www.lvs.nz Less time in the shed. More time here. On-farmautomation for the win An innovative technology developed by a Canterbury-based company is set to make game-changing improvements to dairy farm operations. Livestock Visibility Solutions have developed Flow, a camera-based AI solution which is installed on an existing backing gate and uses advanced Artificial Intelligence to automatically manage backing gate movements according to real time cow flow. This means gate movement is never too aggressive or too passive, just right. The software company has gone into partnership with Farm Source to roll out the technology to the industry. It features customisable gate behaviour for yard density, set gate movement times, gate reset to set up ready for the next milking, hands free washdown, emergency overrides and fail safes, gate usage reporting. Flow brings consistency to milking, which helps to reduce milking times, animal health costs, and power bills, while at the same time increasing productivity, yield, and improving the environmental, social and economic sustainability of dairy farmers. The system comes with software support, ongoing maintenance and system upgrades, electrical fault monitoring ongoing staff training and business support. Al software is put together in Christchurch and integrated with hardware built by another company in the city involving a number of suppliers. The game-changing system was developed by two old university friends with a combination of tech skills and background in agriculture. Founder and operations manager Richard Appleby said a survey carried out by LVS showed there was a massive appetite for the system. It showed 83 per cent of responders would pay for a solution to backing gate issues. The system has shown an 18 per cent reduction in milking times, and a nine per cent reduction in power, on average. It also promoted productivity by allowing staff to focus on other important farm tasks. The company formed in 2020 on the back of COVID. Richard and an old university friend, a dairy farmer in Mid Canterbury, joined forces to create a business around the system. With the help of some excellent advice through a University of Canterbury accelerator course, Rosa Watson WITHOUT FLOW WITH FLOW Milking Time (hours) 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 Milkings majority run by Flow were 18.16% faster on average 3.58 2.93 FLOW EFFICACY STUDY Milking Time (hours) 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 More Flow use 25% 50% 75% 100% the system was born. They then took advantage of an incubator programme for start-ups through the Ministry of Awesome, and a second that had ties through the ARA Institute, and were able to hire a graduate to help build the concept. They went back to the market to show them the early proof concept and ended up selling five systems in the first visit. “The overwhelming market signal was that (stock control) was a problem,” Richard said. Richard in the meantime achieved a Masters in Management in Agribusiness through UC. The team carried on working on the concept remotely with a full-timer and part-timer assisting them. In 2021 Gatekeeper pilots went out into the field with 10,5000 cows under its management to hammer down what the problems were and what problems the farmers were experiencing. Last year, Richard reached out to Farm Source, who were keen to take a look at the project. “It’s something that is in-line with what Farm Source and Fonterra are trying to do.” By December a partnership agreement had been signed. There are now 10 systems in place across the wider Canterbury region from North Otago. Richard expected to roll out the system across New Zealand over the next six to 12 months. They are entered in the 2024 Fieldays Innovation Awards at the upcoming National Fieldays at Mystery Creek near Hamilton.
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