Data and Technology Our Impact

December 2022 saw the launch of MyHerdStats, which was developed by ScotEID with support from the Scottish Government. This uses cattle registration and movement data to provide cattle keepers with consistent and accurate insight into their herd performance.

The online tool securely presents herd management information to all Scottish suckler beef cattle herds, automatically generating insights and trends on the herd’s performance through a series of charts and tables highlighting areas of opportunity for possible improvement. Keepers have access to a selection of indicators and trends, including cow retention and calf registration data; cow calving data; cow and heifer efficiency values; cow and calf mortalities; and sale date profiles for breeding and youngstock.

October 2022 saw the first anniversary of cattle births, deaths, and movements going live on ScotEID via the ScotMoves+ platform. During this time, ScotEID has registered over 600,000 cattle births, 760,000 deaths, 2.1m movements and 250,000 cross-border movements. This activity was recorded by livestock markets, abattoirs and 10,600 individual cattle keepers, and supported by the Huntly office’s team of 17.

ScotEID has continued to develop systems and procedures for the processing and handling of differences in the cattle data sets held on ScotEID, and automating the sending of imported cattle data to systems in England. The team is also working with the Defra Digital, Data & Technology Services (DDTS) team on the requirements for the UK-wide view for sheep movement data. ScotEID has also recently been contracted by the Scottish Government poultry inspection team to build and operate a replacement for their Gallus system to record inspection results of egg producers and processors.

In partnership with ANM Thainstone, ScotEID hosted several live UHF demonstrations of cattle moving through the mart and hosted demonstrations at the Huntly office of the new ScotMoves+ functionality. Attendees included the bovine EID industry group, officials from

Welsh Government, Defra, SG, Allflex, representatives of the English and Welsh NFU, and the National Beef Association.

Work on the bovine EID pilot continues, to date involving 300 partner farms, with 185,000 cattle UHF-tagged, and working with 22 auction marts (two of these in England), 14 abattoirs and two port lairages. The systems designed are achieving a 100% read rate in trials. ScotEID continues to work with industry and the Scottish Government on the mandatory introduction of bovine EID for newborn calves during 2024.

SAOS’s SmartRural business scaled up again in the last year. The roll out of Long-Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) coverage for Angus Council was completed, providing 200 km2 of coverage in eastern Angus. Trials of low voltage line monitoring equipment for Scottish and Southern Energy Networks was also successfully completed, and scoping work has started for a phase 2 wider deployment. SmartRural has played an integral role in SAOS’s delivery of Opportunity North East (ONE)’s Technology and Climate Project, with the objective of increasing awareness and understanding of the benefits of AgriTech amongst the farming community.

Finally, the Scottish Government’s Agricultural Transformation Programmefunded Data Digital Pilot was launched in summer 2022 with the aim of developing the case for widespread adoption of digital data across Scottish farms, to help transform production and environmental performance. SmartRural will be responsible for installation of LoRaWAN connectivity on 40 demonstration farms, providing sensor solutions, IT dashboards to visualise data and advice, and support for pilot participants. Innovative sensors will also be trialled, to monitor peatland health, cattle rumen performance and pollinator insect activity.