Chippenham based NMR  group which comprises National Milk Laboratories and National Livestock Records, will distribute Silent Herdsman, the targeting all farmers operating in the dairy industry of which there are 14,000 in the UK and Ireland.

Its launch follows a recent trial carried out by ETS  in conjunction with The Scottish Agricultural College at Acrehead farm, Dumfries. This tested 150 cows over an eight week period and successfully demonstrated Embedded Technology Solutions Silent Herdsman's ability to accurately detect Oestrus events in dairy cows, in many instances by up to two days earlier than competing solutions.

NMR MD Andy Warne (left) said, "As the UK's largest provider of milk recording and livestock services, providing management information to 50% of UK dairy farmers, we believe that Silent Herdsman is a great addition to our offering.

"By providing an effective way of monitoring the reproductive cycles of cows and ultimately decreasing the wastage and expense experienced by farmers with lesser or no technology during the insemination process, we are confident that this new service will generate considerable interest.

"The Agreement with ETS, which has a wealth of experience in developing management solutions within the farming industry, is in line with our strategy of expanding our corporate offering and improving our support to dairy farmers as they look to maximise the efficiencies and increase the productivity of their farms."

NMR is acknowledged by the industry as  market leader in the provision of milk recording services, herd management software and support.

In June last year, a condition-based monitoring R&D programme was recognised by the Royal Highland and Agricultural Show with a silver medal. The condition based monitoring system technology was developed by ITI Techmedia now part of Scottish Enterprise with ETS providing the electronics.

eCow, eCollar, eTag and eBolus
Scotland has considerable expertise in animal monitoring. Another company, the consultancy eCow also provides information and systems for non-invasive monitoring of dairy cows and animals, as well as the equipment. Its aim to improve the lives of cows, reduce their impact on the environment and maintain farm profitability.

Last month, founder Toby Mottram attended the Precision Dairy Conference in Toronto where he presented his recent work with eCollar and eTag as well as the  eBolus hardware & software. The well attended conference mixes both pragmatic farming with high quality science.

The eTag PulseTag is a pulse-oximeter ear tag fitted to the ear of cows or pigs and detects heart rate by photoplethysmography. Pulse Tag will wirelessly transmit the peak to peak intervals caused by the flush of blood to the ear.

The eBolus presentation discussed the potential for extending the life of the bolus from current target of 90 days to 3 years, and this is now a definite possibility with eCow looking for startegic partners to take these technologies forward.