Terry Canning
CattleEye,
Co. Antrim
CattleEye is a smart, 21st century way to track lameness in cows, using artificial intelligence and video analytics to deliver the world’s first ever hardware-independent autonomous livestock monitoring platform.
The technology provides a completely new way for farmers to gain insights on dairy cows by walking them under a relatively cheap security camera connected to the internet.
The hands-free solution monitors a cow’s welfare and performance without the need for collars or pedometers which need regular maintenance and commissioning, giving a return on investment more quickly than these wearable technologies.
Artificial intelligence algorithms in the cloud learn how to uniquely identify the cows in the herd, assessing lameness levels and highlighting any animals which need treatment.
Research from the UK Animal Health and Welfare Technical Directorate has demonstrated that a 10 per cent decrease in lameness levels in an average dairy herd would create a saving of £91.25 per cow per year, and a carbon reduction of 0.57 tonnes per cow per year.
CattleEye has already been shown to reduce lameness by 12 per cent in one Welsh herd, reducing costs and labour for farmers and, importantly, improving animal welfare.
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have concluded it is ‘at least as accurate as a human expert in identifying lame cows’.
Retailers
The company is working with some of the UK’s leading retailers, including Marks & Spencer and Tesco, to pilot the technology, and expects to have 500,000 cows on the system in the UK by 2025. At the moment, the system requires a good internet connection to run, but the company has plans in the pipeline to develop a box which will allow farmers to run CattleEye without one, making the product even more accessible.
There are also moves underway to allow CattleEye to monitor cows’ sleeping, lying and eating patterns, making the technology a potential game changer for livestock welfare.
What the judges said:
This clever technology allows farmers to gain insights on dairy cows by walking them under a security camera connected to the internet, giving a return on investment more quickly than existing wearable technologies. CattleEye has already been shown to reduce lameness by 12 per cent in one Welsh herd, reducing costs, labour and, importantly, improving animal welfare.
The judges believe that plans to develop a box which will allow farmers to run the system without an internet connection, as well as future proposals to monitor cows’ sleeping, lying and eating patterns, will make CattleEye a gamechanger in the livestock sector.
On winning, Terry said:
“I am delighted to win the award as the competition is so fierce. It is fantastic to be back out in person and having fun.
“Innovation is absolutely vital in delivering simple solutions and our aim is to help dairy farmers become more efficient and help them reduce their carbon footprint.”