An innovative new tool underdevelopment by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health is designed to provide a new generation of hog farm management.

The tool works by efficiently identifying health issues, recommending appropriate actions or interventions and showing their economic value. Boehringer Ingelheim’s initial focus is on providing real-time health-related information, combined with farm performance parameters, to producers, specifically the farm or system supervisor and barn caregiver, as well as the veterinarian tending to the farm.

Data are collected on multiple variables, including temperature, humidity, water, feed from multiple sources and subsequently presented on a single moving platform. The mobile platform application is called Farmera.

A key feature of the app is inventory management, treatment input and mortality assessment of all of the supervisor’s barns at a glance, providing a clear snapshot of the overall “health of the system.” In turn, the supervisor is able to maximize his or her time by prioritizing the farms with the greatest need for attention and care, the company said.

In the pilot program stage, Farmera is currently in place in four major hog production operations.

Additionally, Boehringer Ingelheim said the Farmera platform has a unique feature in the integration of data from SoundTalks, a cough monitoring system. SoundTalks provides notifications and alerts for critical solutions related to significant respiratory events. The system can reportedly detect issues two to five days earlier than the human ear.

Jans Kjaer of Boehringer Ingelheim discussed Farmera and SoundTalks with swine veterinarians gathered in Atlanta, Ga., for the American Association Swine Veterinarians annual meeting.