Over many generations selective breeding, aka as genetic manipulation, has improved livestock in many ways ranging from increased disease resistance to improved meat and milk yields. But now farmers are looking at teaming analytics with genetics to improve livestock even more and do it even faster.
Analytics are technologies that make sense of data gathered by other technologies. For example, data on farm acreage, weather conditions, and crop yields are often gathered by modern farm tractors and other farm machinery. Similarly, data can be collected from livestock via a wide variety of sensors, including animal wearables and robotic milking machines.
The video below shows an example of both animal wearables (you’ll see it on the cow’s front leg) and a robotic milking system. The results of the analysis of the data collected on the animal and on the machines is displayed in easy-to-read visuals (depictions called visualizations) on a tablet in this video for the farmer to see.