ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996                 TAG: 9605200122
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-6  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY 

VA. TECH TESTS DEVICE TO BOOST MILK AMOUNT

Virginia Tech researchers will soon eliminate all privacy for cattle on a 250,000-cow dairy cooperative in Mexico.

In order to produce milk, dairy cattle have to have calves. To have calves, they must be artificially inseminated. And for this to happen, a herd owner needs to know when the cow is "receptive," a window of only about 12 hours.

Cows that don't get pregnant cost money in milk loss and semen waste. In a 120-cow herd, nonpregnant cows can cost $12,000-plus a year because of milk loss.

Enter "HeatWatch," a system developed over the past five years by Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and soon to be tested on the Mexican dairy farm.

A pressure-sensitive transmitter is placed on the cow and signals a monitoring-station worker each time other animals in the herd mount the cow in nature's breeding position. The frequency and duration of the mounts indicate readiness for insemination.

Before HeatWatch, the way a farmer knew a cow was ready for breeding was to medically inspect the animal or to watch the actions of other animals in the herd.

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