Detect Disease Earlier with Jason Nickell

Unlike a six-year-old, your calves will not come up to you tell they don’t feel good. You often find out much later when performance is already lost. 

Today’s host Shauna Hermel sat down with Jason Nickell with Merck Animal Health at the Cattle Industry Convention earlier this year to talk about SenseHub. Yes, they talk about the product information, but what’s really fascinating is the technology to detect disease much sooner. 

They discuss:

• Why it's so hard to figure out how much production is lost with a sick calf
• What kind of diagnostic tools are available
• Two main symptoms to track to determine disease sooner
• Performance data behind the technology
• Much more!

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Transcript

Hello and welcome to Angus at Work. We are so glad you're here. Today we're going to talk about disease detection, because unlike a six-year-old, your calves will not come up to you and tell you they don't feel good. You often find out much later when performance is already lost. So today's host, Shauna Hermel, sat down with Jason Nickell with Merck Animal Health at the Cattle Industry Convention earlier this year to talk about SenseHub. And yes, they talk about product information, but what's really fascinating is the technology to detect disease that much sooner. So let's dig in.

Jason Nickell:

We understand that there are several challenges in disease detection in that post wean beef calf. And whether it be the fact that the bovine conceals disease much better than we are at finding it, but then also the manner that we utilize to detect disease is flawed as well. And so the SenseHub feedlot technology was designed to improve upon some of those deficiencies. And so the objectives are really twofold. It is to find those animals, and generally we are looking for bovine respiratory disease. It's not exclusive for BRD, but due to prevalence, that is what we generally find. But it's to find those animals earlier in the disease phase, but also to find those animals that would have gone undiagnosed in the past simply because they're so good at concealing disease. Right?

So that is the first objective. Second objective would be to support the inherent labor challenges that the majority, if not all, of our production systems face at some point in time, if not daily. And from a labor standpoint, we don't intend to replace labor. We don't necessarily aim to reduce labor needs, but rather use it to make labor more efficient and to take a lot of the guesswork out of those day-to-day activities and basically just be another tool in their toolbox, frankly.

Shauna Hermel:

Now, you mentioned that we go about trying to find sick calves methodology might not be the best in how we do that. Can you explain that a little bit more?

Jason Nickell:

Absolutely. So currently, and let's just use bovine respiratory disease as the example, our current method of diagnosing BRD is through visual observation from a human, and then usually confirming that diagnosis with a rectal temperature. We understand from the veterinary literature that that methodology is inaccurate. And when I say inaccurate, there's basically a spectrum of that. But overall, what it leads to is missing a lot of ill animals out there that are sick just simply because they can conceal it. But what it also means is that in all likelihood, in some cases, we're treating animals that actually don't have BRD, and there's a cost to that as well. And so in order to get around some of those challenges, that's where the sense of technology was developed.

Shauna Hermel:

And when you talk about an animal concealing the fact that it's sick, explain a little bit more about that and why that happens.

Jason Nickell:

Yeah, absolutely. So at the end of the day, we can't out guess mother nature, frankly. And so the bovine has evolved over time. It is a prey species. That being said, one of its defense mechanisms is to conceal disease in order to convey to the potential predator, or in our cases the human, whatever that threat may be. But in a domesticated sense, the human, that they are good and there is no weakness involved there.

And so what we understand is that they are highly, highly skilled at being able to do that. And as an example, just to put this into practical terms, I think if we can envision being able to see a sick animal from a distance, that animal does not know that we are there and so it tends to let its guard down. And we can tell that it's not feeling good. However, when that animal, we get closer and that animal realizes we are there, if it's early enough in the disease, that head goes up and that animal sure does its best to look like it's all is well, right? So by the time that animal is at the point of outwardly showing clinical signs to a human that they know is there, they're at that point that they've been sick for several days.

The whole point of SenseHub feedlot is to get out in front of that disease process earlier, but again, find those animals that would have self cured and find them and would've gone undiagnosed. And so the cost to... We have a good handle and everybody can understand what the potential cost is of that animal that they see clinically. What's hard to get your mind wrapped around is the potential cost of that animal that goes undiagnosed. And the true cost is that if that animal does not die, then there is a potential performance cost to that animal.

Shauna Hermel:

Do you have some figures as far as how much that cost adds up to on an annual basis?

Jason Nickell:

That cost has been estimated in the literature with regard to basically what it equates to is that animals that go... well, animals with lung pathology at the time of harvest on average are roughly $38 less than their counterparts without lung pathology. Now, some of those animals with lung pathology were diagnosed, some of them were not. Okay? And so it all tends to kind of go together there. So what we're trying to do not only is basically preserve as much functional lung tissue as we can in order to maximize that animal's output for the duration of harvest.

