The Queensland-based supplements developer is planning a further expansion
Livestock export giant Wellard is trialling the water-based supplements developed by Queensland-based Direct Injection Technologies (DIT) as the developer plans further expansions.
DIT founder Mark Peart told TradeFarmMachinery.com.au the company was trialling providing its uCALM supplement to animals on Wellard boats after recording good results during testing with a range of wagyu cattle exporters.
“If it works, which we know it will, then they will become a customer and then so on with the rest of the exporters,” he says.
“We are selling this product already to graziers, but we are specifically working with Wellard but we are hoping in the next six weeks to two months it will be integrated into their operation.”
The supplement contains glucose, electrolytes and trace elements to prevent dehydration in cattle, sheep and goats during times of stress – with additional glucose added to the export product to help boost energy in exported livestock.
DIT also has technology to measure the water flow in order to ensure the correct dosages of the supplements are distributed in the drinking water.
The company recently integrated this dosing technology into the uSEE platform, which it acquired in March from Will Harrington, who remains with the company as its chief technology officer.
“He had already developed a platform which is the uSEE platform where people can remotely control and remotely monitor their devices,” Peart says.
“Now a farmer only has to log on to his UC app or UC portal on a website, and he can turn his cameras on and have a look at how his cattle or his troughs are in remote areas, he can check his weather stations, he can check how much water he has in his tank, how much pressure in his water lines and now he can check his dosing devices.”
Peart says this is the start of his ambition to create “intelligent sheep and cattle stations” in Australia and overseas.
“We see uSEE and the uSEE platform as the go-to remote monitoring platform for graziers and farmers to go to, and in time we can connect a range of different devices, we can turn them onto farm management software.”
DIT has raised additional funds since raising $1 million through an equity crowdfunding campaign in January, with Peart saying the company was now at a stage where it could “probably” fund future growth through cash flow.
“We are looking at other livestock technology businesses while I speak to you, and there are a few on the horizon that we would like to potentially purchase and integrate into the DIT family, which goes to where we want to be,” he says.
In the near term, however, the company plans to open new distribution centres in Perth and Victoria, complementing those in Townsville and Darwin that opened earlier this year.
“We are in the process of sourcing a facility in Mt Isa to make our main manufacturing facility,” Peart says, saying its location makes it an ideal location for the facility.
“It is a very dry environment that will help us to manufacture our products and secondly it is strategically located in the middle of 13 million head of cattle,” he says.