Dairy farmers at the New York State Fair are trying out a new technology to help them determine when a calf is about to be born.
The big white tent at the end of the midway with a giant cow balloon in front is where fairgoers can watch the miracle of birth.
One cow delivered a healthy calf in front of hundreds of fairgoers. If they looked carefully, they would have noticed a bright green plastic contraption around the cow’s tale. It’s called a “moo-call.”
"It’s a little green thing that goes on the tail and it senses when they contract, and it sends to the dairy farmer’s cell phone,” said Clifton Springs dairy farmer Hannah Warden. She explains the moo-call alerts farmers when a cow is an hour or so from calving, and then again when delivery is imminent. And that’s good information to have on the farm.
"Sometimes cows will have a calf on her own, and it’s okay. But if it gives us that time and we go back in a couple hours and she hasn’t made progress, that lets us know, that all right, we need to check something out, maybe the calf is not coming correct."
The technology for the moo-call comes from Ireland. Eileen Jensen of the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition has worked out some of the kinks with the developers. She expects some farms in upstate New York to seriously look at using them.
"I think technology plays an important role in anything today. And I think it’s becoming more and more advanced on farms. And I see smaller farms, 100-200 cow dairy farms utilizing these devices, something similar to these devices, because they don’t have someone on staff 24 hours a day walking through the barn,” said Jensen.
