Less blocking of the cows, means they are out to pasture sooner and more productive

Adam Lawson – owns and manages a herd of 160 milking cows in North Cassingray, Fife. He has been an active user of the Alertys™ Milk Pregnancy Test from IDEXX for six years.

Adam first heard about the test through his milk recorder, and following their conversations he decided to start using the ‘PregCheck’ service, provided by CIS.

He has used the service on his whole herd routinely through his monthly milk recording service ever since. Adam normally checks for pregnant cows once per gestation, from 35 days after insemination using the milk pregnancy test. In addition, Adam also involves his Vet on a monthly basis to check the cows that came back as a recheck or negative result.

"The main reasons I started to use the milk pregnancy test are because of the ease of use. As the samples are already taken through my monthly milk recording, and are already in the laboratory, there is less blocking of the cows, which means they’re out to pasture sooner. I also find the test is less invasive for my cows, which all helps with productivity".

Adam also mentions his experience with a recheck result he once received, which for him showed a real advantage for using the test.

He says; “A cow once had a recheck result and so I had the Vet check her on their next visit. I was informed by the Vet that there was a calf there. After 60-70 days, I used the milk test again to identify this cow’s pregnancy and it came back negative. I called my Vet to double-check again and indeed that calf was gone. In the end, I had to intervene in the cow’s abortion process, but due to being able to use the test in-between my monthly milk recordings and through the self-sampling service, I was really impressed with how the milk pregnancy test worked in this situation”

"The Milk Pregnancy Test is convenient and brings no stress and less handling for me and my cows. I am very satisfied with the test and would definitely recommend it to other farmers, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic".