Better monitoring, measuring, and managing
While technology may taketh in terms of rendering certain jobs and roles redundant, it certainly giveth in terms of opportunities it can create and the problems it can solve. This is something that Jack has seen firsthand since MSD’s acquisition of Antelliq Corporation in 2019. This move was taken to position the company prominently in animal health data insights, traceability and monitoring technology. It saw how the animal-health industry was evolving; incorporating digital solutions that complemented the traditional pharmaceutical approach.
For MSD’s ruminant team in Ireland, these digital solutions presented in the form of a wearable collar called ‘SenseHub’. “In 2020, that team would have started out with three people – two full-time and one part-time – selling that technology throughout Ireland,” says Jack. “Today, there are 13 people in MSD’s ruminant team in Ireland. In 2020, when we started selling that technology, it was worth about €300,000. Now it is worth €7m. That shows a trend in the demand within agriculture to use technology on-farm to tackle a multitude of challenges,” says Jack.
One such challenge, which needs no introduction but desperately needs addressing, is the shortage of labour. Jack explains: “We know that on Irish farms there is an absence of between 4,000 to 6,000 skilled labour jobs. Now, the herd size averages at 92 cows, but the number of farmers is decreasing slowly so the average herd size is increasing a little in some cases. This is leading to an increase in labour-saving technology and that comes in all forms such as automatic drafting gates, heat-detection systems, automatic scrapers, automation in milking and feeding,” says Jack. “Since the quota abolition there has been expansion in animal numbers, and expansion in infrastructure, too. I think the infrastructure has caught up to facilitate the number of animals on farms, and now it is more about precision, and how can farmers maximise production on farm.”
The answer
Ag-tech, Jack says, is anything that allows farmers more time to measure and to manage the herd more precisely. With policy pressures on farmers in terms of nitrates, the derogation, water quality, and more, farmers are really starting to look at what is going on inside the farm gate, at the things they can control, and what changes can be made for the better, according to Jack. Ag-tech is definitely playing a part. “I feel there is great opportunity with fertility performance. The average six-week calving rate in Ireland is about 65 per cent, whereas our target is 90 per cent. So, technology will play an important role in helping farmers achieve that. It means a greater financial return for farmers as well as a sustainability return.
“For every one per cent that a farmer increases (six-week calving rate) that gives a return of €8.22 per cow. So, very quickly, if you increase the six-week rate for a 100-cow herd, there is a significant financial reward.
“From a sustainability point of view, we have done research with some milk processors and we have benchmarked some of the herds within the processors’ pools, that are wearing SenseHub technology, against the national average. We have shown between a 5-8 per cent reduction in carbon emissions per kilogramme of fat- and protein-corrected milk. I feel there is a great opportunity to do even more in this space.
“Processors are paying farmers bonuses for taking certain sustainability actions, and it is important that the actions that farmers are taking are having the most benefit. Technology, using hard data-driven insights, will identify the steps that will have the best return for farmers.”
Transformative tech
It is an exciting time for ag-tech and one of the things that has piqued Jack’s attention recently is the work of scientists at the Tyndall National Institute – one of the institutes that hosts the VistaMilk SFI Research Centre. They have developed a unique electronics-free material that can transmit health and welfare information from cows to mobile devices or computers. According to VistaMilk, this material is so inert and flexible that it could be formed into ear tags, udder tags, or skin patches, as curvature does not affect its ability to function. These devices could ‘read’ the animal for stress, hydration and general wellbeing, and present the data for collection. According to VistaMilk, the technology can interpret the data that is being gathered from the patch or tag by special scanners (like retail barcode scanners) which, in the case of cows, would be situated in milking parlours or cowsheds. This process is achieved with the use of AI models (trained on data collected by state-of-the-art robots) which enable accurate decoding of the data collected.
“This is quite a unique offering. It is still in the early stages but it shows the extent of the innovative research and development that is ongoing to deliver the next solution," says Jack. He also refers to 3D facial recognition in pig farming that is being used in some of the Asian markets. This technology helps to monitor pigs for various things such as lethargy or lack of appetite/not eating. Audio recognition, too, can detect breathing and coughing irregularities.
From an MSD perspective, the company has launched into the US and Canada market the industry’s first monitoring technology for dairy calves from birth through the first 12 months of life. Jack explains: “These are ear tags that give insights into their health status – which we will hear more about here at the back end of this year.” In 2025, Jack says, MSD hopes to work with some of the calf feeding companies to give farmers a greater insight into the health of their calves so they can monitor feeding, thrive, and disease. “We know that a dairy calf that has one clinical case of pneumonia in the first eight weeks of life will take 15.2 days longer to reach the milking parlour in two years’ time.”
Receptive
Farmers, according to Jack, are generally quite receptive to technology but it varies among the demographic. “There are 220,000 SenseHub collars on Irish farms, which is roughly about 13 per cent of the dairy herd wearing this technology. Between this and the other technologies available, that figure is somewhere around 20 per cent of animals wearing some kind of monitoring system. It shows that the Irish farmer is receptive not only because of what the system delivers in terms of data but also what it can do for the farmer [in practical, labour-saving terms].
“Additionally, policy pressures may well force some farmers into reducing the number of cows that they have but farmers still want to produce the same outputs, so they are looking at ways to be more efficient. They are receptive to the technologies out there but it varies: you have your innovators at 2.5 per cent; early adopters at 12.5 per cent; early majority; late majority; and laggards. We are entering the early majority stage now but over the next two to three years, we will see an even greater adoption of wearable technology, and other tech that is satisfying labour issues, also.
Connectivity
The issue of non-connectivity between various health-monitoring or data-gathering technologies on farms is addressed by Jack. There is an abundance of information from various sources but it all must be accessible to farmers. It is something that MSD has recognised: “From our perspective, we are trying to develop a full ecosystem where all our own products will talk to each other and we are open to connecting with other companies too. We know there is other drafting technology on Irish farms and we are open to connect with those technologies. It is always a challenge to have every piece of information available in one location but when farmers are choosing technology, it is important to ask suppliers what else they will have in the future and if it will be integrated. “We have collars, we have a drafting gate, we have milking technology and this all connects back to the one app, to the one location and we are approaching other companies to see if they will connect with us, because we have customers in common. Technology will connect, sometimes it is the people who don’t.”