Joe Davis
Hatch Program 2
31 Jan 2022
About
Joe has been a production animal vet for the last 20 years, working in the UK, New Zealand and Australia in private practice dealing with beef and dairy cattle mainly, including work preparing animals for sale and as a government veterinary inspector. He completed further qualifications in ruminant nutrition and more recently completed a postgraduate certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UWA. Joe has also set up his own large-animal-only practice out of Busselton in Western Australia.
Joe is looking to create a verified, universal health record for cattle that will travel with them between farms, feedlots and ultimately, to the abattoir. Using a smartphone, users will be able to scan an individual cow's NLIS tag which will bring up its digital health record linked to its EID (electronic identification) number via an app.
Validating the idea
With the US, EU and UK starting to mandate the use of EID’s, there is an opportunity to lead the way with this technology from Australia. Coming into the Hatch program, Joe hoped to validate and iterate his concept with feedback from a range of producers and other industry participants.
Joe conducted 10 interviews with a range of producers and other industry participants. He was able to identify that there is a need to improve trust and economic signals between feeder cattle buyers and producers in order to reduce illnesses such as feedlot pneumonia. Joe’s solution will enable vaccination event data to be verifiable, ensuring that cost savings of vaccinated animals, sold for a premium at auction, is realised. Through the Hatch program, he was able to validate his idea was something the market needed and would benefit from, as well as discovering some other avenues and potential fits for his product.
As a direct result of the feedback he received through his interviews, Joe set out using a low-code platform to develop a basic prototype to help answer early development questions cheaply.
The Hatch programme constantly prods and pokes your idea, forcing it to change form, submit or ultimately grow stronger. If you think you've seen a way that something could be done better and want to see if it has legs, I thoroughly recommend the course.
What's next
Joe has been accepted into the Hone program where he will concentrate on:
- Looking for a trial partner to test and progress his application
- Identify funding opportunities and start preparing to meet their requirements
- Gain momentum and gather support for a feasibility study
- Plan a prototype for the study and cost out the tech
- Build a viable business model
Program Partners
