Wearable device for sustainable livestock production

Opportunity for

• Animal agtech companies interested in developing new products and services
• Internet of Things (IoT) technology companies interested in developing new products and services

Opportunity description

Industry challenge: Observing animal behaviour can assist in managing both the animal and its environmental impact. However, monitoring livestock can be time consuming and labour intensive, particularly in remote areas. While there are existing smart tags available for the cattle industry, their size is not suitable for smaller animals such as sheep, goats and pigs.

Current opportunity: Australian Wool Innovation is developing low cost, durable and self-sufficient smart tags for permanent and temporary applications. This includes solar and battery powered tags for flock management and specific applications such as monitoring rams during joining or monitoring lambs before they are weaned.

Initial applications are focussed on data that enables livestock producers to monitor animal behaviour. In addition to the individual data collected, the system provides its own connectivity network that can be used to integrate external sensors for soil, temperature etc. Research is continuing on algorithms to predict reproductive behaviours, optimize grazing strategies and detect animal welfare issues or predation attacks.

An opportunity exists for agtech and IoT companies interested in developing new products and services.

Other opportunities: While current validation is in sheep production systems, an opportunity exists to expand applications into other small-animal production systems such as goats and pigs.

Read our related story - 'Wearable tech for sheep lets woolgrowers join the smart tag revolution' here.