An Edinburgh-based cow behaviour specialist has launched a new application which, for the first time, offers the agri-research market the ability to access, control and analyse unparalleled amounts of data.
Already being trialled in Europe, the USA and New Zealand, ‘CowAlert for Researchers’ offers a real-time data gathering and analysis experience.
It scales up the power of CowAlert’s established monitoring and alerting modules, enabling researchers to control and analyse their own data or combine it with data from a large number of commercial farms.
The firm behind CowAlert for Researchers, IceRobotics, says it will offer researchers a less labour-intensive monitoring system which can be tailored to their own specific requirements.
The software will enable researchers to control the data collated by CowAlert and export it out of their own system, allowing for data merging and larger scale statistical analysis.
CowAlert
CowAlert’s technology has been developed through years of dedicated research by IceRobotics.
Available commercially to farmers for seven years, it uses a unique rear leg-based sensor to continually monitor the health, lameness and fertility of each animal.
It then alerts the farmer to any potential issues, significantly enhancing health and productivity through improved decision-making.
Catherine Malcolm of IceRobotics said: “This system is effectively transforming the way dairy research is done.
With the ability to export and analyse large volumes of data, it makes the job of large-scale dairy research much easier and more efficient. In essence, it offers vast amounts of useful data at the press of a button – at any time and in any place.
“Having worked at the forefront of dairy research for over 15 years, we are very excited about this new product and we are in discussions with many of the world’s leading research institutions who are keen to explore how CowAlert for Researchers can help them achieve their goals.
“We are committed to providing monitoring solutions which improve livestock wellbeing, whilst helping farmers and researchers to make better decisions with useful, timely data.
“We look forward to working with researchers across the globe as we continue to better understand livestock behaviour and create a more sustainable dairy industry.”
