SaaS is Helping to Re-engineer the Caregiving Service in Farming
A leadership story of Chris Bomgaars, founder of EveryPig.
Pork production is quite a competitive environment in the US now. The companies that are surviving in this industry have to get large. At the same time, consolidation faces a big problem: it gets hard to collect real-time data on animals health issues. As a result, more pig deaths and financial losses are happening.
Reading this article, you will learn how Chris Bomgaars, a CEO and Founder of EveryPig, found his solution to tackle this industrial problem.
Table of Contents
- The Story Begins in Iowa;
- Joining the Family Business;
- Creating the Solution;
- Making the Product;
- Technical Challenges;
- Moving To the Market;
- Founder Tips;
- Conclusion.
The Story Begins in Iowa
Chris Bomgaars was born in Orange City, in northwest Iowa. His father led a veterinarian clinic. He assisted him with running calls from vaccinating cattle and checking out the animals. The city’s population counted approximately 6.000 citizens, with around 1,5 mil pigs growing in 30 miles. “Orange City is located in the very heart of the pig country”, — Chris shared in one of his recent interviews.
Despite gaining a broad caregiving experience, Chris wasn’t up to devote his life to farming. He went abroad, studied in Spain, and then came to New Orleans, where he was taught international business. Chris’s life seemed to be like an adventure:
“After graduation, I was hired by a company based out of New Orleans. For that time, they wanted to expand to Costa Rica. And I said, “Hey, my Spanish is pretty decent, and I am unattached and very interested in scaling up a company in Central America. And so I was there for about a year and a half and got an exciting experience”.
Chris’s team worked for a logistics service that tracked the ocean containers coming in and out of the ports. Unfortunately, this venture wasn’t successful. Their team set up the infrastructure and prepared the environment waiting for prospective accounts, which never came. The company was sold, and Chris found himself without a job.
Joining the Family Business
By that time, Chris’s family had moved to Southern Florida. “My dad had started our family farms. Next, he began to own pigs with some of his customers that were having a hard time staying in business as small to midsize pork producers”, — says Chris.
For the last two decades, farming in the US has changed a lot. Small companies merged with bigger ones to survive. The whole industry moved to the contracting basis. Now it looks as so: the farm owners became the growers. They own the land and buildings, take care of the animals, but the commodity belongs to the contractor or buying company.
The new circumstances impacted Chris decision about his future job:
“I saw an opportunity to start working with my dad’s company. <…> I focused for ten years on doing everything I could to scale the business. And we had much success during that time, and we scaled from raising pigs on 30 to over 350 farms, which is exciting”.
Facing the Challenges
Chris joined his father’s company called RC Family Farms. Their business grew successfully, producing over a million pigs per year. However, it was facing severe obstacles. At some moment, Chris realized that the company’s growth wasn’t under control. Incoming complaints from caregivers evidenced that the scaling became a challenge. “They would let us know about a health problem, and for one reason or another, we didn’t respond to that health issue quickly enough.”
Meanwhile, Chris was receiving feedback from veterinarians and field managers that they weren’t getting the communications they needed from the caregivers. “Many caregivers would call our vets when they realized pigs were sick, but not all of them. Some would fail to report the death loss of 1 or 2 healthy pigs for several days in a row until that number would spike much higher, and a health issue would have taken hold in the barn. This meant we would start treating a health problem on day 6 instead of day 2.”
Veterinarians were often called to come to the farm when the diseases were spread out, and their work often seemed as if they needed to put out a fire. In other words, such aid was too late. The miscommunication between vets and farm growers (who will be referred to as the caregivers further) led to more dead pigs, which is terrible for many reasons, obviously financial, animal health and welfare.
Being a buying company, RC Family Farms was obliged to provide a range of services to the producers, including veterinarian treatment. The rising number of complaints from caregivers signaled a significant threat to their company.
