When Bill Leask and Mark Olson met at a Lion’s Club meeting about four years ago, Leask was a cow-calf operator with a need and Olson was an information technology expert who could build him a solution.
That meeting resulted in the development of Flokk Systems, a durable hardware and software solution useful for people who need to record data in the harsh conditions of the cattle business on the Prairies.
Flokk now has a product ready for market but struggles to find investors who want to buy into an unconventional technology product so it can be built at scale.
“We have a business plan for $1.2 million. That’s what we need to get us our seed hardware inventory to start selling them,” says Olson, president of Flokk Systems, who grew up on a cattle farm.
Flokk’s handheld device isn’t the typical compact, touch-screen-only data input device, and it isn’t just another app to put on your phone, says Olson.
It also is aimed at average cow-calf producers, not just large operators.
Jody Bell, who runs on-farm trials and marketing for Flokk, says the data is entered using toggles and switches, which can be quickly operated even while wearing gloves. The device will record data without any data connection and will synchronize when it reconnects at some point later.
That’s a big difference from pulling a phone from a pocket, removing gloves, finding an app and making the touch-screen work in the cold. That’s one of the main differentiators for Flokk, which was built by people involved in the cattle business and is intended to be used by their peers.
“The entire team is ranchers,” says Olson. “We all have hands-on experience with cow-calf.”
Leask looked for a solution to enter data digitally on his cow-calf operation near Dogpound, Alta., but found all the options were too expensive and were app-based. A lot of software is aimed at purebred cattle producers.
“Seventy-five per cent are still using pen and paper,” says Bell, but pending requirements for traceability could be made easier by using a digital solution.
At 100 cows, it’s hard for him to justify expensive technology, says Bell, and the average age of cow-calf producers is 60.
The regulatory and reporting environment has changed since the company started four years ago, says Olson.
“The livestock traceability, it’s not going to be viable to do that by hand.”
Flokk has focused on creating a system that’s as simple and flexible as possible.
Want to get the full package, with data that can be uploaded to a management system and automate traceability reporting and record data on pregnancy or record weights? That’s an option.
Do you just want simple spreadsheets with no need to share them? That’s possible too, by purchasing the handheld unit and downloading the data onto your own computer.
Farmers control their data. The source of truth in the data is the handheld and it can go no further than that, if desired.
Development so far has been funded by various investors, including beef producers. Dale Johnston, Olson’s uncle, is a retired beef producer who invested in the development of Flokk.
“I think it’s such a great thing. The idea behind it is to guarantee a safe product and so we can avoid a wreck like we had with BSE,” he said.
Olson was raised on a beef farm and ended up in a career in computer software and hardware. He made the first Flokk prototype in his basement.
It’s been difficult to find investors to raise the $1.2 million needed to build a volume of the product to get it to market.
The company doesn’t fit the mould of most technology startups. It doesn’t have an app that has to be downloaded through the Google or Apple stores.
Agriculture technology is different and Flokk has struggled to get that point across. When funders hear technology, they look for the consumer angle.
“The timeframes are long, the scale is different,” says Olson, adding that billions of dollars have been lost in agriculture technology “because people who have never been on a farm think they have a better way.”
“They want pure software … they don’t want this hardware. We think dedicated hardware simplifies usage so much.”
Olson sees opportunities for Flokk Systems in other food sectors that need an inexpensive, rugged system that can be used for traceability. He also has tried the system on a dairy farm to manage traceability, which is especially apt given the growth of breeding beef to dairy cattle.
“Every dairy herd is suddenly a little cow-calf herd,” says Olson. He hopes they’ll also be looking for a simple, automated traceability system.
