Cutting Edge Technology
Types of Technology
Smartfeed
Smartscale
Greenfeed
C-LOCK Grant Winner
SmartFeed is a portable, self-contained, easy to use system that measures individual total daily feed intake.
SmartScale is a wireless scale system that captures animal weight, performance, and behavior each time it drinks water.
GreenFeed is a turn-key system designed to measure gas fluxes of Methane (CH4), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), and optionally, Oxygen (O2), and Hydrogen (H2) from individual animals. It is also possible to aggregate emissions data from individual animals and determine herd averages. The system is typically configured to offer a small amount of pelleted bait attractant to entice the animals to visit multiple times per day. The gas emissions data is logged then processed allowing the user to easily access a summarized report of calculated fluxes.
The electronic ear tag tracks biometric data to monitor the health of each animal. Body temperature is captured by an infrared thermistor, and a built-in accelerometer measures animal activity. Using that collected data, SenseHub Feedlot applies proven machine learning algorithms to identify individual calves that vary from baseline norms.
Health Shield
Nichols Farms has a Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) genetic prediction. The bulls will be represented with the Nichols Health Shield logo and are of the top 30% of the Nichols Genetic Evaluation for resistance to BRD. BRD costs our industry $900 million annually in economic losses from death, reduced feed efficiency, and treatment cost. Nichols Farms is working and researching to put some of these dollars back into our customers' pockets. The Health Shield is the probability (in %) of a calf not being treated for respiratory disease post weaning.