Shauna Hermel:

So explain the SenseHub feedlot system and how does it interact to be able to prevent the lung pathology that would cost?

Jason Nickell:

Yeah, so the system is a wearable technology. It's in the form of an ear tag, and that ear tag is capturing body temperature and activity simultaneously in that animal 24/7. Multiple times a day, it's pushing that information to the cloud platform, and we utilize artificial intelligence techniques to analyze that data. And ultimately what the product is, what the producer sees or the user sees, is an email every day with a list of the animals that have been alerted by the system. And so what it is saying, it doesn't tell you what is wrong with this animal, but rather it's telling you this animal is an outlier compared to the rest of the animals in its group. Okay, and so-

Shauna Hermel:

So you get a cheat sheet on which animals to go check that day?

Jason Nickell:

Exactly, exactly. And so you get a list of animals, their ID numbers, the pen that they're located in, but then also there is a light on the tag that illuminates and starts blinking for a period of time to help them zero in on that animal.

Shauna Hermel:

Does it register those fevers as well, or does it just say that there is a fever?

Jason Nickell:

Well, and so because it's capturing temperature and activity predominantly, you never really know which of those two is driving the alert. And so there's no real temperature threshold. Basically, again, it is finding animals in the group, the outliers. And so that animal not only has to show that it's different than how it has performed previously, but it also has to show that it's different than the group that it's a part of as well. And those group dynamics are extremely important. If it is hot and everybody's hot, the last thing you want to do is light up an entire in the feed yard. They really have to show that they're different.

Shauna Hermel:

Okay. Now, do you have feedlots that have implemented this since last year and what kind of results are they seeing?

Jason Nickell:

Yeah, we have a number of systems that are commercially using the technology. Those systems are anywhere from traditional feed yards to backgrounders to seed stock systems that are developing their own bull test stations and have for development as well. We see a good, broad application between different sectors of the beef industry there.

The field data that we have observed has tied in well to the research data that we've observed in the past. Our research data indicates that ultimately, due to a combination of reduced mortality and reduced chronic disease, we can keep more animals in the system compared to traditional disease detection methods that we spoke of earlier. From a production standpoint and from a feedlot standpoint, our data would suggest is that because you can keep more animals in, obviously that's more sellable pounds, and that has equated out to an additional 40 pounds of live weight or 25 pounds of hot carcass weight, per animal.

Shauna Hermel:

40 pounds of live weight?

Jason Nickell:

Yeah, or 25 pounds of hot carcass weight compared to the systems that use the traditional pen riding methods.

Shauna Hermel:

Now, does the system also help to become... Can it be used to train a pen rider to be able to identify those animals earlier, essentially?

Jason Nickell:

That is a learning that we have observed out in the field is that there's a psychological component to this as well. But if the user and the employees are willing to accept the technology, there are several learnings that can take place and they begin to see some of the nuances. Now, that being said, because we are finding animals earlier in the disease phase, and because we are finding that subpopulation of animal that would've gone undiagnosed, this animal that is flagged by the system typically looks a lot different than what a traditional sick animal has looked like and what we're used to.

And so one of the first pieces of pushback we get is that there's nothing wrong with these animals, but if we can get them into the chute, if we can get them to believe the system, get them into the chute, nine times out of 10 they have an elevated rectal temperature. They're just, again, it's early and they're really good at hiding. And the other thing is that they're tough, and I'm not for sure where one starts, where one stops, but all that together, that goes a long way in building confidence at the producer level.

Shauna Hermel:

So what all is involved in the system when it's set up, you have tags which would have their own costs. You have, how do you get the data up into the cloud?

Jason Nickell:

Yeah, so it even probably starts a little bit earlier than that. We will take a lot of time to speak with that producer, get some boots on the ground, make sure that their system is a good match for the technology, because in all honesty, depending upon their labor situation, depending upon their management system, it may not always be a good fit, and we don't want to provide a bad customer experience, if at all, if we can help it.

That being said, if they do move forward, basically what it amounts to is there's a very low amount of hardware. In addition to the ear tags, there is an antenna and a gateway, and that antenna can cover up to two miles in distance. And so we can cover a lot of ground with a small amount of infrastructure, which was intentional, just simply because the more stuff you have out there, cattle tear stuff up, people tear stuff up, weather, what have you. So the less infrastructure you have, the less upkeep there is.

All that being said, once the system is purchased, that's really when the work gets started. We have a team solely dedicated to what we term customer success, that come in after the sale and train that producer on how to use the system, how to interpret the information coming through, getting their feedback, tweaking the system as we go along, because we can modify some settings as we move along and learn a bit more about the kind of cattle that we're dealing with. Just getting the software set up and get them comfortable with that. And then we would monitor that from afar. We'd monitor that day in and day out, just again to ensure that that customer is having a good experience. Almost always we have to go back in and, lack of a better term, turn some dials to make sure that the system is aligned with the goals and objectives of the production system with their labor challenges or their time commitments or what have you. But all of that can be customized accordingly and can be done on the fly as well.

