Allflex, a global leader in livestock identification, announced Dec. 12 its acquisition of SCR Engineers Ltd., a company headquartered in Netanya, Israel, that is known throughout the world for cutting-edge livestock-monitoring and intelligent milking solutions.

SCR will operate independently, as part of the Allflex Group, helping producers use equipment and predictive analytics to improve productivity. Company leaders view the acquisition as an important step to facilitate the adoption of effective and proven monitoring systems by North American producers.

"Through the years, Allflex has grown by developing individual animal identification tools and by acquiring organizations that provide producers with useful solutions," Allflex USA president and chief executive officer Brian Bolton said. "Adding SCR to Allflex is perhaps the most significant step we've taken to prepare for the future demands on producers as they strive to meet the needs of feeding a growing world population with limited resources and greater demands for accountability."

This agreement brings together two leaders in livestock management with complementary technologies, experience and strengths, the announcement said.

For five decades, Allflex has pioneered individual-animal identification as a herd-management tool. Its focus has been on products that create workable solutions in real-life conditions, starting with visual technologies and growing to include electronic, radio-frequency and genomic solutions. Today, Allflex operates in 80 countries, using its connections with livestock communities and its large-scale manufacturing capabilities to consistently introduce new, improved identification tools.

When established in 1976, SCR began innovating electromechanical devices for dairies, such as the industry's first automatic milk meter with no moving parts (Freeflow). During the past 10 years, SCR has become a world leader in advanced cow-monitoring systems, providing useful data gathered by activity and rumination sensors. The company's sophisticated analysis algorithms convert the data into real-time reports that make it easy to detect heat, monitor health for individual animals and provide useful group and herd performance information.

"SCR brings an extensive network of partners who have experience with the on-farm implementation and support of state-of-the-art monitoring systems," Bolton said. "While these systems originally were developed for dairy cow monitoring, we believe their potential to efficiently monitor activity and illness indicators for the broader livestock market is extraordinary. Our team is looking forward to collaborating with SCR specialists to pioneer new ways this technology can help producers everywhere."

Tom Breunig, U.S. general manager for SCR, agreed that becoming part of Allflex will help accelerate adoption of livestock-monitoring systems in North America and other countries.

The acquisition is subject to customary regulatory review and approvals, with closing expected in early 2015.