July 25, 2018

By Michelle Pelletier Marshall

It’s a new technology with a tall mission: to reduce farmer’s work hours, enhance the well-being of cows and other livestock, protect the environment, and increase milk production. But tens of thousands of hours of R&D testing, and five pilot farms scheduled to soon go online are paving the way for success for Auckland-Waikato, New Zealand-based ag-robotics company Halter.

Their artificial intelligence-powered “point and click” application, in combination with proprietary “Cowgorithm” and cow collars, allows farmers to manage livestock from anywhere in the world. The patented technology app allows farmers to set schedules to guide herds to the milk shed, receive alerts when cows are in distress or in poor health, and create virtual fences to corral the cows.

Silicon Valley backers include Data Collective and Founders Fund – known for their investments in SpaceX, Facebook, Spotify, and Planet to name a few – who recently provided NZ$8 million (US$5.42 million) to move the technology to commercialization.

GAI News spent a few minutes with Halter’s CEO Craig Piggott to chat about this revolutionary ag technology and its potential in the ag and investment sectors.

• Can you explain more about how the technology works? Do you have any farms using it now?

We place a device around the neck of each cow on the farm giving farmers the ability to shift and monitor their herd remotely via a smart device. 

Our patented cow control algorithm, known as CowgorithmTM, works seamlessly with our device, providing directional audio and vibrational cues to the cows to establish a virtual boundary around the animal. The virtual boundary can subsequently be moved, which results in moving an individual cow, and ultimately the entire herd.

Farmers can use Halter’s software to set schedules and routines to automate the movement of cows to and from the milk shed, draft a mob or individual cow, set break fences, and capture and act on alerts relating to the cow’s health and well-being.

We are currently using the technology on our own trial farm and begin the commercial rollout of the product toward the end of 2018.

• What type of due diligence was done to ensure this technology would be utilized and welcomed by the farming community?

Having grown up on a dairy farm in the Waikato region – arguably the heart of dairy farming in New Zealand – I witnessed first-hand how a dairy farm operated day-to-day. Being immersed in that community of farmers also gave me an unfiltered view of the constant challenges that they faced as well. Then, after completing a mechanical engineering degree and working at Rocket Lab, I was well positioned to assess what technology would be beneficial to help farmers and the dairy sector to thrive.  

Additionally, our team, which includes several other individuals from farming backgrounds, has spent thousands of hours with farmers over the past two years. We have developed a thorough understanding of their current processes, problems, and areas our technology could enhance with their farm operations in an effort to help them become more profitable and sustainable. Further, we have a pipeline of hundreds of farmers that have indicated their willingness to purchase the technology. 

• Commercialization is the next goal, especially with the latest NZ$8 million (US$5.42 million) raised. How will this move the product forward? Is there a timetable for global release of the technology?

We are now entering a commercialisation phase and taking pre-orders from interested farmers. We’ve been overwhelmed by the level of interest to date. The full commercial rollout will kick off early 2019.

Any farmer interested in trialing the technology can get in touch here.

• What are the opportunities for future investments in Halter, and estimates for ROI?

We are fortunate to have raised capital from an incredible group of investors including DCVC, Founders Fund, Ubiquity Ventures, Promus Ventures, and more. We are all aligned with our vision to reshape the farming sector and enable it to become more profitable and sustainable, and will require further capital to support our growth as we look to scale. We found that investors were very enthusiastic about the market opportunity. It’s estimated that there are approximately 1.5 billion cows in the world today, making them the second most populous mammal on the planet! Whilst we are starting with cows we plan to move build similar products for other animals including sheep, deer, and goats. The scale of the market opportunity, coupled with our team and patented technology, has investors excited about our ability to transform the agriculture sector and create a large and enduring global company.

~ Michelle Pelletier Marshall is managing editor for Global AgInvesting’s quarterly GAI Gazette magazine and an occasional contributor to GAI News. She can be reached at mmarshall@globalaginvesting.com.