Breedr - a virtual meat supply network - gains support of producers, processors and NFU
A virtual value-chain for livestock production that ensures quality and supply has been developed by Breedr and has the support of the National Farmers Union, major livestock producers, processors and leading supermarkets.
1 May 2020
3 minute read
Breedr is a new precision livestock network that will drive up meat eating quality, help producers to increase productivity and profitability and enable others to source high quality meat online.
John Royle Chief Livestock adviser, NFU, comments : “The recent crisis has shown the urgency of upgrading meat value-chains so they are fit for the 21st century. The industry needs to deliver produce of high meat eating quality, consistently, with minimal waste and environmental impacts and to do so in a way that is profitable and sustainable.
“The online network developed by Breedr supports the NFU’s target to reach net zero by 2040. It is creating a virtual supply chain that builds confidence and trust between producers and processors. It will remove the need for buyers to see the animals and ensure that producers are rewarded for meat that meets high welfare and quality standards.”
Ian Wheal, founder of Breedr, comments: “Breedr aims to revolutionise the way that livestock is produced and traded. All producers need to do is share their weight data.”
Background to Breedr
Breedr has developed the world’s first fully traceable online trading platform for meat.
How online trading works
Data about weight, feed, health and breeding is used to create a digital profile for each animal that can be matched with a contract and traded online. The producer has an assured sale and buyers can easily source prime beef to order.
“Breedr is an app on your phone that connects to a secure trading network in the web. Fundamentally it tracks the performance of animals.” James Wright farmer and Breedr spokesperson.
Free productivity app
Data is entered into Breedr by scanning the ear tags and uploading weight data either manually via the app or automatically by Bluetooth from weighheads and EID tags.
The platform learns about the animals, using information about their live weight, feed and parentage to make predictions about the optimum point of sale-profit for the farmer. The more data entered, the more accurate the prediction.
“Ultimately, Breedr is about boosting profit. When you start looking at the data you can start to find trends: calves from that sire finish quickly, stock bought from that farm are always sickly. There’s a huge profit impact between the top and bottom performing sires. Being able to look at data in a simple format is really important,”
“This is all about data moving down the supply chain; as the animal moves so does the data, offering the opportunities for improvements at every stage. If you’ve got a dairy farmer at the beginning that’s producing good calves that’s going to be good for everyone.”
Breedr facilitating industry to reach net zero target
“We are at a time when the industry is under threat. Whether that is scrutiny about the health and welfare of our animals, demand for traceability, or to provide evidence about what we are doing for the environment – livestock producers need to be able to prove what we are doing,”
Breedr enables traceability and uses this to facilitate trading and create marketing opportunities.
“The more you are recording on your farm, the more impact the industry can have with its environmental data. For example animals finishing at 15 months produce lower emissions than animals that are finishing later – as they eat less food producing less methane.
“We want to help farmers who are using our app increase their profit and reduce their CO2 output. We also want to reduce waste in the supply chain, including the processors, and that will result in the farm getting paid more for what they’re providing.”
