‘He saves 600 kids a year’: Chinese man who quit job in finance to become farmer prevents death of hundreds of baby goats on hi-tech farm
- Huang Zhen quit world of finance in Shanghai to set up a farm that uses artificial intelligence to monitor goats during birthing season
- The 39-year-old has installed hundreds of hi-tech cameras around his farm, an innovation that has seen death rates plummet among baby goats
A man from Shanghai, who quit his lucrative job in finance to become a farmer 14 years ago, has introduced Artificial Intelligence, or AI, technology to his farm to reduce mortality rates among new-born goats.
The use of traditional farming methods at goat birthing season usually results in an average mortality rate of four to six per cent, possibly rising to 10 per cent in winter.
However, the new AI system tells workers on the farm when the goats are giving birth, so that they can monitor the process and alert a veterinary surgeon if there are any problems, greatly reducing the rate of death.
“The farm currently has 2,000 core breeder goats. With the technology we can save about 600 baby goats a year,” said Huang Zhen, 39, in a video which went viral on Chinese social media on December 21.
After graduating from Shanghai’s East China University of Political Science and Law, Huang entered the finance industry.
But soon he realised that the world of finance was not for him, quit his job and acquired 300 mu (50 acres) of land on which to grow organic vegetables with his parents on Shanghai’s Chongming Island.
He learned farming from scratch by hands-on experience and got to know the real life of farmers through daily contact with them.
One day, a local peasant woman who worked at his farm asked for a day off and returned with a back injury. She told him she had spent her whole “off” day harvesting cauliflower for much less pay than she earned at his farm.
Her story convinced Huang the future was in developing modern farming by introducing technology to increase efficiency and improve the life of farmers.
In 2015, he expanded into livestock farming, specialising in Chongming White Goats, an indigenous Chongming Island breed.
His new AI system was co-developed with a visual intelligence team from Meituan, China’s food delivery giant.
More than 50 high-definition cameras installed across the farm closely monitor the performance of the breeding goats and issue warnings if situations develop that are likely to be harmful to the animals.
According to a member of staff from the system’s development team, it has an accuracy rate of 98 per cent. The system can also detect sickness in the goats and is expected to be applied to more farms in the future.
