Raelands Farm: Heat-detection collars get cows in calf sooner

Big investment in technology and infrastructure has helped revolutionise joining and effluent management on Raelands Farm.

NSW dairy farmers James McRae and his father, Chris, use all the tools at their disposal to optimise production, sustainability and environmental outcomes on their 184ha farm at Barrington, near Gloucester.

Recently they added a few more tools to that arsenal, thanks to a $70,000 grant from Woolworths’ Dairy Innovation Fund, which has helped them implement digital heat-detection collars, install a solids trap to better use waste from the dairy and expand revegetation efforts.

Fifth-generation farmer James works in a 50:50 partnership with Chris to run Raelands Dairy, with a mixed breed milking herd of 100 cows, mostly Holsteins, supplying Norco.

James McRae (left) and his father, Chris, on Raelands Farm at Barrington NSW where they have implemented heat-detection collars in their herd and built a new solids trap to better manage dairy waste. Picture: Dallas Kilponen

The new heat-detection collars, which record rumination and activity levels in each cow, have revolutionised the way the McRaes manage joining.

“It has definitely made us more efficient at picking up heats; especially those silent heats that come happen overnight. That has been really positive,” James said.

“Our key point with the collars is (to help us) get cows in calf as soon as possible.

“And they are also taking another job out of our hands. Previously we’d used scratchy or sticky type heat detection aids, which require replacing and checking regularly and visually.

“They have definitely made us more efficient.”

James can access data about which cows are in heat on his phone.

Managing effluent to return nutrients to the soil is another priority for the McRaes.

They have installed a new solids trap at the first point where waste collects after washing off the dairy yard, as part of an effluent management plan that had been worked up in collaboration with a farm consultant.

“Originally we had a single liquid waste pond, which was gravity fed,” James said.

Now, a filter separates solids from liquid, with liquid effluent then flowing through two ponds where it is finally pumped over about 14 hectares. Solid waste can be easily collected from the solids trap for use where it is most needed.

“It has made us more efficient in terms of our use of effluent,” James said.

“We have been able to use the nutrients from the dairy solids on the right paddocks … now we are able to take the solids further afield for use on the paddocks testing lower in potassium, evening up that nutrient spread across the farm.”

The final slice of the Woolworths’ funding will be used for the next stage of a long-term revegetation strategy.

“Our ultimate goal is to have all the creeks and gullies on the farm fenced and revegetated,” James said.

Woolworths opens its Dairy Innovation Fund grants every year, with this year’s round closing for applications in April.