Zoetis Expands
Addition of innovative digital solutions and data analytics expertise help accelerate progress in precision livestock farming
Zoetis recently announced the acquisition of Performance Livestock Analytics to enhance its animal health solutions across the continuum of care for beef producers. The addition of Performance Livestock Analytics, a technology company that simplifies data and analytics for the livestock industry, will help Zoetis to accelerate progress in precision livestock farming and improve sustainability of producers’ operations. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.
Performance Livestock Analytics was the first company to offer cloud-based data management to beef producers. Today, its innovative Performance Beef solution combines cloud-based technology with automated on-farm data collection to provide powerful analytics that help feedlot managers make better decisions across financials, nutrition and animal health. Simplifying feeding to financials, Performance Beef makes it easy to change rations; create accurate invoices and closeout reports; and analyze trends in feed efficiencies, costs and performance. New animal health inputs can automatically be captured at the chute, providing insights into individual animal performance and health protocol compliance. Cattle Krush is a complementary tool to Performance Beef, using real-time market data to give producers instant breakeven, market analytics and profit alerts to help in buying and selling cattle.
“The addition of Performance Livestock Analytics is an important part of our strategy to bring precision livestock farming to our customers to help improve the health of their animals and the sustainability of their operations,” said Mike McFarland, DVM, DABVP, Executive Vice President and Group President of Accelerated Growth Businesses for Zoetis. “The team at Performance Livestock Analytics has successfully applied Silicon Valley technology learnings to the needs of livestock producers, and we are thrilled to have them join us at Zoetis to continue leading the way in digital and data analytics for livestock.”
“Our digital platform changes how livestock producers manage their business. Real-time, accurate data allows producers to make better management decisions to help boost efficiency and profitability,” said Dane Kuper, co-founder and CEO, Performance Livestock Analytics. “Both our culture and vision align well with Zoetis. Now as part of Zoetis, we will be better positioned to provide practical technology solutions to improve livestock health and sustainability for our customers.”
Precision livestock farming can help improve producers’ decision-making, right down to the level of each individual animal, to maximize health and well-being, performance, and efficiency across livestock operations. Digital platforms and technology can help integrate information that a producer has available from multiple sources and turn that information into useful insights that inform health and management decisions. On-farm data also may be meaningful if shared throughout the supply chain in response to consumers’ growing interest in how food-producing animals are raised. •

CMC Welcomes New Chairman
The Canadian Meat Council (CMC) was proud to announce recently the appointment of Sylvain Fournaise as Chairman of their Board of Directors for the next two years.
“I am looking forward to working with the Board and CMC as we are living in challenging times, not only with the COVID19 pandemic, but also for the sustainability of the sector and our capacity to meet requirements of this evolving sector. It is time, more than ever, to work more collaboratively with other trade associations dealing with the same issues” said Dr. Fournaise.
Dr. Sylvain Fournaise joined Olymel more than 20 years ago and currently holds the position of Vice President, Food Safety and Technical Services. He heads up a team that is responsible for food safety and quality assurance programs and Research and development for all Olymel slaughterhouses and processing plants in both the pork and poultry sectors. He is also in charge of the veterinary service, the animal welfare policy, labelling, exports, biosecurity and traceability. Olymel owns 35 establishments, hog production units and counts 14 100 employees.
Mr. Fournaise holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Montreal and a Master of Science and Food Technology from Laval University. •

Manitoba Pork Celebrates
Manitoba 150 by Supporting
Local Communities!
With all official Manitoba 150 events postponed until 2021, Manitoba Pork wanted to do something to mark this special anniversary on May 12, while at the same time celebrating the COVID-19 testing site staff who have been working hard during the pandemic. Manitoba is the bacon capital of Canada, so we treated some COVID-19 front line workers to everyone’s favourite meat candy! We delivered bacon-infused cupcakes, a copy of our new recipe book – Proudly Pork – and other goodies to nine virus testing sites around the province, as well as to the provincial lab and Selkirk General Hospital. MPC collaborated with the Winnipeg Free Press on this project, which included digital and print media ads and this amazing 90-second video celebrating the initiative. The video has had over 6,000 views on our Facebook, Instagram and YouTube sites. Be sure to check it out – it’s heartwarming! •