Precision technology in sheep and goat farming

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Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) is leading a £5 million research project involving 9 countries from Scandinavia to the Middle East which is focused on revolutionizing precision technology in sheep and goat farming to ultimately improve welfare management and animal performance.

The 4 year project called TechCare will be the biggest study of its kind for small ruminants and is being funded from the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. First steps will involve workshops (scheduled for this winter) and discussion groups with sheep and goat industry members, abattoirs, consumers and welfare associations. SRUC based animal welfare experts and economists will also be involved in the project.

Technologies such as wearable sensors and virtual fencing will be tested on demonstration farms in Scotland – including SRUC's Hill and Mountain Research Centre near Loch Lomond – and in other partner countries. They will then be deployed on commercial farms to establish welfare alert systems for farmers.

Moredun Research Institute, UK livestock data analytics firm Breedr and 16 partners from Ireland, Norway, Spain, Italy, France, Romania, Greece and Israel are involved in the project. The collaborators will cover meat sheep, dairy sheep and dairy goat production.