Sensors monitoring respiratory health on animal farms are finalists in the prototype category recognising early-stage products.
CEO Saba Samei says, “Fieldays is the biggest agriculture event in the southern hemisphere. So, the awards are prestigious and competitive. But MACSO is the only company we know of offering a single product to improve animal health and welfare. We also get positive feedback from farmers and vets on our novel approach, so that encouraged us to enter. We’re super excited our AI sensors are innovative enough to make the finals.”
Animals can’t communicate like humans when they get ill
MACSO’s AI enabled audio sensors monitoranimal health on farms. Saba explains, “Often, by the time farmers realise they’ve a sick herd, it’s too late. That herd has infected the whole farm. But MACSO uses artificial intelligence to detect the sound sick animals make and alerts the farmer which group is ill before the infection has a chance to spread.”
The first MACSO product is a sensor to detect respiratory illness in swine. 60% of deaths in the swine industry are from respiratory diseases. Saba says, “The issue is so bad that if you look at a farm's profit and loss statement you'll see a line item for death costs. Our goal is to reduce the number of pigs lost to respiratory illness and lower that cost.”
Environmental and animal welfare benefits
A significant side benefit of MACSO sensors is environmental. The 2018 African swine fever outbreak in China killed around 43.5 million pigs. Contagious carcasses are burnt to prevent further infection, making the carbon footprint of pandemics vast. MACSO sensors lower the environmental impact of animal pandemics by alerting farmers early.
Respiratory health isn't the only thing MACSOsensors monitor. Saba explains, “We can track any acoustic events farmers are interested in. Farmers wanted to monitor squealing as it’s a good way to detect distress, so we upgraded the system. We believe this makes us the only company in the world combining animal health and welfare in one AI solution. By giving farmers a cost-effective system that tackles both, we help them raise healthier, happier animals and futureproof them for forthcoming animal welfare regulations.”
Seeking pig farms for pilot programme
MACSO sensors are now installed in pig farms in the USA and New Zealand. MACSO Head of Machine Learning & Engineering Hwan Goh says, “Our sensors combine a non-invasive installation procedure with significant insights for farmers. The wealth of information MACSO sensors can provide will revolutionize farming practices. Once we’ve safeguarded the swine industry from respiratory conditions, we plan to tackle poultry and cattle.”
Our tech is designed for agriculture, so it leverages edge AI to make the sensors more affordable and accessible for farms in remote areas. The sensor systems are a turnkey solution that gives farmers hardware, connectivity, and a dashboard so they can monitor what's happening on the farm and observe trends in data over time. A farmer taking part in our US pilot programme says, "MACSO's solution has been easy to install and the dashboard provides us insights that are useful in so many different ways."
We’re still seeking pig farmers interested in taking part in our pilot programme. If you’re interested in taking part email contact@macso.ai