During his 20-year career in the corporate sector IT professional, Kieran Supple, relied on KPIs and data analysis to measure commercial success. However, when he took over managing his family’s farm a few years ago he says it was like “navigating in the dark due to the lack of accurate and consistent metrics to assess daily performance”.
This deficiency got him thinking. Was there a way to combine his IT experience and farming knowledge to fill at least part of this gap? The short answer was yes and BovinePlus, which provides farmers with accurate daily live weights for each animal without the need for herding or physical restraint, will be launched in April.
“Tracking weight gain is of paramount importance in contemporary livestock management,” Supple says. “It forms the basis for overseeing growth targets, carbon emissions, fertility, genetics, disease control, antimicrobial resistance, grass management, feed management and overall profitability. But current measuring methods are labour intensive and inaccurate. As a result, less than 10 per cent of farmers track herd weights consistently, which is not good for the bottom line.”
Traditional weighing is slow. It requires the use of bulky equipment and there is always an element of risk for the farmer when handling livestock. The process is also stressful for cattle (and this can distort the readings) and existing methods make no provision for variables such as the weight of food in the animal’s stomach.
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Supple was adamant that his solution should be stress-free for cattle and farmers alike and this inspired him to link BovinePlus to a familiar part of every herd’s daily routine – drinking water. Cattle drink between four and 12 times a day, and where a BovinePlus unit is installed it will record an animal’s weight and liquid intake as they step forward (on to a pressure pad) to get a drink.
Each animal is identified by its ear tag and at the end of a day the farmer can open a dashboard to see the weight of his herd, animal by animal. The system works indoors and outside with outdoor units driven by integrated solar power.
“We have disrupted traditional weighing by automating the process and integrating our technology into a compact, easily transportable unit,” Supple says. “Our system collects and analyses weight data from an animal’s two front legs and extrapolates this to provide an accurate estimation of the full body weight.
“The use of AI and machine-learning algorithms enable, not just the tracking of weight, but also the monitoring of health and behaviour patterns which in turn offers insights that were previously inaccessible on a daily basis. This level of detail allows for early detection of health issues, the optimisation of feeding strategies and more informed breeding decisions, all of which have a direct impact on farm efficiency and profitability.”
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Pricing for the BovinePlus system, the first product from Supple’s company Reap Interactive, is still being finalised but the cost will include the physical weighing unit (which is made in Ireland) and the controlling software which will be offered on a SaaS basis.
“BovinePlus is not just a weighing device. It’s a comprehensive farm management tool that’s suitable for farms of all sizes,” Supple says. “In Ireland the device is connected via an API (application programming interface) to the National Animal Identification and Movements database and connectivity to other national cattle breeding databases is planned,” adds Supple who served his time as a manager on an Australian cattle station where he says the practices and methods used helped inform the design and scope of BovinePlus.
Supple has recently participated in the New Frontiers programme at ATU in Sligo and his company has designated HPSU status from Enterprise Ireland. Investment in the business to date has been about €300,000 and Supple has already secured just under €1 million in private equity to fund the international rollout of the BovinePlus system.
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