Cattle performance data-gathering goes hi-tech
The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, O2 Ireland and Sord Data Systems have linked up for the new and innovative approach to gathering the data on Irish cattle.
Inspectors can travel to farms equipped with an O2 xda, a data device with an in-built PC and mobile phone that was launched in the market earlier this year. It will contain a list of the cattle to be examined. Once on the farms, the inspectors can easily record results for each animal and immediately communicate them to the ICBF database using the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) features of the xda.
In this way, the database of Irish cattle, which is maintained by the ICBF, is automatically updated before the inspectors leave the farms. This means the process of building and expanding the database is much more efficient.
ICBF chief executive Dr Brian Wickham said this is the first time a mobile operator, a software developer and ICBF have come together to bring about a really innovative solution to the cattle breeding industry: “In order for the industry to thrive, we need to continuously update our database with cattle data, while at the same time, keeping costs to an absolute minimum.
“The solution proposed by O2 and Sord will help to achieve this. We believe that this collaborative project will make a real difference to our industry. From the current 10,000 beef performance recorded animals per year, we hope to grow this number to 50,000 per year in the next few years.”
Richard Holbrook, Director of Sord Data Systems, said they were delighted to be part of this innovative project involving very diverse organisations. Using Sord software on the O2 xda for the ICBF is a good example of how a partnership where three completely different organisations with a common objective can complement each other in a way that truly benefits all their industries and their customers. Orlagh Nevin, Head of Data Solutions for customers of O2 Ireland, said: “This project is an example of one of the many solutions we are identifying and providing to our customers and we are very pleased to be the first operator in Ireland to realise such a unique service.”
