. Thanks Mark
 

Till-Hill

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Select Sires is marketing SELECT DETECT. I want to put it in on our dairy farm and would also be able to put it to use with heifers and beef cows. It monitors cows 24/7 not just when they past thru something like some of them do. PM me if you are interested. I have the tech that services and installs them's cell #.
 

Mueller Show Cattle

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Till-Hill said:
Select Sires is marketing SELECT DETECT. I want to put it in on our dairy farm and would also be able to put it to use with heifers and beef cows. It monitors cows 24/7 not just when they past thru something like some of them do. PM me if you are interested. I have the tech that services and installs them's cell #.
That is a very interesting system, has anyone heard of anyone using it with beef cows. They mainly show it being used in dairy farms. I am just a little confused with it, can it really be that accurate without detecting mounts like the other systems use to detect heat? That was my big question I had, every other heat detection aid out there including the electronic heat detection systems detect the mounts to show heat. I asked for a price to see how the price compares with other electronic heat detection systems. I am still looking at electronic heat detection systems for use in the breeding of my club calf cows.
 

Till-Hill

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Select Detect moniters motion so when a cow has high activitiy but no one rides her and we have all had cows like that you didn't know what to do with I think that system will help. It looks very interesting
 

Mueller Show Cattle

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Till-Hill said:
Select Detect moniters motion so when a cow has high activitiy but no one rides her and we have all had cows like that you didn't know what to do with I think that system will help. It looks very interesting
I think that the not riding behavior happens alot in the club calfs because I don't tend to see my cows riding each other very often. We talked about that in AI class also and they said that in the club calf cows that have been pampered there whole life, like alot of mine have, it's like they are premadonna cows that don't get in that type of behavior. So maybe this system will pick up heat better in club calf cows. I'm kind of excited about that Select Detect system and waiting to get a price from them on it. I just requested a price from them via email, if I don't hear back from them, if I could get that phone number of that rep from you?
 

Till-Hill

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I belive you are right! I try to get around that problem but it still is a problem. I get a good sized group together and kmar and watch them as close as possible but I think a "system" would help alot!

Sent you an email to your hotmail account.
 

firesweepranch

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Reviving this thread.  I have gone back to work full time, so finding it hard to hit some of the heats. What is out there that works well?
 

knabe

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i had a cow that would not stand. she was the "boss" cow.


i did put chalk down past the tail head, and any disturbance i treated as standing.


she bred ai that way every time.
 

firesweepranch

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CAB said:
best bang for your $ IMO, Gomer bull with a chinball marker. (dog) (dog)

We don't want any bulls around, so that will not work. Looking for other options. There is a system out that that measures activity of the cow, along with a bunch of other stuff. I can not look at the cows in the morning before work, and my help has missed several heats because they were not looking for signs of heat. I hate losing time on the cattle, so I am looking for other options.
 

idalee

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In your situation,  a synchronization program timed for breeding on a Saturday or Sunday might work better at a lot less cost. 
 
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