The Livestack Podcast

Welcome to Episode 10 of the LiveStack podcast, where we delve into ‘Dairy Calves and AgriTech.’ In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by Dr. Melissa Cantor, Assistant Professor of Precision Dairy Science at Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Cantor spearheads an extramurally funded research initiative focused on harnessing data from precision technologies to improve decision-making and enhance the lives of dairy animals. Dr. Cantor engages with Pennsylvania dairy producers through the Penn State Extension Dairy Team, underscoring her commitment to fostering an inclusive program. This program zeroes in on vital topics like dairy calf and heifer management alongside effective adoption and utilization of on-farm precision technologies.
Read more about Dr. Cantor’s work here – Melissa Cantor — Directory — Department of Animal Science (psu.edu)
In this episode of the LiveStack Podcast, we traverse the landscape of dairy calf research and AgriTech, delving into new and novel techniques. Our conversation spotlights the myriad possibilities for elevating calf health outcomes.
Don’t miss out on this enriching discussion! You can now tune in on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Join in and listen to Episode 9 of the LiveStack podcast discussing “Digital, Data, and Durable Skills in Dairy Science.
Joining in on this discussion is Dr. Sushil Paudyal, from the Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University. Dr. Paudyal’s research interest focuses on using herd and animal-level data for decision-making in dairy farms. His research utilizes innovative technologies to optimize the production, health, and well-being of dairy cattle. Learn more about him and his research here - Paudyal, Sushil - Animal Science (tamu.edu)
This episode will cover programs and initiatives to improve students and farmers’ access to digital and data skills that improve Precision Livestock Farming. It also highlights the need for durable skills with interdisciplinary teams and problem-solving that require good communication.
Access and Listen to this Episode on Spotify & Apple

Join in and listen to Episode 8 of the LiveStack podcast discussing “ML and AI in Food-Animal Agriculture; What’s Essential to Make it Work.”
Back joining in on this discussion is Dr. Micheal Odintsov Vaintrub, Veterinarian and COO of Regrowth, an AgriTech start-up based in Italy.
This podcast discusses and explains AI and what it means in food animal agriculture, exploring the Micro (devices at the farm level) to the Macro (government, coops, clusters of farms) of ML & AI applications.
Farmers are conservationists (Husbandry, Land management, data); they aren’t the tech innovators of AgriTech but will use the data from AgriTech for innovation in their needs and domain expertise at the farm level in their business.
While exploring the larger service community and how they support farms with advanced intelligence like AI while understanding data ownership and governance.
Access and Listen to this Episode on Spotify & Apple

Join in and listen to episode 7 with Dr. Micheal Odintsov Vaintrub, Veterinarian and AgriTech COO, and Daniel Foy from AgriGates as they talk about “ Food Animal AgriTech in Italy: Small, Smart, and Sustainable.”
 
Michael grew up in Israel and moved to Italy in 2011 to study veterinary medicine at the University of Teramo (Abruzzo region), which he completed in 2017. He followed the studies with a Ph.D. focused on sustainable animal husbandry and PLF development. His research work predominantly focused on the integration of PLF technologies in outdoor production systems typical to central Italy. This is a fascinating and complex field that involves the technological challenges of fitting IoT systems in rugged environments and fitting them into traditional production systems. 
 
To follow this passion, Michael funded “Regrowth,” a startup dedicated to the development of PLF systems fit small-scale management of pasture-based systems. Since 2019 the team has been working on modular IoT stations, communication protocols, data management, and integration of external data sources. The process won the team 20 prizes over the years and positioned Regrowth at the forefront of Agri-tech startups in Italy.  
 
Listen to this discussion with Michael and his insight and experience with Data & Food Animal AgriTech in Italy.

Dr. Laura Boyle is a senior research officer with Teagasc – The Irish National Agriculture and Food Development Authority, with over 25 years of research expertise in farm animal behavior and welfare science.
Laura is an associate member of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioral Medicine (sub-specialty Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law), President of the Health and Welfare Commission of the European Federation of Animal Science and Editor in Chief of the Animal Behavior and Welfare specialty section in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
She is Adjunct Professor with the School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin. As well as informing policy at national level she was an expert with the European Food Safety Authority responsible for drafting the new Scientific Opinion on Pig Welfare published in June 2022. Dr. Boyle has published almost 130 peer-reviewed papers on pig and dairy cow welfare and has over 300 scientific abstracts in national and international conference proceedings.
Her main interests lie in effects of housing and management practices on the welfare of farm animals, in the link between animal health and animal welfare and in the contribution animal welfare can make to the sustainability of animal agriculture. Laura was the recipient of the British Society of Animal Science and Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals award for Innovative Developments in Animal Welfare in 2019. Laura also has education and advisory roles within the Teagasc pig development department at Moorepark, Co. Cork where she works. She holds a Bachelors of Agricultural Science degree and a Masters and PhD on the behavior and welfare of sows from University College Dublin. 
Listen in to this discussion with Dr. Boyle and her insight to Data & Food Animal welfare.

