Bradford, England, 2014-7-9 — /EPR Retail News/ — Morrisons today becomes the first supermarket to launch a free app for cattle farmers aimed at simplifying livestock management.
‘Morrisons Farming App’ is aimed primarily at beef producers and is available on all Android devices to download free of charge from today and will also be available on Apple devices very soon.
The app includes a live link to the British Cattle Movement Service so all cattle data from multiple holdings can be viewed instantly at any time – even when the phone signal is poor. The free technology also enables the registering of cattle births, deaths and movements as well as allowing farmers to arrange animals by pen or field for easy reference.
The app also aims to simplify the process of ordering new and replacement ear tags with a live link to Caisley tags and extensive options for conventional, Electronic Identification (EID) and DNA tags, all at a discounted price.
The development of the new technology for the farming community can help improve food safety and animal traceability as well as animal breeding and husbandry. Morrisons Agriculture Programme has worked with the NFU in the past to emphasise the need for new technology to help improve communication between farmers, processors and retailers.
For suppliers to Morrisons Woodheads sites the App can also automatically generate the Food Chain Information Declaration – the information that must be provided by all livestock keepers on the cattle they send for slaughter and required by all Woodheads abattoirs.
Morrisons will continue to further develop the technology and add extra features to extend the app to lamb and pig producers, as well as adding more features to provide useful data and make administrative processes more efficient.
Andrew Loftus, Morrisons Agriculture Manager said: “We want to help ease the burden on farmers by ensuring better information is available at the touch of a button to aid them when making decisions about their businesses.
“The launch of the app builds on the website we’ve also created to provide suppliers of beef, pork and lamb with unrivalled and immediate feedback on their consignments.“ Meurig Raymond, President of the NFU said: “Adopting technology like this new app is key to farming’s future and I’m delighted that Morrisons is making sure that it’s available to all beef producers.”