Looking to the future

At Wyke we’ve been crafting our Cheddar the same way for over 160 years, but that doesn’t mean we’re stuck in the past. We’re proud to be pioneers of sustainable farming, so we’re always open to clever new ways to do things. We believe that part of our mission to look after nature means harnessing technology to the right ends, which is why we use solar power and generate our own biogas energy to power our cheesemaking as well as caring for the land in the traditional ways we’ve been taught.

While we’re always looking for new and better ways of recycling and regenerating, we’re also studying groundbreaking methods of improving that aren’t so big and obvious. Of these, two of the latest we’ve adopted are related to looking after the animals around us: CattleEye for our cow herd, and Chirrup for the local birdlife.

CattleEye is a cow welfare monitoring system that watches over 10,000 of the animals that supply our milk. Working round the clock, it’s a network of security cameras that keep track of the cows by filming each one as they leave the milking parlour. Footage is then analysed by AI and delivered remotely, the kind of job that it would take hundreds of hours and a lot of luck to complete without technology.

The system monitors each cow’s health and behaviour, helping us spot issues like lameness early, often before they’re visible. This can be something as minor as a small stone or sensitivity in a cow’s foot, but catching it quickly means we can act sooner to keep our cows comfortable and healthy. Early care also helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to health issues.

While CattleEye is directly connected with our cheesemaking, we use Chirrup (or Chirrup.ai™ to give it its full title) in our work with the flora and fauna around us. We’ve partnered with the creators of this new technology on Birdsong for Biodiversity, a three-year project to monitor birdsong in the countryside around us as a way of measuring and then increasing biodiversity.

Using a combination of bioacoustics (measuring the sounds of living creatures) and AI analysis, Chirrup listens in via special monitor boxes to the birdlife around us, which is a particular strong indicator of the health and diversity of an ecosystem. It’s installed in 10 of the farms in the south-west of England that supply us with milk, telling us not only about the wildlife but also soil and water quality as well. The aim is to scientifically measure the health of nature on our farms, so that we can keep improving it, providing real-life markers of the progress of our Green by Nature strategy, which is to work in partnership with nature and to leave the land better than we found it. As our MD, Rich Clothier, puts it, “With Chirrup.ai’s technology, we can see how our land stewardship is making a real difference year after year.”

While we love the craft and timeless tradition of cheesemaking, we welcome these opportunities to improve what we do and how we do it with technology. Farming was one of the first human activities to drive technology, and we’re proud to be part of that continuing pursuit of working with the land in the most harmonious way we can.