Halter
2023
Increasing profit for farmers by pro-actively managing the reproductive health of dairy cows.
Senior UX Designer
iOS
Introduction
Halter's solar-powered smart cow collars and iOS app allows farmers to remotely shift, virtually fence, optimise pasture, and proactively monitor the health of dairy cows. Watch this video to see more on how Halter works.
Movement data is:
Sent from the collar.
Received by towers installed on the farm.
Interpreted as behavioural data by Machine Learning Models (Moving, Grazing, Resting, Ruminating).
Displayed as behavioural insights to the farmer in the app.
Heat Detection
Using advanced data modelling & machine learning, Halter is able to recognise patterns in cows behaviour. One of the things it can tell is whether or not a cow is on heat.
Traditional methods of heat detection are time consuming during the busiest time of the dairy farming calendar. Knowing each cows optimal heat window gives farmers the best chance of conception. Learn more.
Opportunities
During the 2022 spring mating season, Halter successfully demonstrated that their models could accurately detect heats in dairy cows. This breakthrough provided valuable insights that were used to refine and expand the models throughout the rest of the year.
Enhancing Mating Season Performance for Farmers
By leveraging this improved data, we identified opportunities to introduce new features that could deliver deeper reproductive insights, such as identifying cycling vs. non-cycling animals, tracking submission rates, and monitoring non-return rates—all within the app.
Iterating on the 2022 Feature Set
Feedback gathered from the 2022 season highlighted several areas for improvement in the existing feature set. These insights presented a clear opportunity to refine and enhance the app's functionality, ensuring it better met the needs of farmers and delivered an improved user experience for the 2023 season.
Goals
Deliver Valuable Reproductive Insights
Develop and release a series of features designed to provide farmers with critical reproductive insights. These include identifying cycling vs. non-cycling animals, tracking submission rates, and monitoring non-return rates—all aimed at empowering farmers to make data-driven decisions during mating season.
Increase Six-Week In-Calf Rate (6WICR)
Demonstrate the value of Halter by improving the six-week in-calf rate (6WICR) for farmers using our platform, comparing their performance to regional averages. Achieving above-average results would validate the effectiveness of Halter and its potential for higher ROI during the mating season.
Prove ROI for Farmers
Provide clear, actionable evidence of the return on investment (ROI) for farmers using Halter. By quantifying improvements in mating season performance, we aimed to build trust and showcase the tangible benefits of integrating Halter into their operations.
My Role
I led the design and user testing for the Mating product leading up to and throughout the 2023 spring mating season. I worked collaboratively in a fast paced startup environment with:
Data scientists to visually communicate insights from ML models.
Veterinarians to validate ideas and ensure the well-being of the animals.
Product Managers for expert knowledge and to define, scope, and plan the roadmap.
Developers to implement the designs.
Tools we used:
Notion to centralise product definitions.
Linear to create stories and track progress in development.
Figma to visualise early concepts, create user flows, test clickable prototypes and communicate hand off to developers.
Early Ideation
I defined interactions and user interfaces through white-boarding and user flows. There was many hours spent sitting around whiteboards with farmers and vets to under which metrics would be most useful and how best to display them.
I was leveraging an existing design system so we were able to move from initial concept to near polished designs quickly while ensuring consistency with the rest of the app.
I built functional prototypes to validate and test our designs with veterinarians and farmers.
Collaborating with Veterinarians
We collaborated closely with a board of veterinarians to deeply understand the science underpinning our designs. To gain firsthand insights, I visited rural vet clinics where I observed discussions between farmers and vets about the results from the previous mating season.
Understanding the science was crucial to ensure that the features we designed were not only user-friendly but also scientifically accurate and aligned with best practices in animal health and reproduction. This foundation helped us build trust with farmers and vets while ensuring the app provided meaningful, actionable insights.
To make the insights accessible and engaging, we created infographics, like the one shown below, that highlighted key findings. These visual summaries helped drive understanding and foster collaboration across the team.
Contextual Inquiry and Remote Usability Testing
To design effectively, it’s essential to understand the user in their real-world context. I visited Halter farmers on their farms, immersing myself in their daily routines and challenges. These contextual inquiries provided valuable insights into the farmers’ needs, workflows, and pain points, helping us design features that truly addressed their requirements.
While on-site visits were invaluable, most of our user research was conducted remotely. Through interviews and usability testing sessions, we observed farmers interacting with clickable prototypes, allowing us to gather actionable feedback on the design. This remote approach enabled us to iterate quickly and refine the experience based on real user behavior.
