Prevention is better than cure
Diseases that affect livestock can have a significant impact on meat and milk production. Keeping livestock healthy is a top concern for farmers. Proper dosages of vaccines, medicines, quality forage, fresh water and the ability to capture and collect livestock data assists farmers with preventing diseases, improving herd health and optimising efficiency in the operation.
Maintaining healthy stock ensures continued growth or milk production, timely management of sick stock minimises treatment cost and potential revenue losses.
The financial and emotional impact of livestock health issues can be huge if not caught and treated early. A robust animal health programme relevant for location, operation type and size is critical to minimising the risk of disease and death for livestock on any farming operation and maintaining profitability.
Early warning
Regular animal weighing is a highly effective early warning system for potential health concerns. If all other factors (eg: feed) remain consistent, weight loss can be a strong indicator of impending problems.
Including a regular weighing programme as part of the farming operation enables possible condition issues to be picked up much quicker and more accurately than the traditional visual checks. For example, some animals are more susceptible to certain parasites than others and through regular weighing this can often be picked up and those animals treated specifically, outside of whole herd/flock treatments.
Timely management of sick stock minimises recovery costs and time as well as the lost revenue (milk not in the vat, or dry stock missing weight targets).
Additional benefits
Sale or Slaughter decisions – being able to select animals for sale or slaughter based on current weight and average daily weight gains
Feeding programme impact – determine success of different feeding programmes; also enables selection of stock for preferential feeding (eg: achieve premium meat prices based on works target weight ranges)
Breeding plan outcomes – select preferred genetics based on weight gain performance
Mating preparation - ensure stock are at the optimum weight range recommended for improved reproductive success. Once pregnant, maintaining livestock health also shows positive results in reducing abortion rates and improving birthing ease and recovery rates post birth.
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Gallagher solutions
With over fifteen years in developing weighing & electronic identification products that are as rugged as the environments they are designed for, Gallagher has a range of solutions to suit every farming need.
Customer stories
An inside look at Gallagher's products in action. See real life examples of Gallagher's Weighing & EID range installed and working on properties across New Zealand.
Simple-to-use technology makes it easy to keep herd on track
Taking the guesswork out of weighing stock and simplifying the process as much as possible were key requirements for Taranaki farmer Sutton Waugh when she was considering a weighing system for her business.
Data crucial for demonstrating farm businesses' true value
Farmers who are not adopting systems to regularly record animal performance data may find it challenging to demonstrate the true value of their business and risk “getting left behind”.
