INTERVIEW ▶▶▶
for the farmer’s smart device that allows him to make decisions regarding management in real time. So yes, it’s very reliable.
Efficiency is a major factor on farms as it impacts the bot- tom line. Is Cainthus working on other technologies that will enable further efficiency on-farm? I am glad that you’re so optimistic! We have 40 people working on one problem and we have succeeded in solving that one problem. We’ve had people say to us: why don’t you solve three, five or even ten problems. The reality is that we needed to focus to solve one problem and develop the reliable solution that we did. The second thing we want to do is develop ALUS Behavior. Customers have asked if we could look at mastitis and fertility and we will in the future, but we had to focus on solving one problem first.
We are going to learn a lot. That is what we need in order to solve agriculture’s biggest challenges.
Farm technology also impacts consumers in that it enables transparency; this is very much a growing consumer need. When developing technology do you keep the whole sup- ply chain, from farm to fork, in mind? Yes. We have a group of advisors, 15 farmers, and we have also en- gaged with food companies. Their concerns relate to animal wel- fare, environment and consumer values. Consumers are
Launched in February 2020, ALUS Nutrition relies on a smart camera system, which collects video data and evaluates the feeding behaviour of each cow.
proactively looking to understand where their food comes from and that has also altered our thinking and development plans.
When will ALUS Behavior be launched? ALUS Behavior is expected in the third quarter of 2020, but the ex- act features of the product are under wraps; watch this space to learn more. It is planned to use the same hardware from ALUS Nu- trition, which means that the customers who install ALUS Nutri- tion will be ahead of the game and be able to push forward into new insights and pockets of profitability.
Can you sum up the abilities of ALUS Nutrition and how it pertains to the future of farming? ALUS Nutrition makes it possible to see the availability of nutri- ents for cows, in real time, 24/7 and 365 days a year, which is critical for productivity, profitability and sustainability.
Tell me about the name? ALUS is the Celtic god of agriculture. It fits well with a brainstorm- ing session we held in the Boyne Valley last February, which was also the site of western Europe’s first farmers. In the meeting we examined the journey we had been on for the past four years and came up with the programme, which we have now named ALUS, a name very appropriate to the location of the meeting where its creation was agreed. This, and the technologies coming after it, have the potential to allow Cainthus to change the world of agriculture forever.
ALUS Nutrition is a feed management system that observes, digitises and coverts data into information.
8 ▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 28, No. 3, 2020
ALUS Nutrition was selected as a Top Ten new product winner at World Ag Expo which took place from 11 to 13 February 2020 in the US. This was the official launch platform for ALUS Nutrition. Follow- ing the launch of ALUS Nutrition in the US market, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico will be next on the list of countries to see the roll-out of this technology. For more information:
https://www.cainthus.com
PHOTO: RON LUDEKENS
PHOTO: RON LUDEKENS
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