In recent times, farmers are looking for technologies that enable them to farm more efficiently and profitably. One such technology will enable them to regularly weigh livestock while in the paddock, which results in savings in labour output. Also, it will enable them to track the more feed-efficient animals and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Remote weighing also keeps cows on feed 24/7, allowing them to maximise weight gain, therefore reducing the need and stress of traipsing up to the yard for weighing.
Automatic animal weighing device!
Unleashing this potential, an Irish startup, StrongBó Agritech, has closed a €750K seed funding round. The investment round was led by Gallagher, a global leader in animal management solutions, based in New Zealand. Other investors in the round include Enterprise Ireland via the High Potential Start-up (HPSU) programme, the 519 Growth Fund, and the Grand River Agricultural Society (GRAS), both based in Canada.
The seed round will enable the agritech startup to commercialise its Automatic Animal Weighing device, a hardware-enabled software solution, poised to revolutionise the beef production sector.
Micheál McInerney, co-founder and CEO, StrongBó, said, “We are delighted to secure this funding round with such a significant mix of globally recognised industry players and seasoned investors like Enterprise Ireland. Our latest innovation allows farmers to gain new insights into how their animals are actually progressing. StrongBó provides average daily gains so farmers can see how much the animals are growing, and how much weight they’re putting on. You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
Sarah Adams, General Manager of Strategy and New Ventures for Gallagher Animal Management said, “We had been investigating adding remote weighing into our suite of animal management offerings for a while. It’s always been our preference to scan the market for potential partners first before starting the development process from scratch and the team at StrongBó was the ideal fit for this.”
StrongBó co-founder and CTO, Wahlrab said, “We’re really proud to be aligning with Gallagher in this way, it’s a partnership that has already been hugely beneficial for us as we’ve gained enormous insight into the global agribusiness sector and what is involved in taking an innovative, technology-driven idea into the prototype phase, and ultimately out to the wider market.”
Revolutionise the beef production industry
StrongBó Agritech was founded by Micheál McInerney and Marty Metzger in 2019 in Dublin to tackle the growing need for innovation in the beef industry. The solution combines state-of-the-art technology with onsite farming practicality. StrongBo utilises the IoT, by collecting and analysing thousands of data points per animal per day to generate insights that have never been possible before.
Its first product, ‘BovineHub’ is designed to give complete insight into the beef production process. StrongBó’s hardware automatically collects Frequent Animal Weights, which are then analysed to provide the farmer with a business intelligence platform and decision support tool. This data is then used by the farmer and their advisors to make smarter decisions about their livestock on a daily basis but also allows them to plan with greater certainty for the future.
