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'Lameness monitoring is a job they don’t have to worry about with SmartSight'
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Co. Cork farmer Martin Kelly moved to an automated milking system in 2024.
While the system's flexibility and improvements in milking management were better than he had hoped, an unexpected problem cropped up on his farm just outside Kinsale.
Martin explained: "Because of the robotic milker, I wasn’t seeing every cow twice a day, like I was when I was milking through a parlour.
"I was also herding the cows twice a day to and from the field, so I’d spot any lame cow there.
"That meant that I was starting to see more lameness in the herd after I installed the robots, and it was a real problem by the time I saw it."
Nedap SmartSight Locomotion monitoring uses advanced artificial intelligence to continuously and reliably monitor hoof health by assessing each cow’s gait using high-resolution camera data.
It then processes this information into actionable alerts and reports in the Nedap Now app.
Users can create proactive action lists and monitor cow recovery with these details.
Martin said: "SmartSight has worked really well. It helps me identify the lame cows sooner.
"I check SmartSight on my app every day, and if a cow is seriously lame, I get an alert. It’s a huge help in managing cows.
"Our advisers tell us that a lame cow is losing money every day, so the sooner she’s better and back to full production, it’s better for everyone involved," he added.
About 25 miles north of Kinsale in Carrignavar, Paul Sheehan started using Nedap SmartSight for a different reason.
Paul, who milks 290 cows with his parents, John and Carol, said: "In the summer, we milk on two platforms 30 minutes apart.
"We take the heifers and young cows to the out farm, and I generally spend most of my time there with that herd. That increases the pressure on our staff who are managing the portion of the herd left at home.
"Lameness monitoring is a job they don’t have to worry about with SmartSight; we trust it to detect any lame cows.
"For me, it gives me great peace of mind to know that no cow is being missed, and that every cow that needs to see the hoof trimmer will be selected for his visit via the report generated from SmartSight."
The Sheehans have been using SmartSight since August 2024.
They have reduced lameness severity, reduced antibiotic use, and saved time and labour since installing the system.
"We trust SmartSight completely after using it for the last 19 months. It’s reduced our lameness significantly," Paul said
"We don’t visually check cows now; we let SmartSight do that for us. I’m not trying to make a list myself; it’s all on the Nedap Now app.
"And now, I don’t spot a lame cow the day after the hoof trimmer has been!"
The recovery graph shows how a cow is responding to treatment, a feature that Paul really values.
"Once a cow has been trimmed or treated, I can watch her recovery in the app," Paul explained.
"If she doesn’t start to improve the way I’d expect, I can then go and treat her with antibiotics or another treatment if it’s needed.
"It’s reduced the overall amount of antibiotics we’re using, because most cows are picked up by SmartSight before they develop severe cases. It’s finding cows we wouldn’t notice visually.
There’s less lameness, there’s fewer chronic cows, and cows get back to full production faster, which means more milk in the tank."
Lameness has a high cost, and if prevalence throughout the herd increases, that means money is slipping down the drain every day.
Research from Moorepark and UCD predicted the cost to be between approximately €4,800 in a 100-cow herd with 5% prevalence, and over €14,000 in a herd with 20% prevalence.
Nedap SmartSight is available in Ireland from Kerry-based Censortec.
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