Finding: Planning and Prioritization
Through our research, we identified which features would have the greatest impact at different stages of the mating season. This insight allowed us to prioritize our backlog and adopt a phased approach, releasing features on a two-week cadence to align with farmers' evolving needs throughout the three-month season. For example, cycling metrics were critical during pre-mating, while submission metrics became relevant later in the season.
MVP
We realized we could quickly provide value by delivering simple, actionable metrics that addressed immediate farmer needs.
V2
Building on the MVP, we introduced graphs to give farmers a clear visual overview of their data, making it easier to interpret trends and patterns.
V3
In the next iteration, we added automatically generated insights. These insights further simplified decision-making by highlighting key takeaways and actionable recommendations for farmers.
Finding: Graph Scrubbing
Feedback revealed that the graphs and key metrics were limited to displaying only the latest data, which restricted farmers’ ability to analyze historical trends.
To address this, we introduced a scrubbing feature that allowed farmers to navigate through the graphs and access specific details about older data. This enhancement provided greater flexibility and deeper insights, empowering farmers to make more informed decisions based on both current and past performance.
Finding: Heat Graph Improvements
Our research revealed significant opportunities to enhance the heat graph for individual cows, making it more intuitive and actionable for farmers. The following improvements were identified:
Clearer Labelling: Adding labels to the X and Y axes to improve clarity and usability.
Enhanced Visual Contrast: Making the difference between heat activity and normal activity more pronounced, increasing farmers’ confidence in interpreting the data.
Heat Event Timeline: Introducing a timeline above the graph to visually summarize heat events. Selecting a specific heat event would scroll the graph to the corresponding data point for detailed review.
Editable Data: Providing the ability to edit or remove heat activity if the farmer determined the cow was not actually on heat upon examination.
Flexible Zoom Levels: Adding month, week, and day zoom levels to allow farmers to analyze trends over different timeframes.
These changes aimed to make the heat graph more user-friendly while empowering farmers with better control and insight into their herd’s reproductive data.
Final Designs
Mating Metrics
Pre-mating cycling and fertility insights are critical to ensuring a successful mating season. Real-time visibility into key performance metrics such as:
Daily Cows on Heat
Days to First Heat
Cycling Rate
Submission Rate
Weekly Non-Return Rate
Estimated 6-Week In-Calf Rate
Not-In-Calf Rate
Benefits for Farmers
These metrics allow farmers to proactively identify and address potential issues, such as low cycling rates or delayed submission rates, ensuring that every opportunity to optimize herd fertility is captured. With actionable insights at their fingertips, farmers can make informed decisions that improve reproductive outcomes, increase efficiency, and ultimately drive a higher return on investment during the mating season.
Easily Identify Cows on Heat
Farmers can quickly and easily see which cows are on heat through a clear and intuitive interface:
Graph Overview: The main Mating tab displays a graph showing how many cows are on heat, providing a quick snapshot of herd activity.
Detailed List: By tapping through, farmers can view a detailed list of cows currently on heat.
Individual History: Further tap into an individual cow's profile to review its full cycling history.
Benefits for Farmers
This streamlined process saves time and effort, allowing farmers to act quickly on heat detection insights. Knowing which cows are currently on heat or reviewing their history enables timely insemination, reducing missed opportunities and improving overall mating season outcomes. With this level of visibility, farmers can maximize herd fertility and boost reproductive efficiency.
Filter, Sort, and Take Action
Farmers have the flexibility to filter, sort, and act on their herd’s data, tailoring the insights to align with their specific mating strategies.
Benefits For Farmers
This functionality enables farmers to quickly pinpoint critical information, such as identifying cows ready for insemination or those requiring closer monitoring. By customizing the data view to suit their needs, farmers can make more precise and timely decisions, improving mating efficiency and optimizing reproductive outcomes. The ability to take immediate action based on filtered data saves time and ensures a more strategic approach to herd management.
Ensure Your Herd is Rested, Healthy, and Cycling Early
Set your herd up for success by giving them the best chance to get in-calf early. Customize feeding plans based on calving dates or body condition scores, and monitor individual and mob rumination levels to ensure every animal is recovering and thriving.
Benefits for Farmers
By tailoring nutrition and closely tracking recovery, farmers can improve the overall health and fertility of their herd. Early cycling reduces the risk of delayed pregnancies, ensuring a more synchronized mating season. This proactive approach minimizes stress on animals, optimizes milk production, and increases the likelihood of achieving higher six-week in-calf rates, leading to improved farm efficiency and profitability.
