May 14, 2020

Investing in livestock is made easy by South African startup

A South African agri-tech startup has made it possible for non-farmers to invest digitally in livestock.

BitFarming, which was formed in 2018, lets you own a "bit of a farm" by buying cattle through its platform. The purchased cattle are placed with an approved farmer, and they can be monitored in real time, Disrupt Africa reports.

"The cattle are kept in a feedlot where they are monitored daily. RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags and automated scales mean that the cattle are weighed and monitored in real-time", the startup's founder, Albertus Potgieter, told Disrupt Africa.

"BitFarming makes use of the latest Microsoft big data technology stacks to monitor each aspect of cattle growth", he added.

Potgieter said that any abnormal variations in weight are immediately followed up by a visit from a veterinarian.

Moreover, BitFarming cattle are kept on a strict diet to ensure that the desired weight gain is achieved during the investment's four-month cycle.

Within the four-month investment cycle, cattle go from purchase weight to processing weight, with an average weight gain of 275 kilogramme. They are then delivered to an abattoir, where they are processed, as per report.

Investors, who are called BitFarmers, may either withdraw their investment or reinvest their funds in the next cycle. The farmers that look after BitFarming cattle in the feedlots are paid a land fee to house the cattle as well as a management fee, the report said.

Potgieter said BitFarmers can look forward to a 10% return on investment within the four-month cycle.