January 25, 2010 Handy Hint

Text cows and heifers in heat

We issued cell phones to all our employees. As part of the agreement with our employees for using the farm-issued cell phones, we want employees to record four-digit ear tag numbers of cows and heifers in heat. If an employee punches the four-digit number like you are dialing out and then pushes send, that number will be saved with the time it was recorded in the sent column. This system works exceptionally well, and our pregnancy rates have increased since we made the move.

Other dairies could also use this idea and simply use the text message system, as well. I'm sure it would work equally as well as our saving numbers as a dialed number.

Brad Cates
New York