Shauna Hermel:

Is there a great point on a number of animals that a person will be looking at that might provide the ideal cost benefit scenario?

Jason Nickell:

Yeah, that's a good question. As far as a maximum, so at the end of the day, this is a reusable tag, and so it has a batt life of somewhere between two and a half to three years. Producer pays for that cost of that tag over the course of 24 months. So not all of this is due upfront, but they pay for it over 24 months. But in order to minimize the cost per head, or the cost per use, we want to reuse that tag as often as we can.

Now, the antenna and the gateway are a fixed cost, and so the more animals that you have, obviously you can spread that cost out more, whereas the tag is on a the more times you can use. There is not a limit on the size of the operation. Where we begin to have a discussion is on group size. And so generally we like our group sizes to be at least 30 animals or more. Otherwise, there are some issues with accuracy.

Shauna Hermel:

That's getting that group-

Jason Nickell:

Those group metrics. Exactly.

Shauna Hermel:

Metrics, see if one animal is different.

Jason Nickell:

Exactly. So again, going back to the whole outlier discussion, not only do we want to know if that animal's different than it has been in the past, but then it also is being compared to the group simultaneously. So the more animals we can have in that group, the more confident we are with those metrics.

Shauna Hermel:

Any problems with tag retention? That'd be a big question for-

Jason Nickell:

So tag retention's always a question, and it's a great one. Admittedly, this tag is heavier than a traditional visual ID tag or an EID tag. However, the placement is different, and so the placement is actually closer to the base of the ear in order for that tag to point down the ear canal of that calf, and that's where the body temperature is captured.

And so the holding power of the ear is extremely stout in that area. And so retention, we've observed that to be extremely good. Somewhere between 98 to 99%, that tag does have a warranty of 12 months. So if that tag is lost during that first year, we will replace that tag. But we have been very happy with retention, and actually that has not been an issue we've really had to address.

Shauna Hermel:

With it that close to the head, does it caused any problems with the eye or is it sized to-

Jason Nickell:

No, it's sized for that ear and it sits underneath the lip of that ear at the base. And so not only is the holding power good there, but it's actually protected by that ear, to some degree. And so we feel like that kind of helps with retention as well.

Shauna Hermel:

To reuse, then I take it that the producer before those animals would leave the farm, that they would remove the tags?

Jason Nickell:

Correct. And so one of the discussion points would be is that, as you can imagine, we need to have another touchpoint to get those tags out. Now, in a feed yard situation, a lot of times that's done at a re-implant timeframe. In a backgrounder, they either remove those once those animals are leaving, or if they have a good relationship with the feedlot that those animals are going to, we have a couple of situations where the feedlot takes those out, sends them back to the background.

So there are different opportunities there, but yeah, generally, again, to be able to reuse that tag and whittle that cost down there needs to be another touch point at some point to get those tags out.

Shauna Hermel:

So the greatest risk for BRD and where the tags would be the most effective, is there a common window of time that you would suggest you can keep those tags in for?

Jason Nickell:

Well, generally, from an epidemiology perspective of BRD, we see the majority of our BRD issues, at least clinical issues in that first 60 to 75 days. Now, some of the ramifications we can see downstream of that, but with regard to diagnoses, that's where we see the majority of those. That time point of re-implant of anywhere from say 80 to 120 days is another touch point that they get pulled out that coincides not only with re-implant, but again, you're also past that point of BRD challenge as well.

Shauna Hermel:

If you even had two and a half turns in a be lot of the year, you might have how many turns for the tags?

Jason Nickell:

Yeah, generally, I mean, on average, if we can get two and a half to three turns a year. And then at the end of the life of that tag be somewhere in that seven to nine terms for the lifetime of that tag, we can get that cost per head down to that six and a half, $7 per head, per use range. What we have observed in our... and going back to the discussion on value, at the end of 60 days, we see a significant increase in the number of animals that can be sold compared to traditional pen riding. And we see that both at 60 days as well as closeout. The value proposition, at least based on our research numbers, is somewhere around $38 per head at 60 days, and with that extra 25 pounds of hot carcass weight to close out, that equates to about an extra $60 per head. And so you're somewhere in that five to one, eight to one ROI, depending upon when you sell those animals, based on the research we have up to this point.

Shauna Hermel:

And where can people go to find that information?

Jason Nickell:

Reaching out to their Merck Animal Health representative or their Allflex representative, or they can go online and find us as well.

Shauna Hermel:

Excellent. Well, thank you for visiting with us today.

Jason Nickell:

Yes. No, my pleasure.

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