Data aggregator startup proclaims: “Farmers Own Their Data!”
If you only read one thing in this newsletter, please read this post from farm-level data aggregation startup AgriGates. In my opinion, they have outlined the opportunities and challenges with farm data better than anywhere else I have read.
Most interesting is their assertion that farmer and rancher data ownership should apply to both pre- and post-algorithmic processing. To that extent, farmer and rancher control of their livestock data has a long way to go, but AgriGates has planted its flag and aims to give famers more control over the new natural resource they create every day – data.
“Producer data ownership includes pre-and post-algorithmic processing, this means that the data feeding into algorithms or machine learning (ML) is the producers’ data, and then once the algorithm or machine learning has processed the data, this is also owned by the producer. The rest of the sector is just going to have to work around this, and the technology is there to do so.”
— Daniel Foy, AgriGates
Read the full post here.
Note: AgriGates has offered a free initial consultation or 10 percent off to our readers when you mention you heard about them in The Cow Tech Report. Contact them to get serious about owning your own data.
Methane-reducing seaweed additive releases first commercial feeding results
Several announcements were released in conjunction with recent UN climate change meetings held in Scotland. One of those was the news that seaweed supplement maker Blue Ocean Barns recently proved the feeding of its product reduced dairy cows’ enteric methane emissions on average 52 percent by supplementing diets with its red seaweed, methane-inhibitor Asparagopsis taxiformis. The results were part of the first commercial trial completed on a U.S. dairy farm – Straus Dairy.
Read more about the trial results here.
Greener Cattle Initiative emerges from climate change meetings
The Greener Cattle Initiative, a new research consortium, also emerged after recent UN climate change meetings. The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy recently announced the new initiative, which will award approximately $5 million over the next five years to fund research that provides beef and cattle producers with solutions for enteric methane emission mitigation.
The initiative will support research in the following areas:
• Feed additives and supplements that inhibit enteric methane emissions
• Feed ingredients that alter metabolic pathways to reduce enteric methane emissions
• Genetic selection of cattle that emit less methane
• Increased understanding of microbiome composition and activity in cattle
• Technologies such as sensors, robots and artificial intelligence to monitor enteric methane emissions or related physiological indicators
• Socioeconomic analysis of enteric methane mitigation practices and technologies
Additional founding participants include ADM, the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB), Elanco, Genus PLC, the National Dairy Herd Information Association, Nestlé and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC). Each founding participant committed $200,000 in funding to the program. Read more here.
Researchers highlight heifer training milking robot and a 5-robot milking pen
The latest edition of UC-Davis’ Dairy Tech News is out. Two milking robot farms are featured. One of them has five milking robots working in one pen. The other has Lely’s heifer training robot – Cosmix P.
Read more about each of these farms here.
Will genome-editing for livestock ever be approved?
A recent article about genome-edited tomatoes prompted me to check in on the status of genome-editing for livestock. The most prominent use of this technology for cows has been to edit out cattle horn genes to create polled livestock. I emailed gene-editing researcher and professor Alison Van Eenennaam and asked: Is gene-editing for livestock still a long shot? Here was her reply:
FDA … is treating ALL intentional alterations in gene-edited animals as DRUGs – so ZERO path forward for livestock. … Unless regulation of food animals for agricultural applications moves to USDA as was proposed in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making … [there is] little hope.
Van Eenennaam’s Biobeef blog is a good follow to stay on top of what’s going on with genome-editing. In her most recent post, she highlights the biggest challenge with bringing gene-editing technology for livestock to light:
One thing is for sure – if products are not commercially available because it is cost-prohibitive, or even impossible to get regulatory approval, then the public will not be able to indicate their acceptance by purchasing them.
Unfortunately – for now – it seems this technology is shelved for commercial use.
What you’re missing if you’re not a paid subscriber …
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Profit projections from ZISK
Projected profitability for two dairy herd sizes have SLIPPED
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 Nov. 10, 2021):
1,000-cow dairy = $415,695 (DOWN
about $93,900 since the end of October)
2,500-cow dairy = $1.778 million (DOWN
about $235,700 since the end of October)