In the November blog from Lockerbie based Owen Farm Services, The team from OFS discuss an exciting new project they are involved with, new software (Agri Ignite) and various other pieces of work.
David Owen Said “Normally we would be gearing up for AgriScot at this time of year having just been at H&H’s Livestock Expo, but sadly we are stuck in the office (home office) for the time being.
Thankfully we have plenty to keep us busy over the winter months, including some exciting new projects, a wider role out of our “
Innovate UK Project
We are delighted that we can finally share the details of a project we have been working on for quite a while now. The “Smart Sheep Project” has brought together a group of companies including 5|Agri to develop a project that aims to achieve the Targeted Selective Treatment (TST) of sheep for worms. The algorithm will be based in the Agri Ignite platform and we are excited to see how this goes over the coming months.
Agri Ignite
With the covers off the Innovate UK project, there will be a lot more we can share about Agri Ignite over the coming months.
Currently Ignite provides farmers with a simple web and mobile app to complete the following
- Cattle Records
- Accounts Benchmarking
- Enterprise Analysis
- Automated link to Xero Accounts
- IACS data capture
- Mapping
While the program is designed for farmers, it also includes a “professionals” package which enable a consultant or accountant to have their own package and client list. This professional package takes all the basic information about a farm and allows the user to place it into a template. A template can then be produced to show this information easily but consistently. There are also a wide variety of other tools, such as surveys and questions that allow farm data to be captured easily.
As the month goes on we will release more details about the software and its other key features, but if you want to speak to us about the software, just call the office on 01461 600540 or email [email protected]
What has been really important in building the software so far has been working alongside a local software developer. Gavin Coates of Nighthawk Software has been key to our progress and is also looking to hire some additional software or app development staff. If you have a suitable skill set drop him a line at [email protected] we know there will be plenty of work to be done over the next six months at least!
Suckler Beef Climate Scheme
The final report from Jim Walker’s group was released at the end of October. This report can be found online here, and we would encourage every farmer to have a read of it as it potentially highlights how farming funding will be delivered going forward. Indeed Fergus Ewing was quoted as saying:-
“Scotland has a unique opportunity to show the world that modern food production can operate hand in hand with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The fight against global warming, the preservation of our precious biodiversity, and improving economic activity, employment and food security are so important, and we can’t afford to wait any longer talking about them. We need to act now.”
The scheme looks like being piloted in 2021 to 2024 but is only for the sucker farms at the moment but it is ready to be rolled across other types of enterprises.
The good news is that most of the requirements of the scheme are ones that farmers should be doing anyway. Items such as soil analysis, carbon auditing and CPD (training) feature prominently. The aim of the scheme is to keep sucker herds viable while reducing the carbon footprint of the industry.
While it is unfortunate that the whole of the farming sector couldn’t be covered in the scheme outline, the good news is that most farms in D&G should find the requirements quite easy to fulfil if the scheme is rolled out on a wider basis.
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