Investigating the Problem
Chris believed that he would be doing a better job if he could improve the process of cooperation between the veterinarians and caregivers. At first, he observed the production flow in the company. His primary purpose was to investigate the main roadblocks in communication. He discovered the following issues:
- Veterinarians couldn’t react on time without receiving the actual pigs’ health data. Furthermore, they were located far away, so they couldn’t arrive right after receiving the inquiries. It may usually take one or a couple of days before they visit the needed place, which is obviously too late. If they knew about symptoms upfront, they would prioritize their visits in the schedule and prevent the disease from spreading.
- The way the information was collected on farms was utterly outdated and didn’t respond to the company’s scale. Caregivers needed to write down the check-ups and the barn sheets on paper. They also delay this work because of many other duties.
- The information based on paper barn sheets and check-ups went late to the office. More often, caregivers send the summary report at the end of the month, mentioning the past symptoms and mortality statistics.
Chris was looking for any helpful tools to get the process organized but wondered to find out that there wasn’t any relevant software at that moment:
“I couldn’t find any real-time solutions in the market, and I started to think, this is crazy. You know, we’re in a technological age where we can be applying some tools to this. We can start to look at real-time data from the farm and respond to the health issues before the animals are dead. It seemed common sense, but no one had been there doing it”.
Creating the Solution
The absence of the desired platform on the market appeared to be a new call for Chris. To build a solution that corresponds to the needs of the swine industry became his new venture. But firstly, the future founder of EveryPig aimed to create a bespoke solution that would address the issues of the RC Family Farms.
The significant advantage for Chris was a good grasp of his future users, their background and requirements. He knew that the envisioned system should cater to people with different proficiency levels and experiences, ranging from those just getting started to ones who have been taking care of pigs for forty years.
The Concept of the Design
Chris accumulated his preferences regarding UX design and began looking for a specialist who would implement those principles to the platform:
- Veterinarians should learn about new symptoms as soon as they are detected.
- Caregivers should have a convenient tool to submit health-related information.
- The data must be historically organized and viewed by the group (pertained to the barn and farm).
In a short while, Chris was referenced by his partners to Nick Barlett, a professional product designer and business analyst. He began his work by visiting numerous farm owners and caregivers, learning about their experience and screening their daily routine.
Nick took into account that the recording process should be as simple as possible, not requiring much technical knowledge from his users. Eventually, he found a way to substitute the paperwork with electronic recording. To make it possible, they used the visual patterns familiar to their users from the real world:
- The Daily Check-ups, which operate as a short survey.
- The Farmfeed, close to Facebook’s news feed view.
- The Electronic Barnsheets, eliminating the paperwork.
The Farmfeed’s view is similar to Facebook’s or LinkedIn’s design. It corresponds to how human minds are learning to digest much information. “There’s much psychology behind how they function and how we work with them.”
The information presented on the farmfeed also goes to the electronic barnsheet and could be searched by a specific period.
While meeting with their potential clients, Chris and Nick faced an issue related to the user experience:
“We did get much resistance from companies in the beginning who would say: “We have caregivers that don’t have iPhones. And we found that to be somewhere around 10 percent of the current market or more minor. And each year, the number of people not using smartphones without access is already very small and getting smaller by the day”.
At present, the daily check-up screen is viewable through any consumer device using a web browser (smartphone, tablet or desktop).
New Data Record Principles
Whether he acknowledged that or not, Chris and his team invented a new process of data gathering, adopted to the rapidly changing sector. The gigantic companies, incorporating thousands of farms and millions of pigs, couldn’t safely operate using outdated technology. The industry desperately needed a new experience.
So, the EveryPigs record system was based on entirely new principles:
- The caregivers need to fill out the daily check-ups in a friendly manner, like fulfilling a questionnaire. They are supposed to answer only ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
- Once the check-up is submitted, the data becomes observable in the Farmfeed.
- If caregivers choose ‘Yes’, they will be prompted to add some details. Meanwhile, they could attach photos and videos of ill pigs or the farm space.
