Monitoring water consumption has historically been a valued metric of major integrators, only to be recorded periodically via pen and paper at best. While there is value in capturing this data, it often goes unanalyzed or arrives too late to be helpful in decision-making. There is a growing trend among producers and integrators in monitoring water consumption either daily or in near real-time. This trend has been gaining steam with the help of innovative companies and forward-thinking producers willing to adopt new technologies. Wireless barn sensors – including water consumption meters – are becoming  more affordable and the growing availability of reliable connectivity in rural North America is enabling effective data collection. In fact, wireless remote monitoring is quickly becoming a feasible option for all producers.

In practice, that means producers can do things they have never done before, on a scale never thought possible before, such as actively monitoring water consumption on an individual line level across an entire operation.

With this type of monitoring, producers have timely visibility to a line not getting water, a small leak or air in an individual line, and correlations between water consumption and countless other parameters such as feed, temperature and health. Alarms can be triggered to notify users of leaks or stoppages of water within hours to potentially prevent loss of life, provide early indicators of disease and prevent other potentially devastating impacts on an operation.

Real-World Application

Throughout multiple 90-day trials among major poultry and swine integrators employing line-level monitoring, alerts were consistently and reliably triggered due to both human error and mechanical failure. These alerts prevented both animal and resource loss, delivering a positive return on investment over four days while using the technology. The equipment utilized in this study was set up in less than one hour and the staff was trained and familiar with the platform in less than 15 minutes.

As the industry becomes more familiar with these types of technologies, we  expect adoption and setup times to decrease even further, as well as reduced cost of implementation. The learnings from these devices and the enormous data sets they capture will be used to make the industry more sustainable, efficient and, overall, more profitable.

Click here to learn more about monitoring water with BarnTalk.