Where can I see wearable alerts?
Once you've connected your cow wearable system with MINDA, you can start receiving wearable alerts in MINDA. In the app, wearable alerts come through as notifications. The notifications can then be used to record Events. In MINDA, wearable alerts are shown in Groups that have the Wearable Alerts Attribute added. You can then use the Groups to review animals that have an alert and even schedule a draft.
Important: Currently, there there is only 1 alert type (heat) available in MINDA. As we continue working with wearable providers, we'll add more.
How do I see wearable alerts in MINDA?
You can see alerts in MINDA once you create a Group and add the Wearable Alerts Attribute. When adding the Attribute, you'll be asked to select the alert type and the period in which the alert was picked up i.e. if you select 6 hours, the Group will show animals that have had an alert within the last 6 hours.
Tip: Groups that have the Wearable Alerts Attribute will update automatically! This means you don't need to re-save the Group to update which animals are shown.
Why should I create a Group with wearable alerts?
If we focus on mating, creating a Heat Alerts Group can show you cows ready to be mated at any given time. How? Lets check out the scenario below.
When we create a Group, add the Wearable Alerts Attribute and filter to only include cows with a heat alert, we can see which cows are on heat.
When we add the Days Since Last Mating Attribute, we can now see if a cow has already had a mating.
If we go one step further and filter by Days Since Last Mating to only see cows without a mating date, we now have a Group that shows us how many cows are ready to be put up for mating.
If you have a compatible drafting system, you can schedule a draft from MINDA so that these cows are drafted and waiting in the shed.
By creating a Group using the Wearable Alerts Attribute, you've created a seamless process that provides you with a list of cows ready to be mated every day.
How do I set up a Heat Alerts Group?
The Wearable Alerts Attribute works like any other Attribute in MINDA and can be added to any Group. To create a Group which shows animals that have had an alert, you'll need to head into Groups > Add a group then enter:
Group name
Which Group your new Group will be based off
Add the Wearable Alerts Attribute, alert type & period
To exclude animals that have been mated, add the Days Since Last Mating Attribute and period
Select Wearable Alerts and Days Since Last Mating when setting a filter
Once in the Group, update the filter to show animals with an alert and without a mating
How do I see wearable alerts in the MINDA app?
Wearable alerts come through as notifications. To start receiving these, you'll need to make sure you've enabled notifications in the app. If you need help doing this, check out our helpful article Setting up MINDA & Cow Wearables.
What can I do with wearable alerts?
Using both MINDA and the app, you can:
Draft animals
View & record Events
Plan for mating
Drafting
If you have a compatible drafting system, you can draft the animals in your wearable alerts Group. To schedule a draft, first find the Group then select Actions > Draft this group. Next go through the steps shown on screen and schedule a draft.
Note: When creating a draft based on the Wearables alert attribute, animals will be drafted regardless of whether a heat event has been recorded in MINDA.
Record Events via MINDA
Once you have a Group set up for wearable alerts, you can use it to quickly record Events i.e. heats. When selecting animals, you'll have the option to show animals in a specific Group so you can select your wearable alerts Group here. For a detailed how to guide, check out our article How to record a Heat Event.
Record Events via the MINDA app
Using the heat notifications from wearables, you can record Heat Events. Head into Heat > Record Heat and click Add from wearables to automatically add any animals that have a heat alert. Once you're happy with the list of animals, complete the Event and approve it in the Holding Pen.
Plan for mating
By creating a Group of animals that have a heat alert, you can use other attributes and reports to start making plans around mating etc. You can also review animals that have alerts and confidently record Events knowing that you're not recording i.e. false heats etc.