Testing for Johne's with shuttles is efficient and convenient

Johne’s testing with shuttles – “efficient and convenient”

Ian Throup and his family are an example of how milk recording is changing. Farming near Keighley,  West Yorkshire, they milk 215 cows through four Lely robots, replacing a 7/7 herringbone. Ian says the work life balance since the robots were commissioned in April 2023 has definitely improved. 

Ian thought there was less need for traditional milk recording i.e. yields, compositional results and SCCs as this information is available using the robot software.  However, he was keen to ensure that he maintained his Johne’s surveillance and, whilst he doesn’t have a problem, knows it’s really important to monitor the whole herd regularly.

 'He therefore elected to use NMR’s shuttle hire service and test the whole herd for Johne’s disease four times a year with NMR's JES 3 service.'

Ian says the NMR shuttle hire is really convenient. “A member of our local team calls me the day before they are due to arrive. They then set up the samplers and come back the following day to sort out the samples for the lab before sending them away for testing.  “Quite often we don’t know they’re here,” says Ian. “The whole process is so efficient and, at the last test, there was only one cow to be sampled as she hadn’t come through whilst the shuttles were plugged in.”

NMR has 49 shuttles deployed around the UK, with each shuttle being used on average two or three times a week.  While the majority of farms use the shuttle hire service for a full DIY service, a third use them for Johne’s only, highlighting the need to keep a watchful eye on this disease.

Contact NMR’s friendly customer support team on 03330 043043 or email customerservices@nmrp.com if you milk using an automated milking system or are concerned about how to continue milk recording if you’re about to install robots.