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HELPING SWINE PRODUCERS
MONITOR
FEED FLOW
The FeedFlo sensor takes over
40 readings every second
A new product is helping pork producers
monitor feed flow and alerting them when
something goes wrong.
The
FeedFlo
sensor attaches directly onto feedlines
inside barns before the first feed drops.
“It can measure how much feed is travelling through
the lines,” said
Casey Forsyth
, CEO of FeedFlo.
The sensor captures and processes over 40 data
points per second 24/7 and uses machine learning to
understand the flow feed through barns.
This helps to eliminate out of feed events.
“There’s a lot of different
systems in a pig barn and
it’s not uncommon for the
feeding system to break
down in a way that leaves
animals without feed for an extended period of time,”
Forsyth said. “By reducing the frequency of these
out of feed events, farmers can improve their time to
market, feed conversion ratio and make a pretty big
bottom line impact.”
If the FeedFlo system senses something wrong within
the feed system, it will alert farmers through a mobile
app that also senses changes in consumption.
“A sudden drop in consumption in a group of animals
could be at the beginning of a disease challenge,”
Forsyth said. “And our data allows people to go back
and look at the disease challenge after the fact and see
what the impact was to their feed consumption over
time.”
FeedFlo can also support automated feed ordering and
monitor bin inventory.
Many members of the ag community have expressed
support for FeedFlo too.
Animal nutritionists and veterinarians are excited about
the animal health aspect of what the sensors bring,
Forsyth said.
FeedFlo could also be used in poultry and even
aquaculture operations.
But right now, the focus is on the swine industry.
“We want to make sure we’re solving tangible problems
for one group of people before we move on to tackle
issues in other sectors,” Forsyth said.
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PHOTO: feedflo.com
“IT CAN MEASURE HOWMUCH FEED IS
TRAVELLING THROUGH THE LINES.”
DIEGO FLAMMINI
FARMS.COM