Agriculture, being a prominent sector in all the nations for the production of food holds the larger part of economic contribution. There are different types which include dairy farming, commercial farming, plantation farming, and many more. Dairy farming refers to the production of milk and other dairy products for a longer time. This process involves breeding, raring of cows, raising, etc for the extortion of dairy products.
In New Zealand dairy farming is a famous and popular farming, this farming is mostly found in areas of Taranaki, Waikato, Southland, and Canterbury. It has a contribution to the export economy of the country of about $11.3 billion in the year 2023. The article is followed by the journey of the founder and CEO of Halter, which is an Agri-tech company in New Zealand that focuses on cow farming with the adoption of technology to enhance production and hence make dairy farming easier.
Craig Piggott: Founder & CEO
Craig Piggott being grown in the environment of a farm understands the challenges and issues that affect the farmers and hence has the motto to come up with a solid solution to tackle them. He completed his bachelor’s from The University of Auckland in the stream of mechanical engineering. After that, he worked as a product development engineer at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare after a year he was a mechanical engineer at Rocket Lab in the USA.
During this time, he visited his parents and he saw them spending 100+ hours a week in farming, so he decided to find the ultimate solution for all the problems in cow farming. He then thought of using smart technology for monitoring and managing the herds which would benefit the farmers. Thus, he developed a smart technology band for animals that will decrease farmers’ manual work and address many more things.
With this innovative blend of technology and farming, he developed a product and made it into business. Craig Piggott founded ‘Halter’ in 2016 with the vision of modernizing cow farming and how the company has world recognition. The startup raised a fund of around $5.5 million in 2018 from a VC firm, Silicon Valley-based, and also got investments from New Zealand and America.
Brief on Halter
Halter is a solar-powered neckband that is a collar that helps to motion and manage the moves of the herds. Everything can be handled at your fingertip by the mobile app throughout the day. One can see things like heat, location, health, and rumination of the animal. The Halter is prepared for types of farmers who are rearing cows for dairy products and for beef purposes.
The main features of Halter are easy maintenance of animals with collars it is more effective in the movement as it provides sound effects and guides of left or right. This will also suggest you shift and fence your farm for more grass areas thus helping in virtual fencing. The key elements of the collar are it is light in weight and is effective in transmitting the data of the cow to the nearest tower, this data is further sent to the mobile app. Now the farmers can easily monitor and perform dairy herd management remotely by shifting to a grassy area to optimize grazing and improve feeding.
Halter assists and consults farmers for any help and provides guidance in farming. With the use of collars in dairy farming, one can increase their revenue by $433/ha as it improves grazing utilization by 5.1%. It also helps in growing the grassland for feed improvement. For beef farmers, it solves the issue of rotational grazing as it is been expensive and restrictive. Through virtual fencing, you can obtain land with high productivity by converting underutilized farmland into grassland.
Honors
Craig Piggott has been recognized and honored with multiple awards for his creative and innovative products in the agriculture sector. He was awarded the New Zealand Innovation Award in 2017. In the years 2018 and 2019 was a finalist in the New Zealand Hi-tech Young Achiever Award, and also a finalist for EY Entrepreneur of the Year. He grabbed the award of New Zealand Hi-tech Young Achiever Award in 2020. Halter with its beneficial product is been successful and has expanded its business in Australia, USA, and New Zealand.