What's new

New NMR systems spearhead business improvements

Two new services to be introduced by NMR at this year's Dairy Event and Livestock Show on September 16 and 17 will help to make improvements in important areas of the dairy business by providing new relevant management information.

The first is Lifetime Yield Monitor that gives yield data per day for each day from birth - on both an individual cow and a herd basis. The system allows a quick analysis of lifetime yield trends over time, providing the means of checking that the herd is on the right track as well as highlighting the strong and weak performers in the herd.

"We have provided lifetime daily yields for each cow on her lactation certificate for a few years, but this is historical and has only been on paper format," says NMR's Ben Bartlett. "Now it will be far more current as it will be published after each recording on NMR's Herd Companion web site. All NMR recording customers and, with their permission their vets and advisers, will have access to this free of charge.

"Producers will be able to review the contribution of each cow and see if the herd is progressing by comparing results over time. The data uses NMR information so takes account of age at first calving, calving interval, culling rates and milk yields."

The NMR database shows up a wide range in lifetime daily milk yields- to the tune of 8 litres per cow per day between the top 25% of herds and the bottom 25% of herds. "If producers start to monitor this more carefully they can work on improving the stragglers and boost the overall commercial contribution of the herd over time."

The second development, also to go live at the Dairy Event in September, is InterHerd Plus. Developed by NMR and Reading University-based PAN Livestock, its key features are more reporting flexibility and relevant analyses.

"This is the most popular dairy management software program for producers and vets," says NMR software developer Seamus Gilheany. "We've included quick and easy data analysis options to appeal to producers and provide fast and accurate management information.

"Another great advantage with Interherd Plus is its direct link to NMR via the web. Data will be updated automatically as soon as it's available. There will be no need to physically instruct the system to update or to have to use discs to update.

"While updating may not seem an ordeal, for vets and consultants with 30 or 40 herds on InterHerd - or for an individual producer who may want to view to new data quickly - it is very time consuming. This is a very big step forward for the system."

Interherd Plus also has the ability to provide predictions for milk yield, calving interval, conception rates etc based on current performance. "This option has been developed in response to requests from producers and their advisers and vets who need to monitor performance against predictions and make sure the herd keeps on course."

Already with selected vets, the new package will be available to all InterHerd users, including producers, vets, dairy suppliers and advisers . Both Lifetime Yield Monitor and InterHerd Plus will be live on the NMR stand in Exhibition Hall 1 at the Dairy Event and Livestock Show. Or more details are available from NMR Customer Services on 0844 725 5567 or customerservices@nmr.co.uk.

ENDS

Photographs available of Ben Bartlett and Seamus Gilheany - contact Karen Wright

For more information contact:

Ben Bartlett 01249 467234
benb@nmr.co.uk

Seamus Gilheany 01423 851357
seamusg@nmr.co.uk

Karen Wright 01780 767222
karen@karenwrightpr.com

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