New meets old as agtech revolutionises cattle drive
Australian agtech will use the latest innovations to monitor and measure individual animals and mob performance of nearly 2000 head on the Great Australian Charity Cattle Drive (GACCD).
Agtech leaders Farmbot, Optiweigh, CiboLabs and AgriWebb have joined forces to tackle food insecurity as supporters of the drive and are proud partners of Leg 8 from Mitchell to Roma from 31 July to 6 August.
This final leg will see the mob arrive at Roma Saleyards after a 775-kilometre trek between Longreach and Roma, Queensland.
The latest agtech, including live monitoring tools, grazing analytics, water monitoring and weight tracking, will provide insights into the mob’s progress, intake and condition.
Farmbot Monitoring Solutions co-founder and managing director, Andrew Coppin says Farmbot is committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of rural and regional Australian communities and those on the land.
“This is an important fundraiser and long paddock adventure which puts Australia’s impressive agtech advances to use for the benefit of the communities we serve,” Mr Coppin says.
“Droving is a livelihood, livestock transport system and way of life that has largely been replaced by technology in rural Australia. But in a modern twist, Australia’s cutting-edge agtech will monitor and measure the GACCD mob’s water and feed consumption in near real time.”
Bill Mitchell, founder of Optiweigh says an Optiweigh unit will travel with the cattle for the duration of the drive to give daily updates of the animals’ weights and showcase how the modern livestock producer can use this information alongside other agtech technologies.
Cibo Labs co-founder, Phil Tickle says Cibo Labs is privileged to work with producers every day to support Australia’s world-leading cattle industry and is very proud to support this iconic and important event.
“The collaboration of Australia’s leading livestock agtech companies is not only demonstrating how easily livestock producers can access integrated technologies to improve profitable and sustainable grazing, but also how we can contribute to Australia’s communities and food security,” Mr Tickle says.
John Fargher, AgriWebb co-founder says the event brings together everything his company stands for — supporting farmers, harnessing data to drive better decisions, and giving back to communities.
“Through our integrations with CiboLabs and Farmbot, and relationship with Optiweigh, we’ve been able to support this cause with real-time insights, data tracking, and boots-on-the-ground collaboration,” Mr Fargher says.
Satellite-enabled Farmbot water monitoring equipment will be installed on key waterpoints and the public will have the opportunity to join the fun via the Thirsty Work competition to guess the mob’s water consumption each day.
Visit AgriWebb and follow the drive or, Farmbot, CiboLabs and Optiweigh to find out more.
