Breedr integration with InTouch software announced at AllTech Ideas Conference

Enabling industry to be more responsive to consumer trends, the new app from Breedr is taking the guesswork out of livestock production. Aiming to deliver an all-in-one tool for the industry, the agri-tech start-up is announcing the first of its partner-integrations with InTouch, the online feed management service, at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference in Kentucky this week (19 - 21 May 2019).

Claire Lewis, co-founder of Breedr, is speaking at the international conference about improving the flow of information from customer to producer and how to use this knowledge effectively to improve efficiencies in the value-chain.

The Breedr platform can accurately predict when an animal should be sold to get the maximum return and, through its online trading platform, enables farmers to share information with potential purchasers to attract a premium price.

Claire explains: "The problem at the moment is that farmers only have awareness of the first part of the supply chain: rear the cow, the cow goes to the processor; the processor then churns out the products, which go to the retailer to sell to the consumer. The product flow is all one-way. What needs to happen is a two-way information flow - if the consumer says they want something in particular that needs to feed back to the farmer so they can produce it.

"Breedr brings together all the parts of the jigsaw and creates transparency and trust so that the value-chain can see the big picture. Consumers expect things to be tailored to them and food has become part of an experience in their lives. To deliver this we need agile supply chains."

Breedr is part of the Pearse Lyons Accelerator, established by the founder of Alltech, a leading animal nutrition company. Each year the Accelerator chooses the best start-ups from around the world, aiming to encourage collaboration by fast-tracking technologies that will make the industry more sustainable, profitable and innovative.

Breedr uses shared data to optimise yield, quality and profitability. Within the Accelerator it has collaborated with Ireland-based InTouch, which has been providing a nutrition support service to dairy and beef farmers in Ireland for ten years. InTouch has used this expertise to develop software that works with the KEENAN feeding systems to allow farmers to easily build and track rations fed to cattle. Breedr links with InTouch and pulls the information into the Breedr Cloud. This adds value as data from InTouch can be used within Breedr to produce an estimated lifetime feed, sale date and profit metric. Potential buyers are then able to see animals in the pipeline and the date they will be available, enabling them to plan their purchasing. Farmers who consistently produce meat to a high quality will develop a strong reputation and can command a premium price.

Ensuring end-to-end insights, Breedr is also compatible with Emydex Technology, traceability software that is becoming the system of choice by the food processing industry.

Breedr is driving innovation and integration across the industry. It is also working with industry partners to lead the development of an innovative Smart Contracts system for meat and livestock. It is using blockchain, a form of distributed ledger technology, to capture the complicated flows of data and transactions, improving transparency and trust between multiple partners.

The online marketplace, created by Breedr, aims to streamline and incentivise precision livestock production - increasing profitability while reducing environmental impacts and overfeeding. The integration with Intouch software is the first of many.

Breedr will be at Beef Expo this week (Thursday 23 May) where co-founder Claire Lewis will speak on improved performance and business efficiencies alongside AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board) in the ‘Challenges Facing The Industry' seminar at 1.30pm.