Background to RMS
Over recent years we have seen a continuous decline in pregnancy production as farmers struggle to balance increasing herd sizes and higher yielding cows with a reduction in skilled staff being employed in agriculture. Research has shown that once the pregnancy rate falls below 13%, herds are no longer able to produce enough replacements to replenish the herd. The trend needs to be halted.    

As dairy farms expand problems are two fold, not only is there generally less staff available per cow in the herd, but also the number of herd health issues are likely to increase and management becomes increasingly difficult. RMS brings a professional 'helping hand' to the farm on a daily basis, an extra pair of eyes to spot the cows bulling and an additional member of the team dedicated to improving fertility on farm. RMS is responsible for improving the reproductive performance of over 1 million cows worldwide.

What is RMS?
RMS is a systematic approach to maximising pregnancy production, which works especially well on today's large dairy farms.  A proven system, first introduced in the late 90's on large Californian dairies, and now also operating in Italy, Australia, Canada and the UK.

What does RMS involve?
1. Heat Detection:  A dedicated RMS technician specifically trained to identify primary and secondary signs of heat, will visit your herd on a daily basis to identify cows on heat. Using detailed computer records and tail chalking, on average our technicians lift heat detection rates by 20-30% in the first year.

2. Sorting cows for AI: Unlike many stand alone heat detection products, such as Pedometers or Bovine Beacons, the RMS technician will also locate the cows that are on heat, make an accurate assessment of whether the cow is showing a true heat and then serve the cow, all with minimal disruption to the cow herself.

3. Technical Services: A specialist team including vets and consultants are always available either at the start to assess performance and help with any issues before starting on an RMS program and to troubleshoot logjams and blockages which restrict successful pregnancy production on farm. Using a number of tools such as Cow Signs® they will look at animal health, nutrition, cow comfort, transition and fresh cow management.

4. AI Service: A Genus ABS RMS technician will carry out on average 4,500 inseminations per year, this coupled with the intense and on going training ensures that you get the best possible results.

5. Fertility Data  Management: With RMS all fertility data management is taken control of. The RMS technician will input all fertility activities into a data management system. This information is checked to ensure the highest possible accuracy then the tech can interpret the data and then share relevant data with you to ensure pregnancy production is maximised.

Whole Herd Approach

Pregnancy production is not as straight forward as serving a cow in heat at the correct time. A wide range of factors affect a cow's ability to establish a successful pregnancy. The diagram below shows the many factors that can affect fertility and in turn pregnancy production.

The cow - how well she is cycling and ability to get back in calf depends on, how she is grouped, disease status, how good she is on her feet, condition score and how it changes.
The Environment- the quality of bedding, the type of surface she is kept on and how long she stands every day will affect pregnancy production.
Nutrition - feeding management can have an impact on pregnancy production. Dry cow feeding is important.
Management planning- management decisions such as the choice of voluntary waiting period (VWP) and time from service to pregnancy check.
Farm Labour - the ability of staff to spot bulling cows, record the information and subsequently use the records correctly.
Semen - the way semen is handled, processed.

Training When using RMS you can rest in the knowledge that no corners have been cut in the attempt to place a technician trained to the highest standard possible on your dairy. No other company gives their staff such intense training that is designed to prepare them for any eventuality. We constantly monitor ourselves and our performance to maintain the highest standard possible. As new ideas and techniques are introduced into the dairy industry then our staff will be raising their knowledge to ensure these challenges are met.

Informed decisions
The technicians who are on-farm daily use a program called Dairy Comp 305 a computer based recording system, which provides a comprehensive aid to daily breeding decisions. Along with the ability to record the daily activities, such as cows served, service sire, calvings, cows that have left the herd and any pregnancy information from the vet, it also produces a number of easy to read reports which contain valuable information for managing reproductive performance. Our dedicated Business to Business team continuously works with you and Dairy Comp data to benchmark where you currently are, help to set targets and monitor progress. Each farm situation is different, but Genus ABS will always carry out a 12 monthly review to establish how the service is progressing.

Rolling 21 day Pregnancy rate and Heat Detection rate.  21 day pregnancy rate is a key measure of reproductive performance, as it represents the true speed at which pregnancies are being made. The importance of this is that it is extremely sensitive to changes in management and nutrition.The table opposite shows for the last six 21 day periods the farmer has a pregnancy rate of 29
Pregnancy Inventory. Graph 1 shows pregnancy production week on week. Recently produced pregnancies are on the left and those nearing calving are on the right. E.g. three animals were confirmed in calf at seven weeks. The graph represents a history of pregnancy production and can be used to predict forward calving pattern and future farm production.

Testimonials

Kenny Campbell, Slagnaw Farm, Castle Douglas
"We starting using RMS in November 2006 due to the loss of our herdsman, previously he would do our heat detection and then the inseminations would be done by my father.  Our fertility on farm was already good before we started  RMS, we had a pregnancy rate of around 20%, but wanted our fertility to stay as it was. We have since employed a new herdsman who works closely with Andy, our RMS technician, and our fertility is continuing to improve with the pregnancy rate now at 23%. We are really happy with the way RMS has worked on farm and how Andy has fitted into our team well."

James Holland, Holland Farm, Devon
"We currently manage a 350 organic cow unit near Tavistock, Devon. Before we started on RMS we relied on natural service. We began using RMS for several reasons, the main being the health issues associated with natural service, also the health and safety of our staff on farm and making sure that they have a better working environment.
Having Jenny our RMS technician on farm, has meant that we have a more structured approach to reproductive management and a clear team objective. Regular meetings of the vet, herdsperson, nutritionist, RMS tech and myself help to highlight issues, deal with the problem as soon as possible and hence maximise pregnancy production. By having the meetings I feel we have created a good discipline with the team and keep everyone's focus on fertility. Good fertility leads to good moral and a happy team."

Colin Wildman, Crosslanes Farm, Cheshire.
" I currently milk 230 cows and began using RMS in October 2006. When starting on the service my technician, John Greenwood, highlighted our very low heat detection rates and suggested we get the technical service team to carry out a fertility audit of the farm to identify potential bottlenecks. The  consultant highlighted three key areas for improvements. The first was to provide the cows with more room to optimise herd health and improve chance of conception. Secondly to allow better and improved floor surface to allow better heat expression, and thirdly to improve the diet of our cows. We decided to take a break from RMS and concentrate on making the changes to the farming system that were limiting our success, six months later we had installed a new feed barrier outside the cubicle building. Where the old barrier was we installed extra cubicles to provide more space. The key improvement was to install a molasses tank and to include molasses in the ration, by November 2007 we started back on RMS and things have gone from strength to strength."

David Kincaid, Slacks Farm, Lockerbie.
" We started using the RMS service in 2003 when the service was first introduced.  Since we started things have got better and we are very pleased with the results we have been getting.  We have also used RMS on our heifers due to the poor bull fertility, having an extra 80 heifers was no problem for our technician, Steve. Out of the 80 heifers we served 60 were confirmed in calf with 49 pd+ to ABS Sexation. We are always trying to expand the herd and see RMS as a major part in doing this. We are extremely pleased with how things have progress over the past five years."

To receive more information about Reproductive Management Systems click here.

To find out what more farms using RMS think of the system click here

For more information about RMS and how we could help improve the fertility of your herd contact your local Genus/ABS representative or one of our Customer Services Team.