Hoofprint helps farmers monitor and improve their productivity and the carbon footprint associated with their farms. The web-based programme produces farm performance information based on data collected to determine the carbon footprint.
General manager of livestock Murray Behrent said the first measurable data from the initial group of suppliers using Hoofprint was expected to be available by June next year.
The company is looking to develop the performance reporting in Hoofprint so suppliers can obtain more information on their emissions and benchmark their performance against past years and against other suppliers.
Wool is to be included in Hoofprint for the first time so suppliers can input what they have shorn and what they have sold.
The Hoofprint “interface” is being refined following feedback from suppliers on how to improve the look and feel of the system. Suppliers will also be able to upload and view video training clips soon.
Suppliers have welcomed the opportunity to understand the best ways to reduce their carbon footprint on-farm while improving farm production and profit, Murray says.
They recognise that Hoofprint is playing a vital role in protecting farmers' access to our markets in Britain, Europe and the United States, he says.
Meanwhile, Alliance is preparing to examine the initial results of two tail-docking trials, which are due in April. The trials were designed to understand the effect on lambs when docking their tails at different lengths.
Once the final results are received in 2014, a best practice booklet on tail docking will be developed and distributed to suppliers.
Furthermore, Alliance Group’s innovative technology VIAscan has been used to analyse carcases in the first year of the Deer Progeny Testing trial. It follows the cooperative’s decision to extend VIAscan to venison earlier this year. VIAscan measures the meat, less the fat and bone, to capture yield performance levels.