Join in and listen to this episode's discussion on Machine Learning (ML) in Food Animal Agriculture: An old tool with new applications on Farm, with Marcel Alsdorf, senior cloud solution architect at Microsoft, with Daniel Foy, Co-Founder & CEO of AgriGates. 
Marcel Alsdorf is a cloud solution architect with five years of experience at Microsoft consulting various companies on their cloud strategy. In this role, he focuses on supporting companies in their move toward being data-driven by analyzing their requirements and designing their data infrastructure in the areas of IoT and event streaming, data warehousing, and machine learning.  
On the side, he shares his technical and business knowledge as a coach in hackathons, as a mentor for start-ups and peers, and as a university lecturer. Before his current role, he worked as an FPGA (Field-programmable gate array) engineer for the LHC project at CERN and as a software engineer in the banking industry. 

Joining in on Digital Skills Training for Beginners in Agriculture discussion topic in this Episode are Rob Thomas, who is the Vice President of Education at LaunchCode, Erin Davison is the Senior Manager for Community Engagement at LaunchCode and Daniel Foy, Co-Founder & CEO of AgriGates. 
Rob is the Vice President of Education at LaunchCode. Rob is passionate about the ways in which technology can enhance education and how technology training can help individuals reach their full potential. In his current role, Rob uses his industry experience to design and deliver training programs to hundreds of learners in Saint Louis, Kansas City, and Philadelphia. At LaunchCode, Rob is able to focus on providing free digital literacy and online training for diverse groups of learners who have historically been excluded from the technology industry. Rob believes that by building strong foundations in digital skills, we can create a more inclusive and empowered society, advance technology solutions and, change social norms. 
Erin is the Senior Manager for Community Engagement at LaunchCode. Erin is an advocate for using informed research and community-based participation to promote economic development, health equity, and the creation of trauma-informed systems. Currently, Erin is the Senior Manager for Community Engagement at LaunchCode, a non-profit organization that provides free education and job opportunities in technology. In her role, Erin serves as the primary ambassador for LaunchCode in the Philadelphia market and drives customer acquisition, participant recruitment, and resource development by creating strategic partnerships. Erin is also a Masters of Public Health (Health Policy and Management) Candidate at Temple University. 

Joining in on the Data & Food animal welfare topic in this Episode are Dr. Jennifer Walker, Director of Milk Quality and cow care champion at Danone NA, Dr. Jim Reynolds, Professor of Large Animal Medicine/Welfare at Western University, College of Veterinary Medicine, and Daniel Foy, Co-Founder & CEO of AgriGates. 
Dr. Jen graduated in 2000 from UC Davis and spent 4 years in private practice on California dairies before earning her PhD at Ohio State (2010). Realizing that the greatest opportunity to drive meaningful improvement in animal welfare was through the supply chain, Dr. Jen made the leap from the barn yard to the board room and joined Dean Foods leading the development of their animal welfare program as Director of Dairy Stewardship. Dr. Jen joined Danone North America as Director of Milk quality in 2018 and is now responsible for managing milk quality from farm to factory gate as well as the development and management of Danone North America’s industry leading animal welfare program, Quality and Care. Dr. Jen also completed her Masters in Animal Welfare Ethics, Policy and Law through the University of Edinburgh (2018). In 2019 Dr. Jen’s efforts, passion, and results in shaping national best practices in dairy animal welfare were recognized by her alma matter, UC Davis, as one of the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Award of Distinction recipients. 
Dr Reynolds’ (Jim to most) history in dairy goes all the way back to being raised on his family’s dairy in San Diego, CA. Jim graduated as a veterinarian from UC Davis in 1982 and went into private dairy and beef practice in California for 14 years. He then went on to complete a residency program in public health with the California Department of Health Services. This led him back into academia, where he was the Chief of Clinical Services for Production Medicine at UC Davis for 12 years. Today, Jim is a Professor of Large Animal Medicine/Welfare at Western University, College of Veterinary Medicine in Pomona, CA. 
Jim has had a number of accolades, including serving as chair of both the American Veterinary Medical Association & the American Association of Bovine Practitioners Animal Welfare Committees. He is currently a member of the California Veterinary Medical Association Animal Welfare Committee. A founding board member of the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO). A member of the scientific committees for Validus, the American Humane Society and conducts welfare assessments and audits for Validus, LLC. Has been course leader for the American Association of Bovine Practitioner’s pre-convention seminar on Cattle Welfare. He is the Chair of the Consumer Affairs Committee for the Dairy Cattle Welfare Council.  Jim also received the AVMA Animal Welfare Award for 2007, the American Association of Bovine Veterinarians Award of Excellence for 2010 and is a Diplomate of the American College of Animal Welfare (ACAW). Jim is also a Director at AgriGates, and has an interest in Data and livestock welfare. 

Welcome to the second Episode in the series of the liveStack Podcast. Where in each Episode, we speak with leaders and industry experts who are interested and invested in farm-level data and farm data ownership.
Joining this Episode are returning guests Dr. Liliana Fadul, Ph.D., who is a Data Scientist at Lactenet in Canada, Dr. Vivi Thorup, assistant professor at the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Daniel Foy, Co-Founder, and CEO of AgriGates,
The topic for discussion was - Training and educating people to handle data from Precision Livestock Technology.

In this episode, Daniel Foy, the Co-Founder & CEO of AgriGates speaks with Lilian Fadul and Michel Baldin about farm-level data, farm-level data ownership, and what that means today.