The British supermarket chain Waitrose is launching a farm animal health app that is designed to help its stores keep tabs on the emotional well-being of farm animals.
Created by a team of scientists at Scotland's Rural College, this particular animal health app is designed to help animal welfare inspectors and staff go about developing a more clear understanding of animal behaviour that may be suggestive of their emotional state and, in turn, their overall quality of life.
The Waitrose app essentially enables inspectors to record behavioral patterns, which a trove of scientific research has shown can be suggestive of the animal's overall health.
With supermarket chains, grocers and the broader customer base all becoming more conscious of animal welfare and animal rights, the introduction of this farm animal health app could be a crucial step in boosting public confidence around the treatment of farm animals.
Behavioral Animal-Assessing Apps
This Animal Health App Helps Track Emotional States of Livestock
Trend Themes
1. Animal Welfare Monitoring - Opportunity for companies to develop apps and technologies that use advanced algorithms to monitor and assess the emotional and physical wellbeing of farm animals to meet growing customer demands for humane treatment of animals.
2. Behavioral Pattern Analysis - Opportunity for researchers to gather data and develop models that can identify and analyze behavioral patterns indicative of the emotional states of farm animals, thereby aiding animal welfare inspectors and staff.
3. Data-driven Animal Health Management - The use of advanced animal health monitoring technology can enable farmers and veterinary staff to manage the overall health and wellbeing of farm animals remotely and on a large scale, creating opportunities for the development of data-driven management practices.
Industry Implications
1. Agriculture - There is an opportunity for the development of technologies and practices that focus on improving animal welfare and increasing productivity within the agriculture industry utilizing advanced behavioral analysis and monitoring technologies.
2. Retail - The demand for ethically sourced and produced food products is increasing, and there is an opportunity for the development of transparency measures and technologies within the retail industry that provide customers with reassurance about animal welfare standards.
3. Animal Health - The introduction of animal behavior-assessing apps provides opportunities for innovative animal health companies to develop advanced technology that uses big data analytics to identify patterns in animal behavior and improve veterinary practices.