Cow toilet wins innovation award
New capability to watch cows with computer vision announced
Cow toilet wins Eurotier innovation award
A urination system for dairy cows was recently named one of the most innovative solutions in the ag sector by EuroTier, Europe's largest biennial agriculture trade show.
The innovation, known is as the CowToilet, invites cows to urinate in a communal toilet. The system does this by enticing cows into a feeder stall with a grain portion and then stimulates a natural nerve reflex at a specific spot just above the cow's udder. The urine flow is collected in the toilet's reservoir located at the back of the stall, vacuum drained and stored separately from manure. This prevents the formation of ammonia when urine and manure mix.
Read more about how it works here.
Results on test farms show that at least 50% of the cow's total urine production is collected. The company says that equals 2.5 gallons of urine per cow per day.
According to the manufacturer, the toilet will be commercially available in the Netherlands in 2021.
See the cow toilet in action here.
DeLaval announces new robot dairy on its corporate farm
DeLaval’s corporate dairy farm will break ground on a new robotic milking facility next year. The farm near Stockholm, Sweden, is used to test software, systems and the company's latest cow tech solutions. It's also a showcase farm for customers.
According to the company, the farm is among the most "productive dairy farms in Sweden."
During the expansion set to start in 2021, the farm will double in size from 260 to 550 cows.
Read more about it here.
Cainthus announces new product
Ireland-based computer vision company Cainthus released its second product of the year this week. This is the product that was anticipated to be released. The product, known as ALUS Behavior, can track lying, eating and drinking and will report data in a 24-hour cow time budget. Immediately the product will deliver just insights into lying time and time out of the pen. A full-time budget will be available soon.
“The technology developed by Cainthus is the biggest revolution in dairy farming since the introduction of the first automatic milker,” says Tyler Bramble, portfolio growth lead manager in Cainthus. “It delivers accurate, reliable, non-biased and real-time information which allows for early intervention on the farm.”
Cainthus won awards for its feedbunk tracking technology earlier this year. Cargill owns a minority stake in the company.
Ag cybersecurity symposium to be held next week
A new symposium will review the current cyber threat environment for ag data. Topics on the docket include defending a farmer’s proprietary ownership of data, protecting the food supply chain, securing open-source data, guarding the Internet of Things (IoT) and its endpoints, and combating “hacktivists.” Cybersecurity, agricultural, governmental and academic subject matter experts will present during the event’s keynote and panel discussions. The symposium will take place over a two-day period on December 9 and 10.
To sign up for the free event, go here to register.
Company processing manure with A.I. graduates from Google startup
Livestock Water Recycling recently pitched its vision for eliminating dairy lagoons someday during its capstone pitch as a participant in the Google for Startups Accelerator: Women Founders cohort. CEO Karen Schuett gave the presentation.
Watch the full 5-minute pitch below (jump to 47:00).
Investment interest in ag tech holding steady
A recent corporate banking report highlights the continued interest in and investment toward technology in agriculture. The report from KPMG Corporate Finance says recent advancements in rural broadband connectivity, telematics and guidance technology are fueling the usage of tech-enabled agricultural solutions.
The report suggests the second-fastest growing sector of ag technology is the Ag-Tech-as-a-Service (ATaaS) business model, which allows farmers to procure desired agriculture technologies as services under different affordable pricing models rather than acquiring them as a one-time purchase. This sector is expected to grow 21.8 percent, second only in ag tech funding to vertical farming.
That’s not the only sector the report says is building momentum.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 has further emphasized the importance of visibility and traceability in the supply chain ... and many are experimenting with technologies such as blockchain, RFID, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence,” the report states.
KPMG Corporate Finance LLC provides a broad range of investment banking and advisory services to its domestic and international clients. The bank specializes in merger and acquisition strategy.
Read the report in full here.
Profit projections from ZISK
Projected profitability for two dairy herd sizes have been DECREASING recently in profit projections from ZISK.
ZISK is a profit-projection smartphone app that tracks individual dairy farm profitability based on current CME board prices. Projections for a 1,000-cow dairy producing an average of 80 pounds of milk per cow and a 2,500-cow dairy producing an average of 85 pounds of milk per cow are provided.
12-month dairy farm profit projections (as of Dec. 3, 2020):
1,000-cow dairy = $183,450 (DOWN more than $180,000 in about a month)
2,500-cow dairy = $1.13 million (DOWN more than $900,000 in about a month)
Source: Zisk