Traceability and getting data from paper into a digital form is becoming more important across the livestock sector and producers will find companies that can help at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show.
For example, iLivestock’s cattle and sheep farm management system will be part of the Weber Farm Services booth.
“Full farm management software is the core of iLivestock,” explained Georgia Foster, iLivestock’s international account manager, during the recent Ontario Sheep Field Day. “We’ve built an ecosystem of hardware around the software to complement it and to capture that data and easily access it.”
Read Also
Precision pig feeding lowers farm cost, greenhouse gas emissions
A customized diet for each pig reduces the farmer’s feed cost, boosts hog growth and bolsters the pork sector’s environmental track record.
iLivestock is a simple, download-and-go software with third-party system integration options and/or a complete hardware-software ecosystem, enabling data transfer to a smartphone or tablet.
The Scottish ag-tech includes a compact eTagReader, with a detection range of up to 38 centimetres, eWeigh, and eWeighbar. The technology integrates seamlessly with existing livestock handling infrastructure, and is offered at an introductory price of $3,200.
“We’re doing a deal at the moment where, if you buy hardware, so either our eTagReader, eWeigh or our (600 mm) eWeighbars, we’ll give you six months free livestock software just to use it, understand it,” said Foster.
A one-year flat-rate subscription for unlimited animals and all features costs 300 GBP in the United Kingdom (C$550), and the company has yet to announce a price for Canada.
Foster said the program facilitates quick weigh session management, including weighing, recording and exporting livestock data, as well as accessing historical data, breed tracking, medication/vaccination records and animal movement for traceability, even without internet.
Foster described the system as a “virtual medicine cabinet,” where producers can select whether the treatment is for an individual or an animal grouping, record the dosage, and specify whether it is a single treatment or a course.
“It would automatically populate your withdrawal period based on the medication that you’ve chosen,” she said. “Then that information will be stored against every individual animal in that group.”
The breeding component of the software has garnered significant interest from Canadian producers, she said, offering the ability to track breeding type, birthing difficulty, recovery, mastitis incidents and provide detailed traceability.
“It’s people who see the value in the data. They’re already tracing it through paper, or something like that, and they’re looking to advance,” she added, noting it also supports individual log-ins for multi-staff operations.