- The veterinarians could respond and make a diagnosis based on the attachments on the feed.
- The daily check-ups are submitted daily, so the veterinarians keep track of the health situation.
The functionality’s core is based on the early data capture idea. The daily check-ups served to keep up this principle. They contain the crucial information required for making a diagnosis:
- Temperature statistics;
- Water consumption;
- Medications given;
- Symptoms found;
- Voice messages;
- Images, videos.
Meanwhile, having tested the prototype with the RC Family Farms’ crew, Chris noticed one critical point regarding the accuracy of the diagnostics:
“What we see happening in the field is 95% of the diagnoses are not getting lab confirmation. And so we have separated into two different types of diagnosis in the app: a clinical and the lab-confirmed diagnosis”.
Chris envisioned additional features to be added to the value proposition. Besides the real-time communication, it would ensure a high-quality diagnosis and mortality forecasting. He believed that accurate diagnosis would gain a crucial demand on the market. That is how EveryPig evolved to an AI-based solution and became a vet tech software product.
Making the Product
Choosing a Vendor
Building business-class software demands a lot of time and resources. Besides sales and customer relations, the CEO ought to oversee the technical work. To improve his productivity, Chris decided to take over the software design to a digital agency. He started looking for a partner who could take care of the development cycle and build the end-to-end solution.
In the fall of 2016, Chris had many meetings with potential contractors. Eventually, he decided to move on with the Brocoders. He explained the criteria of choosing our team during his presentation on tech meetup in Sumy:
“You know, if you are a non-technical guy, you will always be missing some crucial details, which technicians already are aware of. You can lose your confidence in the product while talking with some of the software developers. The reason is the big ego of programmers, who don’t have enough skills to level up with your background. But with Brocoders, I obtained peer-to-peer communication. Their team guided me at those points that I lacked, so we worked smoothly”.
Establishing a Team
The Brocoders team was provided with the fully documented requirements and designs. Their main goal was to refine the technical prototype and help Chris prepare for the sales operations on the market. They were expected to accomplish the following work:
- Refine the UI/UX based on layouts provided by the EveryPig team;
- Ensure the streamlined work of the features in a browser;
- Implement cloud data storage for media files.
The team delivered the first release using the well-tested framework languages, tailored to building web applications:
- The system architecture was developed using Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL;
- The client’s side was created with the front-end framework React.js;
- The cloud storage and hosting were based on Amazon Web Services.
The development team was presented with those specialists:
- Project manager, 1 person;
- Front-end developers, 2 persons;
- Back-end developers, 2 persons.
Chris and Nick engaged another software development team specializing in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for the AI-based part. Both agencies were located in the same city (Sumy, Ukraine) so that it was very comfortable to collaborate.
Development Approach
EveryPig’s team developed its product iteratively, using the sprint system. Each sprint lasted for 3 weeks. By the end of each sprint, engineers presented new features. This helped Chris to issue new product releases faster and report on functionality updates to his customers and partners.
In fact, each milestone entailed many thoughts on features development, redesign and some enhancements. To make sure that incoming ideas will not distract from the main goals, the project manager proposed to break down the desired features by following groups:
- Must have features;
- Should have features;
- Nice to have features.
Such an approach brought the critical point to evaluating the new feature and helped Chris keep focusing on the main priorities.
Technical Challenges
Low Internet connection
Poor cellular coverage is a common problem for many farm locations in the US, especially in rural areas. To overcome it, the technical crew implemented the offline mode for the web application.
With offline mode, caregivers could submit the daily check-ups even when they were out of WiFi connection or cellular coverage:
“We have an offline mode built which allows users to enter information even when they don’t have a signal and when they get back to an area with a signal, it automatically uploads. And that’s definitely helped”.
