Fielding success on the farm

Developing products from the field up

Standing in a shed far from Dublin, comparing and contrasting the tails of different cow breeds; intermittently the cows raise their tail and dispense a ‘fragrant’ surprise. It’s not glamorous, but to properly see the environment and its users and study the ethnographics of a somewhat unusual field, it was important to quite literally get our hands dirty!

An SMS calving alert sensor, Moocall, texts you when calving has started. Moocall is the first of its kind; easy to use, non-invasive and cost effective solution for live calf birth monitoring.

Moocall was developed and radically changed over the duration of the design discovery stage mainly due to the rapid learning methods implemented on site on the farm. Our clients involvement was an intrinsic part of the design process in implementing the constant rapid learning throughout the project and their involvement helps keep design costs down. Rapid learning on the farm taking just hours could save days to replicate similar conditions in the office.

The drastic changes that evolved from this process were a complete form change to counter the cow’s natural curiosity to eat, lick and crush the Moocall units. Moocall is over engineered to withstand the harsh environment that it is to be used in come rain or shine!