Calgary, Alberta, April 19, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative Ltd. (“UFA”) announced an exclusive Canadian partnership with HerdWhistle™, a livestock monitoring system for detection of early health issues.
HerdWhistle is an RFID monitoring system for livestock that alerts feedlots to early indicators of potential health issues. HerdWhistle is owned by A4 Systems – a Calgary-based cyber physical system developer. The cloud-based platform is easily accessible anywhere, from any device. It detects behavior change in individual animals through 24/7 tracking and reporting. Knowing early health indicators means early pulls and more effective treatments to significantly reduce mortality and morbidity. The system reliably alerts feedlots to indicators of distress and illness up to seven days before visible symptoms can be seen. Monitoring animal behavior 24/7 can potentially lead to 25% minimum improvement on mortality rates.
“HerdWhistle can contribute significantly to the bottom line. It provides traceability for real-time on lot activity, matching animal history from squeeze to sell. HerdWhistle tracks cattle activity on the lot and can help improve inventory issues,” says Rob Giguere, Vice President Livestock Services and Market Strategy at UFA. “It assists with locating missing cattle in the wrong pens and head counts by pen or lot. It can also improve the efficiency of pen checkers, allowing experienced staff to focus on critical pens and animals.”
“We’re continuing to explore new opportunities particularly in the livestock sector and HerdWhistle is one that we’re very excited about,” says Giguere. Recently, he spoke to how beneficial the technology will be for UFA’s feedlot customers, at the virtual Alberta Beef Industry Conference. “HerdWhistle detects early health problems on the feedlot and can significantly reduce mortality. UFA is the exclusive partner of HerdWhistle for Canada, and we are excited to bring the offering to our feedlot customers.”
A4 Systems CEO Patrick Charest said the partnership with UFA is a great fit. “UFA makes decisions in the best interest of its members and customers, and in this case, it means getting a high impact product for its feedlot customers across Canada. Together, we can make a positive impact in the health and welfare of livestock, and ultimately support UFA members and customers’ businesses, working to help them be as successful as possible. This technology is going to revolutionize the feedlot industry and we are proud to have UFA as our exclusive partner in Canada.”
Visit HerdWhistle | UFA for more information.
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About UFA Co-operative Limited:
Founded in 1909, UFA Co-operative Limited is an Alberta-based agricultural co-operative with more than 120,000 member-owners. UFA’s network comprises more than 111 bulk fuel and Cardlock Petroleum locations, 34 Farm & Ranch Supply stores and a support office located in Calgary, AB. Independent Petroleum Agents and more than 950 UFA employees provide products, services and agricultural solutions to farmers, ranchers, members and commercial customers in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. For more information, visit www.UFA.com.
About A4 Systems:
Founded in 2015, A4 Systems is a world-class team of cyber physical system product developers, transforming quality data into primary competitive advantage. Based in Calgary, A4 builds mission-critical SaaS products for customers to achieve breakthrough performance. A4’s flagship product is HerdWhistle™, an RFID monitoring system for the health and well-being of livestock.