Stockman brings data and simplicity to Robbie Newlands Cluny Farm

Based on 1,100 acres (445ha) near the town of Forres, Cluny Farm is home to Robbie, his wife Kirsty and approximately 180 head of Simmental and Saler cows and 700 Mule ewes.

Robbie Newlands lives and farms by one rule – simplicity. Keen to make more data-led decisions on his finishing stock while simplifying his farming practices, Robbie installed the Stockman - an automatic, precision performance monitor - from Herd Advance which has transformed operations and reduced handling on Cluny Farm.

Stockman is a real-time precision performance and health monitoring system with integrated drafting and selection capabilities designed to help farmers make data based decisions and reduce handling to improve efficiency, performance and the health and wellbeing of their herd.

“The heifers quickly adapted to going to the new set up for a drink and the change in their behaviour has been remarkable – normally asking an animal to walk into an enclosed unit like a crush instantly creates high stress levels, but they have become so used to the several-times-a-day process that we can stand by the Stockman now and they come and go without a second thought,” Robbie commented.

Robbie’s herd has adjusted to the implementation and use of Stockman quickly and the wider Cluny Farm team have also felt the impact of Stockman in their day to day operations.  

“Kirsty used to have to work the gate for the ones I was picking out and it was a part of the job she really didn’t like; it was usually a bit of a rodeo and no doubt a risky job to do. Not only does the Stockman eliminate the need for handling the beasts but also means that we’re only sending them at accurate weights, which improves our profitability – for example, every heifer that is 10kg heavier might increase profits by £5,000 over the course of the year.”

Alongside the improvement of performance and efficiency Robbie foresees other benefits that the system could bring to the management of the cattle and the wider business.

“Efficiencies in the beef sector could be improved massively by using systems like this one. The more information you have, the more inclined you are to pick cattle at the right point and weights that the market is demanding. With temperature sensors now available for the Stockman too, a beast that is showing early signs of illness could be picked up straight away and not only reduce antibiotic use in the sector, but also animal losses too.”

By just going for a drink, the volume of valuable data that the Stockman can gather from each animal is “staggering” and it can allow farmers the opportunity to meet a multitude of market demands, yet it involves no real human input to capture it– what could be simpler than that?

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Find out more about our Stockman technology or book a consultation for your farm.