Industry leader, farmer and cattle breeder, Shane McManaway, has taken a place as a director on the FarmIQ board,
representing MSD Animal Health. The owner of Gold Creek Charolais stud and past leader of Allflex Livestock Intelligence
in Asia-Pacific and China said he welcomes the opportunity to step into the role, at a time when turning farm data into
usable information has never been more critical to business success.
“ FarmIQ with its ‘farmer-centric’ approach to data is one of the best platforms for making it possible for companies
with data collecting software and technology to hook into, and over time I believe this will only grow.”
Having headed up Allflex Livestock Intelligence for 15 years, McManaway comes with a deep understanding of farm data
collection, and the ability to integrate livestock tagging systems to become more than just a compliance box to be
ticked.
“At Allflex we recognised that capacity early on to turn NAIT’s requirements for tagging and recording into a very
powerful tool that the most progressive farmers have picked up on, enabling them to better understand individual
livestock performance, while also meeting compliance requirements.”
He said with a new generation of millennial farmers entering ownership and management positions on the land, the demand
for data, and their ability to utilise it, has only grown in a few short years.
“They have grown up with this way of working and they expect the technology to be available, along with the ability of
farms to generate data at many different points.”
Business Insider Intelligence estimates are 1.0 million data points will be generated every day on farms by 2022,
compared to only 100,000 in 2014.
McManaway said he can still see plenty of potential for more data integration with FarmIQ and emerging data technology,
particularly within the fertiliser sector.
He said he also was heartened by the recent commitment by MSD Animal Health, a division of Merck & Co., Kenilworth, N.J., USA, and the global animal health business unit of MSD, to become a minority shareholder in
FarmIQ.
Allflex Livestock Intelligence is part of MSD Animal Health Intelligence, an operating unit within MSD Animal Health,
and stands as a global leader in design, development and manufacture of animal ID solutions, traceability and
monitoring.
He said he has had plenty of opportunity to practice what he preaches on his own Wairarapa property where he runs red
deer and a Charolais stud.
His commitment to monitoring performance and breeding data means he has adapted to the rapidly evolving technology that
offers the opportunity to link farmers, consumers and inputs.
Shane McManaway is also on the board of the Platinum Primary Producers Group, a networking collective comprising over
130 of the rural sector’s key leaders which he founded in 2005.