At ZOD Borovany people have more time for animals, because reproduction has been for nearly two years watched over by Ovalert.

Reproduction problems

“We had to solve reproduction problems with our heifers,” Ondřej Kubala starts his story. “The first step we made was a barn reconstruction in 2018, but we wanted to do more. When CRV came with an offer of a system for heat detection we agreed that this could be the right way for us. We bought Ovalert in April 2019 and have 110 neck tags on our heifers.”

Approximately half of the heifers used to be inseminated after Oestropahan before Ovalert came, as the natural heat was not successfully detected. “The biggest problem were the night and silent heats. It´s not possible to detect them when the people are not with the animals,” Mr Kubala explains a problem well-known to all farmers. “We needed a system that would watch over our heifers 24/7 and we also hoped that we would be able to lower the need of hormones and also number of reinseminations.”

According to Mr Kubala the effect of Ovalert is visible very soon. “We can say that we can see the effect within a month after giving a neck tag to a heifer which should go to reproduction cycle. We used to reinseminate 60% of our animals, nowadays it’s just minimum and always only based on Ovalert graph evaluation. The system convinced us that it really works and we can fully trust it.”

“At the start we used to do visual checks which always – also with heifers that were treated with Oestrophan – only proved what Ovalert ‘said’. Thanks to constant overview of animals and absolutely accurate timing of insemination we managed to lower the usage of hormones significantly. At this moment we use it only with heifers with problems and use 10% of the amounts we used to use,” Mr Kubala continues with the list of positives.

Clear outputs

When they were deciding in Borovany which heat detection system would be bought, Ovalert convinced by processing graphs and information more clearly than the other competing systems. And that´s what Mr Kubala still praises. “The information and graphs I receive are clear and well-arranged. Thanks to the fact Ovalert works around the clock I get a complete overview every morning about what happened during the night or at the time I was not with the heifers. The huge advantage is also connection with my mobile phone which will alert me about everything important.”

Expectations have been met

Like at many other farms also in Borovany Ovalert has met all the expectations. “The system can do everything we needed without any problems. Mainly he is able to notice what might be missed by people. Ovalert watches over the reproduction and we have more time to spent on animal care.” And the system´s reliability is illustrated clearly by recent pregnancy check when all the checked heifers were proved to be pregnant.

Farm profile

About Ovalert

The Ovalert heat detection system works 24 hours a day. Ovalert does much more than simply measure activity. As a farmer, you can easily monitor the performance of the whole herd about eating, rumination and inactivity. It makes your herd more efficient and easier to manage.