Livestock technologies continue to emerge

A recent report by Commonwealth Bank ‘CommBank Agri Insights: Understanding Australian farmers’ investment intentions’ found that producers of sheep for lamb and wool production showed the strongest intentions to increase their investment in their enterprises over the next 12 months (31% and 33% respectively), compared with other commodities.  

This confidence in investment is a response to high lamb and wool prices, flexibility and reliability. The national flock is still rebuilding, so prices are expected to remain higher in the short term, until the market eventually corrects to new supply.

Across commodities, 37% of Australian growers intend to increase their investment in agtech; in Victoria this was driven by the need to improve overall productivity and efficiency (42%), to keep up with the latest on-farm technology (37%), and to utilise precision agriculture including livestock genomics (13%).

Managing livestock is becoming easier all the time. Design improvements are being made to equipment for animal handling, managing health and infrastructure, that allow better stock movement and experiences for both animals and producers.

As well, there are many emerging digital livestock technologies such as individual animal tracking and performance, software for animal and flock records, remote monitoring of animals, pastures and water points using sensors and cameras, and more recently carcase compliance and animal health feedback from processing facilities. Like for cropping, platforms are being developed to connect different livestock management applications, so that data can be collated in single spaces and used to make more holistic farm decisions.

Changes in 2017 for Victorian growers for sheep management and market access have included:

• Electronic NLIS ear tag (EID): To provide swift and accurate traceability, EID of sheep was mandated to limit the impact of a disease outbreak or food safety related emergency. The transition program began with all lambs born after 1 January 2017 now tagged with EID before they leave their property, and will be tracked through their lifetime to saleyards, abattoirs and knackeries via the NLIS database.

The opportunity exists for you to use EID of individual animals to monitor and record breeding, pregnancy, production and health information. This helps inform decision making, identifying passengers in the system, that can be removed or managed separately, while capitalising on the best performers for breeding, meat and wool production and meeting market specs. Using EID doesn’t need to be an expensive exercise – know what you need to measure, then only spend enough money to achieve these outcomes.

• Livestock Production Assurance (LPA): the LPA program is the Australian livestock industry’s on-farm assurance program covering food safety, integrity and traceability, that demonstrates our commitment to safe and ethically produced red meat. From 1 October 2017, biosecurity and animal welfare requirements were introduced to support producer evidence of on-farm requirements.

To become LPA accredited or renew accreditation, producers need to complete online LPA learning modules and a short assessment. Alternatively, you may also request a paper copy, and complete the assessment by phone. Being LPA accredited places your stock in a better position for market access and price, both domestically and abroad. To check your LPA accreditation, go to https://lpa.nlis.com.au/search and enter your PIC number.

• Electronic National Vendor Declarations (eNVD): A trial of eNVD began in August for LPA accredited growers. The eNVD platform will ensure the latest NVD is being used, and has the potential to allow the transfer of LPA information, animal health declarations, MSA declarations and NFAS delivery documentation. Using eNVD’s is not compulsory, paper NVD’s can still be used. eNVD’s will make the sharing of information simpler, faster and more accurate for the whole red meat supply chain.

Other exciting livestock technologies emerging include:

• Virtual herding: Agersens eShepherd collar for cattle uses CSIRO virtual fencing technology, is close to commercialisation and will be available in 2018. Trials have indicated that sheep respond well to virtual herding, but a suitable product for sheep is still to be developed that is lower cost and overcomes wool preventing skin contact. A Rural R&D for Profit project now well underway, is evaluating the on-farm application of virtual herding technology, and will quantify and demonstrate its benefits across the major livestock industries in Australia. For mixed farming it has potential for more even and intensive grazing of pastures, grazing crops and weeds, protection of vulnerable areas like sandhills or creek lines, and as a short term fencing option where fences have been removed or run-down.

• Grazing management platform: A partnership of the eShepherd collar with MaiaGrazing will combine automated animal movement, monitoring and grazing management into one system and offer growers a one-stop platform for holistic grazing management. MaiaGrazing is an online grazing management tool, already being used to guide farmers grazing decisions, using data such as rainfall, pasture and animal growth models, and farm management patterns.

• Maternal pedigree matching: SmartShepherd with MLA Donor Company support, have developed a re-usable smart tag that uses Bluetooth technology to gather and transmit relationship data to accurately identify mothers and their offspring. Trials have achieved 96% pedigree accuracy within 48 hours of tags being placed on animals, proving to be a much faster, cheaper and more accurate process than other methods. They will be available for use early in 2018.

• Sensors: are being trialled on animals to measure sheep behaviour data such as temperature, grazing, walking, rumination, radio positioning of individual animals in a paddock and proximity with other animals. These behaviours can alert growers if animals are hungry, about to give birth, or are stressed from illness, predators or theft.

Some of these technologies are still in the pipeline, but others are already on the shelf and with market confidence, now is a good time to make investment in livestock handling equipment, infrastructure and ag-tech, when you know what you need to measure, and increases in production, efficiency and improvements in safety will be rewarded.