Women in Farming Review: Saving time on Farm paperwork
Women in Farming Review: Marion Matthews farms with her husband Frank. They are Dairy farmers from Carraward West, Co. Limerick. Together they milk 98 cows along with managing the replacement heifers.
In 2015, Marion visited the Innovation Arena at the NPA Ploughing championships looking for something to help with farm paperwork and luckily she found just the thing, the Herdwatch app.
We recently caught up with Marion to find out how Herdwatch has worked for her. Marion explained that: “I downloaded the free trial and we were both very impressed… We decided to go ahead and purchase the subscription and life has become so much easier since then”.
It’s recorded there and then so nothing is forgotten
We asked Marion if the Herdwatch app had changed how she farmed, Marion told us that: “Before Herdwatch, I had to record everything manually… being able to record everything on your smartphone as you go about your daily duties has greatly improved the paperwork side of things for us”.
It has made us become much more diligent in keeping records of everything
Marion and Frank use Herdwatch to record calf registrations, remedies, doses and vaccines for Bord Bia, serves and scanning records and most recently spraying. Marion told us that “It is so easy to record and visible to the eye at the click of a button”.
The animal movements section is an absolute treat
When a private sale is taking place, Marion simply applies for the movement certs in Herdwatch in the yard and prints the cert from her email. Marion told us that “All signatures are sorted before leaving the yard. This is definitely one feature which has made my life so easy”.
Read more about how Herdwatch saves time on Animal Movements here
You finish the phone call feeling it was a call well made
Like many farmers, Marion and Frank were new to the idea of using apps to manage their farm and knowing that there is a dedicated support team to help with any issue was very important. We asked Marion about the support team and she gave them a glowing review.
She told us that “Each and everyone is so friendly and accommodating when you ring. They are all so people orientated and there’s always an element of humour attached to the conversation, you finish the phone call feeling it was a call well-made and well received”.