Pete & Ann lifted their 6-week in-calf rate by 13%, a $90,000 profit
“We have just got our PD results back and have had our best result in 20 years, there were a number of factors that led to this but right at the heart is Halter’s Mating tool, and Pasture Pro”
“Tell ya what, the team that’s designed the mating tab need a pat on the back. This has come leaps and bounds since last year. I’ll make an extra 250k on my business this year that I’ve never had.”
Challenge: Navigating a Complex Industry
As someone without a background in farming or animal health, I faced the challenge of designing for an industry with highly specialized knowledge, unique workflows, and deeply ingrained practices. Understanding the complexities of livestock management, reproductive health, and the daily realities of farmers was essential to creating impactful solutions.
Solution: Immersive Research and Strategic Preparation
To bridge this knowledge gap, I adopted a hands-on approach:
Farm Visits: I visited multiple farms to observe firsthand how farmers interact with their herds, manage their workflows, and make decisions. These visits provided invaluable context and real-world insights that could not be captured through secondary research alone.
Proactive Planning: Given the limited time available during farm visits, I ensured that every session was highly structured and goal-oriented. I arrived with well-prepared prototypes and clear plans to test specific features or validate design ideas. This approach maximized the value of the time spent with farmers.
Building Empathy: By immersing myself in the farming environment, I gained a deeper appreciation for the challenges farmers face, allowing me to design with their specific needs and constraints in mind.
Outcome
This strategy not only helped me overcome the steep learning curve but also ensured that the solutions we developed were grounded in the realities of the farming industry. Farmers appreciated the practical and well-tailored designs, which addressed their pain points while respecting their time and expertise.
Challenge: Engaging with Remote Users
One of the significant challenges in developing the Mating product was the remote nature of our users—farmers who are often located in rural areas with limited access to testing environments. This made it logistically difficult to gather in-person feedback, especially for a product that required specific conditions, such as cycling cows and farmers actively engaged in mating season tasks.
Additionally, the demands of farm work meant farmers had limited availability for lengthy or in-depth feedback sessions, further complicating the testing process.
Solution: Remote Usability Testing with Clickable Prototypes
To overcome these obstacles, we implemented a remote user testing strategy:
Video Call Testing: We conducted usability testing sessions over video calls, which allowed us to reach farmers wherever they were. This approach minimized disruption to their routines while enabling us to gather valuable feedback.
Clickable Prototypes: Instead of relying on fully functional products, we used high-fidelity clickable prototypes that simulated the app’s features and interactions. This allowed us to test designs effectively without requiring a complete build.
Focused Sessions: To respect farmers' time, we structured these sessions around clear objectives and prioritized key features, ensuring we captured actionable insights within a short timeframe.
Iterative Feedback Loop: By integrating feedback from these sessions into our design process, we could refine the product quickly and deliver solutions that better aligned with user needs.
Outcome
This approach enabled us to bridge the gap between our team and remote users, ensuring that the product was shaped by real-world feedback despite the logistical challenges. Farmers appreciated the convenience of the remote sessions, and we gained crucial insights to improve the Mating product, ensuring it met the unique demands of their workflows.
Challenge: Varying Levels of Tech Familiarity
On many farms, not all team members are familiar with the latest technology. Farmhands, who often handle day-to-day tasks, may have less experience with digital tools compared to farm owners who manage operations. This disparity can create challenges in adoption and effective use of the app, as all users need to interact seamlessly with the product to achieve the desired outcomes.
For instance, a farmhand using a phone for quick updates might have a different level of comfort and understanding than the farm owner who sets up the system on a shared device like an iPad left in the milking shed.
Solution: Intuitive and Inclusive Design
To address this challenge, we focused on making the app intuitive and accessible for users with varying levels of tech familiarity:
Simple, Clear Interfaces: We designed the app with a focus on simplicity, using clear labels, intuitive navigation, and minimal steps to complete key tasks.
Role-Appropriate Features: Features were tailored to suit different users’ responsibilities—farmhands needed quick, actionable insights, while farm owners required more comprehensive data for planning and oversight.
Device Flexibility: The app worked seamlessly across devices, from personal smartphones to shared tablets, ensuring all users could access the tools they needed without technical barriers.
Onboarding and Guidance: Built-in onboarding and contextual tips helped new users get started quickly, reducing the learning curve for those less familiar with technology.
Outcome
By prioritizing ease of use, we ensured the app could be effectively used by everyone on the farm, regardless of their tech background. This inclusivity not only boosted adoption but also fostered collaboration between farm owners and their teams, leading to better outcomes during the mating season.
