In this article, you\u2019ll learn:<\/b><\/p>\n What does being sustainable mean when raising livestock? First of all, it means environmentally friendly and efficient food production that minimizes harmful impacts. On top of that, it means improving both food safety and animal welfare.<\/p>\n International standards on animal welfare<\/b><\/p>\n Previously vital economic parameters such as yield, feed conversion ratio, and production cost are now complemented by new metrics. Sustainability shifts the focus toward animal health, public health, biodiversity, and CO2 ammonium-phosphate pollution. For next-generation agricultural businesses<\/a>, keeping them intact is now just as important as seeing the economic growth curve.<\/p>\n Modern consumers\u2019 demands for sustainability put pressure on livestock businesses. One of the main challenges for farming today is showing that farming operations don\u2019t harm the environment.<\/p>\n Beyond that, animals\u2019 living conditions and welfare are of consumers\u2019 interest. In fact, consumers appreciate animal welfare over other considerations<\/a> when it comes to selecting food products. Research shows that consumers consider animal-friendly products to be healthier, tastier, more hygienic, safer, more acceptable, more authentic, and more<\/p>\n Source: Deloitte – Consumer demands for farmers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n To win over clients, livestock businesses have to prove their sustainability. This can be achieved by adopting modern practices. Smart technology solutions<\/a> help the livestock sector become transparent, efficient, and environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n Learn how Intellias built a remarkable farm management system for effective field operations and planning.<\/p>\n Thanks to monitoring technologies, farmers can keep track of animal welfare. Nutrition, growth, health \u2014 all these parameters are tracked with the help of IoT sensors<\/a>. What\u2019s more, artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered<\/a> solutions assist farmers in turning gathered data into valuable insights that help improve existing practices.<\/p>\n Source: Monitoring technologies for livestock keeping<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Improved feeding management helps farmers save resources and reduce waste. Technological solutions enable precision feeding<\/a>. In other words, they allow the provision of the right amount of feed per animal. Farmers get full visibility and control over the feeding schedules. Powered with AI, livestock management software<\/a> can determine the exact food rations for animals, optimizing the feed mix.<\/p>\n Within the livestock sector, ruminants are the largest emitters of methane due to their enteric fermentation. To reduce GHG emissions, cattle farming businesses apply genetic selection and breeding. According to researchers<\/a>, about 20% of a ruminant\u2019s methane emissions rate stems from genetics alone. This means that intentional breeding can reduce environmental impact.<\/p>\n GHG intensity of various foods<\/b><\/p>\n Source: McKinsey & Company: Agriculture and climate change<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Here\u2019s how it works. Automatic feeding and IoT technology<\/a> can help farmers research the amount of feed eaten. Combined with information on genomes of ruminants, this data allows farmers to select the best animals for breeding. In the end, thanks to GHG-focused genetic breeding, a cattle farming business can get a herd with low methane production.<\/p>\n Technological solutions help farmers monitor the behavior of every single animal they keep. For instance, IoT devices attached to a pig\u2019s ears can transmit data about the pig\u2019s habits and well-being. By tracking an individual animal\u2019s behavioral tendencies, owners can store and even share this information with veterinarians, animal feed producers, and meat processors. If the behavior is abnormal, they can spot it early on.<\/p>\n Agriculture Software Development<\/p>\n The simple truth is that herd management becomes much easier with tech solutions. Advanced technologies such as IoT, drones<\/a>, robotics, and location-based services help farmers conduct sustainable cattle farming.<\/p>\n IoT devices for animals allow farmers to keep a record of the herd\u2019s health. Unusual behavior or slow movements may indicate the spread of illness. By anticipating a possible outbreak, farmers can respond fast and isolate sick animals. Moreover, thanks to livestock management software<\/a>, farmers can track cattle vaccinations and other important events.<\/p>\n In livestock farming, GPS tracking<\/a> of herd movements helps farmers control the location of animals in pastures. GPS technology allows herds to safely graze across large distances without getting lost. It also tracks the amount of movement per animal.<\/p>\n Instead of visually checking every animal in a pasture, nowadays, farmers use drones<\/a>. This technology is perfect for large-scale inspections. Moreover, drones help farmers control pasture land and nurture biodiversity. Drones collect data on land and grass quality, which helps farmers choose suitable spots for fenceless grazing.<\/p>\n Discover how Intellias built a drone farming solution that gathers information from fields and monitors the state of crops<\/p>\n Robots are commonly used in livestock production. They milk, shear, feed and perform many other tasks that farmers used to do manually. Robots in agriculture livestock farming reduce operating costs and failures. On top of that, they free humans for more complicated tasks.<\/p>\n Today, effective livestock management is all about digitalization and automation<\/a>. The reduction of manual labor in livestock keeping and meat processing leads to cost savings. In contrast to humans, an automated system makes fewer errors; it also optimizes and speeds up processes. On top of that, a farming system stores all necessary information in a cloud<\/a>, which allows for easy data sharing between stakeholders.<\/p>\n Optimize farming efficiency with Intellias incorporated MLOps services<\/p>\n Sadly, agriculture is to blame for a quarter of global GHG emissions<\/a>. And livestock production is the largest emitter within the industry. Direct emissions from cattle and dairy cows alone are greater than emissions from any single country other than China.<\/p>\n Modern livestock businesses understand the weight of responsibility and are investing in technology and innovations to become more sustainable. Animal farming companies nurture digitalization in livestock management<\/a>, since it reduces their environmental impact. Supporting sustainability gains consumers\u2019 trust. So it\u2019s a real win-win strategy \u2014 the kind we all need to make our future bright.<\/p>\n\n
What is sustainable livestock farming?<\/h2>\n
![\"Sustainable](\"https:\/\/d17ocfn2f5o4rl.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/animal-welfare.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe main challenge for the agricultural sector<\/h2>\n
![\"Sustainable](\"https:\/\/d17ocfn2f5o4rl.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/animal-friendly-products.jpg\")
<\/p>\nApplications of livestock monitoring technologies<\/h2>\n
![\"Sustainable](\"https:\/\/d17ocfn2f5o4rl.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/livestock-monitoring-technologies.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFeeding management<\/h3>\n
![\"emissions](\"https:\/\/intellias.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/emissions-free-whitepaper-cover.png\")
<\/div>\n\t\t\tBreeding management<\/h3>\n
![\"Sustainable](\"https:\/\/d17ocfn2f5o4rl.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/ghg-intensity-of-various-foods.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBehavior monitoring and management<\/h3>\n
Effective herd management in cattle farming<\/h2>\n
Herd health tracking<\/h3>\n
Location-based services for grazing<\/h3>\n
Drone-based pasture surveys<\/h3>\n
Robotic farming<\/h3>\n
Digitalization for livestock management<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n