Confusion with the timezone
While developing the daily check-ups, programmers discovered a significant issue. In some cases, the submitted reports often showed the prior date. For the service app, which implied real-time communication between the stakeholders, it was a crucial issue. The claim was received from one of the early adopters of EveryPig. Their farms were located in different US states. The caregiver was behind the vet’s timezone, the daily check-ups were recognized as of yesterday.
The back-end engineer tackled this problem. He applied the UTC offset and added the geolocation feature for each farm account. When registering a farm, an admin could view the recommended time zone and approve it. So, the multi-zone support helped EveryPig avoid confusion between the dates and showed the accurate time.
Performance on the user side
EveryPig makes it possible for veterinarians to expand, scroll and annotate the pictures added to the daily check-ups. Using these features veterinarians could faster analyze and send their feedback regarding a new case. However, this opportunity has some cost, as it requires advanced data rendering in a browser.
Front-end engineers from Brocoders utilized a few React.js libraries, which helped them save their time. React Image Gallery and React Images Viewer provided enough components to accomplish their work.
Now veterinarians comment on the uploaded assets, review the images of dead pigs and help with timely consultations on symptoms and diagnosis.
Moving To the Market
Once the team had finished the first release, Chris invited 198 users to the platform, 38 of them began using it in the first month. Following the principles of LEAN, the founder of EveryPig utilized the minimal resources for running the pre-sales campaign:
“Geographically, I’m a bit isolated from where most of the pigs in the country are here in South Florida, but more often than not, it was sending an email to people I would know in the industry that might have a similar company to ours.”
One successful case helped EveryPig’s early customer get the real benefit from the product. The software product enabled them to indicate the severe disease and prevent its further spread. Besides saving pigs, the platform saved the company from losing its money.
Advanced Features
Since its inception, Everypig has significantly expanded with new functionality. Except for veterinarian needs, its features are aligned with the entire pork production process:
- Mortality forecasting;
- Automated reporting;
- Smart suggestions;
- Inventory tracking;
- Site visit reports.
AI-based Data Recognition
The platform stores over a million pictures uploaded by veterinarians. The AI-based core is learning these cases for future diagnosis. So, once a new image is uploaded, the system computes it and provides suggestions based on previous cases. This helps veterinarians to make more accurate predictions and diagnoses.
Automated Data Tracking
At the moment, EveryPig enables integration with BarnTools. This solution helps to track the temperature and water usage automatically. It runs based on the controller devices placed in the barns. They capture the data and send it over to the server. EveryPig takes these data from the service API and populates them into the system. This way, the platform makes the work of caregivers more efficient, since they don’t need to put it manually.
Logistic operations
The most extensive part of EveryPig is a Logistics Scheduling module, which automates the shipment processes for managers of the production companies. It joins the buying company with farm owners and helps to track the delivery work at various stages.
Founder Tips from Chris Bomgaars:
#1. Be specific regarding your future customers
“We found out there are two camps in our industry right now, those that believe in the value of software and technology and those that don’t. The receptive companies have become great partners of ours in helping us collaborate to drive out new functionalities. And we’ve learned there are some customers that we don’t want. They’re not an excellent fit for us. And that’s ok because, especially in the beginning, your company has limited bandwidth. So I think it’s essential to think about who you want to be your customer and be your partner.”
#2. Speak with your customers before you set the development
“Looking back, if we had done things more like rapid prototyping, not even worrying about hiring the developers until we had mockups approved by multiple companies in the industry, it would have saved us a lot of time and resources”.
#3. Focus on product value proposition first
“We want to bring the most value that software technologies can offer us. Our focus for 4 years really has been on a product first. And I think we’ve been ahead of our industry in terms of a value proposition.”
How Are Things Going Now?
Created specifically for the pork production industry, EveryPig is used by more than 1,550 pork producers and veterinarians in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. The web app is currently available in seven languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and French. Production and veterinarian teams across the globe that need to enable their remote-work capabilities can request a complimentary demo of EveryPig’s platform.
