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DataMuster takes the hard work out of capturing accurate and regular performance data for even the toughest of traits – a process which is normally a challenging and costly exercise for producers.
Traits that have the potential to play a large role in the improvement of production, like birth date, are often the most difficult and most labor intensive to obtain accurate records.
Many producers who operate more extensive production systems have a wide calving window, or simply do not have the time required to collect such specific data, and are often unable to participate in genetic performance recording programs like BREEDPLAN.
Which is why researchers at CQUniversity developed the DataMuster system and its sophisticated algorithms to automatically capture and analyse phenotype information, saving producers time and money, and reducing stress on their herd.
By capturing changes in weight, the DataMuster system can automatically detect when a cow has calved and thereby provide much more accurate life-time performance records for progeny growth rates.
The key is to consistently record breeder weights each time the animals come in for water for the period leading up to and after calving, which will result in up to 92% accuracy when estimating the week of calf birth.
This is a huge advancement for genetic evaluation and has the potential to be incorporated into programs like BREEDPLAN, providing the opportunity to assess genetic performance at an individual animal level rather than across calving groups.
Making it easy for more producers to participate in genetic evaluation programs will enhance the genetic improvement of the entire Australian beef herd.
Contact the team at DataMuster to get started today!