A new project, which should be available on farms within the next 3 years, brings together the latest technology to remotely weigh and record data on calves and youngstock through to mature cattle. The project secured funding through Innovate UK, and at £1.13m (€ 1.27m) over 3 years is one of the biggest grants awarded through the scheme.
PrognostiX, which is developing the technology, is working with the Nottingham University and British Telecom (BT) on this smart solution, named Y-Ware. BT is working on the software and Nottingham University on the algorithms to turn statistics into meaningful alerts to farmers. Y-Ware is a small bolus that needs to be inserted into the calf’s rumen. Combining it with long-distance LoRa wireless technology, all the data can be pulled together in one place.
Next to the bolus, the company is developing a wireless weighing platform. “The idea is to locate the weighing platform by a water trough – whether inside or outside, it doesn’t matter,” explains Alan Beynon, director of PrognostiX. “Each animal will then be weighed every time it drinks, and the information, along with its temperature, will be processed by the Edge hub before it is sent wirelessly to the farmer’s computer or mobile device.”
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