Livestock breeding and management system

A method for monitoring breeding activity in a herd where each female animal carries a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the method comprising the steps of:

• attaching a breeding activity monitor to be carried by the animal to each breeding male animal in the herd;
• detecting by the breeding activity monitor attached when the male animal mounts a female animal based on the body position of the male animal;
• for each mount:
• reading identification data from the RFID tag of the mounted female animal;
• and
• generating breeding activity data including the identification data for the mounted female animal and timing data for the mounting, and;
• processing the breeding activity data output from one or more breeding data activity monitors to generate herd management data comprising conception data for each female animal including an indication whether or not each female animal is pregnant, wherein the conception data for each female animal is based on analysis of the mounting activity for the female animal and oestrus cycle data for the female animal, and one or more of:
• birth date estimates for each pregnant female animal;
• conception success rates for each male animal;
• fertility and ease of impregnation data for each female animal;
• and
• offspring family data.

A method for analysing breeding activity data to provide herd management data comprising the steps of:

• acquiring breeding activity data consisting of mounting data for a herd including for each mounting at least identification data for the mounted female animal and timing data;
• analysing the breeding activity data to determine conception data for each female animal, including an indication whether or not the female animal is pregnant, wherein the conception data for each female animal is based on analysis of the mounting activity for the female animal and oestrus cycle data for the female animal, and one or more of:
• birth date estimates for each pregnant female animal;
• conception success rate data for each male animal;
• fertility and ease of impregnation data for each female animal;
• and
• offspring family data, and, and wherein the acquiring is performed by interrogation of RFID tags mounted to the female animals of the herd.

A herd management system for analysing breeding activity data including mounting data including for each mounting at least identification data for the mounted female animal and timing data, the system comprising:

• an input interface adapted to enable at least breeding activity data to be manually or automatically entered into the system;
• a processor adapted to process the input breeding activity data to produce herd management data;
• a memory for storing breeding activity data and herd management data;
• and
• an output interface,
• wherein the processing of the breeding activity data provides herd management data comprising conception data for each female animal including an indication whether or not each female animal is pregnant, wherein the conception data for each female animal is based on analysis of the mounting activity for the female animal and oestrus cycle data for the female animal, and one or more of:
• birth date estimates for each pregnant female animal;
• conception success rate data for each male animal;
• fertility and ease of impregnation data for each female animal;
• and
• offspring family data.