A Texas company has acquired an Irish ag-tech start-up, Cainthus, that designs technology capable of tracking nutrition, health, behavior, environment, and the mental well-being of livestock.
Ever.Ag, described as “a leading ag-tech provider” has said that the addition of Cainthus to its portfolio will provide dairy farmers, and their advisors, with new insights from passive data collection – there are no sensors attached to the animals.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Dublin, with an office in California, Cainthus is a computer-vision company that turns visual information into actionable insights for farmers.
Its proprietary technology passively tracks key farm-management practices that impact livestock such as nutrition, health, behavior, environment and mental well-being.
“As part of our ag-tech vision, we are excited to add virtual eyes on the farm, Cainthus, to our portfolio,” said CEO of Ever.Ag, Scott Sexton.
“We believe precision agriculture, now in the dairy barn, is the future. We are committed to growing, expanding, and embedding Cainthus technology into our software suite that spans the supply chain.”
What service does Cainthus provide?
Cainthus created ALUS, computer vision and artificial intelligence, in 2016 to remotely monitor cows 24/7. The goal was to help farmers operate their dairies more efficiently to maximise profitability. Cainthus scales easily with camera technology that doesn’t require sensors attached to cows.
The acquisition of Cainthus continues Ever.Ag’s decades-long tradition of partnering with the dairy industry from farm to fork, according to the company.
The information that Cainthus’s technology can provide is invaluable, the company said, as consumers become more focussed on purchasing environmentally friendly and sustainably produced goods.
The data it collects can validate responsible farming practices throughout the supply chain, it added.
“At Ever.Ag, we continue to invest in the dairy industry as we’ve done for several decades, and Cainthus offers multiple benefits for our producer clients,” said chief product officer, Ever.ag, Mike Borman.
“We look forward to continuing to develop its cost-saving, quality-enhancing capabilities for farmers, cooperatives, processors, and their partners.”
Following the Cainthus acquisition, Ever.Ag plans to enhance the offerings of its My Dairy Dashboard product and producer portals, the company said.
These integrate data from milk pick-ups, feed delivered, recorded cow events, milk schedules, and pay information. Cainthus will use the operational data to associate and visually validate herd performance in the barn.
“Mobile cow-side data entry revolutionised the industry a decade ago, but it only digitised work, it did not reduce it,” said segment leader at Ever.Ag, Ryne Braun.
“Cameras from Cainthus, mounted in your barns, provide passive collection of herd health and feed consumption data — that’s literally a gift from above.”
The Ever.Ag team is comprised of over 500 agtech professionals from around the world. Its headquarters are in Texas, with satellite offices or hubs in Wisconsin; Illinois; Tennessee; India; Canada; and Ireland.