WATCH: Farming moo-ves forward with technology

Saturday 31 March 2018

Farmers can now get a cow's "whole life history" at their fingertips thanks to brand new technology - and that great leap forward is being celebrated on the latest phonebook cover.

The star of this year’s JT Directory cover is Roseland Roy Boy Tulip, a cow born in October 2017 at Cowley Farm in St Saviour, and a living example of the latest smart farming practices.

Tulip has an electronic tag on her ear which connects to a computer via a radio link, providing the farmer with rich information in real-time about her behaviour, location and wellbeing. Monitors placed beside each milking unit in the parlour and which can identify Tulip and every other cow in the herd are just one examples of technology being used in farming.

Based on the cow's age and other statistics, the computer is able to tell the farmer exactly how many litres of milk she should produce and how much food she needs to support that. This technology also allows Jersey Dairy, which sells its products globally, to evidence the origins of the island’s famous export.

Devices communicating automatically with other devices, called the Internet of Things (IoT) - a network of devices such as vehicles or home appliances which have the ability to connect to each other and exchange data - are expected to play a greater role in the next few years and not just in agriculture. 

Video: The story of the 2018 JT Directory. (Callum Thorne)

JT is working with Digital Jersey to build a state-of-the-art research centre to encourage more IoT business start-ups, foster technological education for local students and encourage off-island organisations to use Jersey as a testbed. The States agreed in November to give £449,000 to Digital Jersey to set up the lab at JT's exchange at Red Houses.

For Becky Houzé of Lodge Farm in St. Saviour, science and technology is visibly improving productivity, efficiency and animal welfare. She said: “I have the cows’ whole life history at my fingertips, and I can be completely confident that the data is accurate and reliable. This wouldn’t be possible without JT’s full-fibre broadband and 4G networks and it’s definitely a real-life example of their investment paying dividends.”
 
Tamara O’Brien, JT’s Head of Brand, Marketing and Distribution, said: “Each year, we aim to choose a cover for our Jersey Directory that captures how technology is having a positive effect on the lives of Islanders in some form or other.  We have had very positive feedback from farms in Jersey, where our full-fibre network is already helping Becky and others to automate processes that previously took a lot of time and energy to deliver and record. So, this felt like the ideal cover for this year.”