GPSJ WINTER 2023 2024 LATEST - Flipbook - Page 6
GPSJ
NEWS
Automated field system to monitor lamb
growth trends
Sheep producers will
be able to improve their
flock’s efficiency thanks
to Innovate UK and Defra
funding towards developing
a field based automated
system to monitor lamb
growth and in turn, provide
data to make advanced
and accurate predictions
of time to reach target
finished weight.
The funding worth over £430,000
has been made to David Ritchie
Agricultural to help bring sheep
technology into line with other
sectors with a fully researched and
validated auto-weigher that will
gather extensive datasets to build
in-depth pictures of individual and
flock growth rates. “The system
will provide information to help
farmers in their feeding, grazing and
breeding management decisions,”
explains Agri-EPI’s Charlie Bowyer.
“Overall, the system will help
farmers to measure and monitor
lamb performance, one of their
most essential tasks, but one which
currently has various limitations. The
auto-weigher will cut across those
constraints and improve all round
welfare by reducing the number of
gathers and subsequent stress on
the lambs which can stifle growth
rates. The system will also make
substantial labour savings.”
Ritchie’s Charlie Brown continues:
“The three-year project will initially
evaluate three different designs: a
walk over weigher, a monitor with
creep to incentivise throughput
and platforms in a field for lambs
to jump on. Each design will be
accompanied by a data-handling
app.
“For farmers feeding creep, the
project will also develop a metered
feed lamb weigher allowing a user
adjustable amount of feed to be fed
to individual lambs. This prevents
the dominant animals from getting
more than their share of feed and
provides a restriction on intake of
feeds which can prevent ill-health
from over-feeding.”
The platforms will be researched
on three of Agri-EPI Centre’s
innovation farms and one of
Ritchie’s trial farms with lamb weight
continually recorded from four
weeks of age through to finishing
to achieve a real time average for
the flock. Ritchie will construct
initial prototypes for each design of
weigher and commission them on
farm for validation while individual
lamb weights will be transmitted
over mobile phone networks to an
online cloud database, processed
and displayed on a web-based user
platform.
National Sheep Association
(NSA) project manager Nicola
Noble comments: “This technology
development should reduce costs,
save time, potentially improve health
and welfare, and improve levels of
data recording and its accuracy,
alongside increasing productivity
and efficiency at a whole flock level.
NSA looks forward to this project
progressing and providing industry
input at the different stages of
development.”
John Glen sets out plan for modern civil service
to deliver stronger public services
To deliver
• Minister to outline value of Civil Service, with new measures to
strengthen public sector delivery
• Reform will focus on investing in technology, reducing
unnecessary process and supporting talent attraction, retention
and reducing staff churn
• New line management standards across the Civil Service,
underpinned by reviewing staff performance management
approach, to support career development and help tackle rare
instances of unchecked poor performance or serious issues
with agreed office attendance
• New guidance on staff networks will safeguard civil service
impartiality, alongside review of network spending
In his keynote address at the
Institute for Government’s annual
conference this morning (Tuesday,
January 23rd, 2024), the Minister
for the Cabinet Office, John Glen,
will outline his long-term priorities
to modernise the Civil Service into
a more productive institution so it
can deliver stronger public services
through three key priorities:
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First, unlocking the transformative
potential of new technologies such
as A.I. by increasing our ambition
on the pace and scale of digital
transformation in government.
Second, unlocking new ways
of working by streamlining and
simplifying how government
operates. Third, leveraging
workforce potential by addressing
problems of talent attraction,
retention and churn through a
smaller, skilled workforce that is
better rewarded, with stronger
performance management
The Minister will highlight new
line management standards,
underpinned by reviewing staff
performance management across
Government, building on the good
practice in place across most of the
Civil Service. Line managers will be
supported to work with their teams
to develop civil servants’ expertise
and skills with a more consistent
approach across departments,
while also addressing rare instances
of unchecked poor performance.
He will also make clear that he
believes face-to-face working and
making full use of Government
offices are the right way to deliver
for the taxpayer and develop new
talent. Data from surveying 30,700
civil servants shows that ‘learning
from others’ and staff interaction
GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SECTOR JOURNAL WINTER 2023/2024
has consistently been found to
be better supported in the office
compared to at home.
Ministers will look at performance
management guidance for senior
civil servants to ensure that making
full use of offices is factored into
their yearly reviews.
Setting out the vital role the
Civil Service plays up and down
the country and emphasising the
importance of ensuring it works
as effectively and efficiently as
possible, he will tell the audience
that the Civil Service has to learn to
do more with less.
He will also welcome recent
successes like the £7.8bn in
efficiencies secured between 2020
and 2022 through central functional
teams, like commercial, finance and
project delivery - focusing on how
to replicate these across the civil
service.