www.nmr.co.uk
National Milk Records roots are in the Milk Marketing Board, providing analysis of the individual cow’s milk to dairy farmers, enabling decisions on herd management that maximise efficiency.
Complementary subsidiaries, National Milk Laboratories and National Livestock Records analyse most of the liquid milk produced in the UK for the milk buyers, and provide information to the red meat industry.
Current turnover £15m; the group invests in developing new services and is well placed to meet the demand from government, retailers and consumers for produce that can be traced to producers with the highest welfare standards from animals free of disease.
National Milk Records expands offering with ‘Silent Herdsman’ distribution deal
National Milk Records (PLUS: NMR) (NMR) has signed an agreement with Embedded Technology Solutions Ltd (ETS) to distribute the Silent Herdsman, an electronic monitoring collar which effectively detects a cow's Oestrus events to enable dairy farmers to significantly improve efficiency in their reproductive operations.
National Milk Records operates through two wholly-owned subsidiaries, National Milk Laboratories (NML) and National Livestock Records (NLR), and specialises in providing milk recording services and herd management software and support.
"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”, NMR MD Andy Warne commented.
“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.”
Under the terms of the deal, NMR will distribute ETS’ Silent Herdsman, targeting not only its customers, but all farmers operating in the dairy industry - approximately 14,000 across the UK and Ireland.
Previously, ahead of the launch, ETS carried out a trial with the Scottish Agricultural College at Acrehead farm, Dumfries. The trail tested 150 cows over an eight week period and successfully demonstrated Silent Herdsman's ability to accurately detect Oestrus events in dairy cows. According to NMR, in many instances the Silent Herdsman detected the events up to two days earlier than competing solutions.
"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," Warne added.
The Silent Herdsman technology primarily consists of a monitoring collar and communications infrastructure. The device automatically monitors the behaviour and wellbeing of livestock, thus reducing the overall on-farm operational costs of functions traditionally carried out by stockmen.
Through its subsidiaries, the company works with both agricultural buyers and producers to eliminate disease within the herd, improve efficiency and help improve the quality of livestock produce. Primarily, the Wiltshire-based company collects and analyses milk samples from dairy cows and provides farmers, milk buyers, dairy industry bodies and breed societies with critical information about yields, calving and dry periods.
NMR’s laboratories in Glasgow, Harrogate and Wolverhampton analyse milk quality and herds, helping farmers to improve milk production efficiency as well as to deliver high quality produce in a competitive market.
According to the company, its NML operations are able to capitalise on current legislation governing food production and hygiene, and the demand from retailers for clean produce, traceable to farms.
The company’s expanded offering, through the NLR business, derives revenue through the distribution of ear tags to dairy, beef cattle and sheep. The tags enable the collection of data for breed societies and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) traceability through the abattoir.
Through the Technology, Agriculture and Greater Efficiencies Project (TAG), a project between NLR and the Welsh Assembly Government, NLR is working to improve efficiency in the sheep industry. The project includes the use if RFID technology and the development of a central database.
NMR highlights that, from 1 January 2010, EU legislation states that all sheep in Europe must be electronically tagged, and NLR is developing systems to allow farmers to take advantage of this by using the tag to provide information on their history and movements.
