Andy Broomfield was fed up with farm paperwork, then he found a simple solution from Herdwatch

We caught up with Andy a few weeks ago to discuss what he is up to and how he is getting on with Herdwatch. Andy, his wife, and his 2 children, live and work on their dairy farm in Devon along with his mother and father.

They are currently running 110 Holstein Friesian cows and their priority is maximising milk from forage. Often working 80+ hours a week, Andy decided it was time to make a bit of a change so he started looking for a farm management software that will take a bit of the strain off when it comes to paperwork so he could focus on keeping boots on the ground instead of being stuck in the farm office.

“I found Herdwatch after searching online, I liked what I saw. I took it to our local discussion group and we all discussed their experiences good and bad with a range of different software’s. I then put together a Pro’s and Con’s list combined with cost and Herdwatch came out best overall.”

How easy was it to set up?

“Really easy! So much easier than other software’s I’ve used. I got my CTS web service number, downloaded the herd from BCMS and we went from there. I picked up most of it as I went along but if I needed any support, the customer care team where only a message or a call away.”

Main reason for getting set up

“It was all about compliance for me, cattle movements, deaths and medicines along with the general management you know what your cows are doing out in the yard on your phone. Registering calves is brilliant too, I can do it in the farm office, when I’m tagging in the pens wherever and it doesn’t matter if I don’t have any signal it will catch up when I get back on the Wi-Fi in the house or 4G.”

Biggest benefit of using Herdwatch?

“Cloud back-up is key, I go through at least a phone a year which isn’t the end of the world, but I cannot afford to lose my data. With my previous program, it was all stored on my laptop and if that stopped working, I would lose it all. I now have peace of mind from knowing the data is always backed up and secure.”

Dairy farmers save 2 hours a week on Compliance paperwork

You can save 2 hours per week on average meeting Cross-compliance and Dairy Assurance Scheme requirements with the Herdwatch farm management app.

Herdwatch is fully approved by BCMS and the Red Tractor Dairy Assurance Scheme guidelines. This means that when an event such as a Medicine treatment or Feed purchase is recorded in Herdwatch then you are fully compliant.

Record farm events for Cross-compliance and Red Tractor as they happen using your smart phone, tablet or PC even without internet connectivity. The app allows farmers to record events such as animal medicine usage in real-time from the Milking Parlour or the Crush, this information is the backed up the cloud when an internet connection is available which means your vital records will always be safe.

What Compliance information can I record in Herdwatch?

• Medicine Purchases
• Medicine Stock Tracking
• Animal Medicine Treatments
• Feed Purchases
• Sprays and Pesticide purchases
• Sprays and Pesticide Use