Shows
The Livestack PodcastThe Livestack Podcast / Episode 29 - Training That Sticks: How On-Farm Education Builds Better Welfare and Stronger TeamsIn this episode, Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds are joined by Dr. Michelle Schack, Dairy Veterinarian and Co-Founder of DairyKind, to explore how structured, consistent training on farms directly shapes animal welfare, team performance, and culture.
Dr. Schack shares how her platform has delivered over 76,000 on-farm training sessions across the U.S., helping teams not only meet audit standards but understand the why behind every action. Together, the trio dives into the role of the veterinarian as an educator and culture-builder, the importance of timely and language-accessible training, and how digital learning tools can transform onboarding...
2025-09-0443 min
The Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack / Episode 28: Consciousness, Sentience, Ethics, and MoneyExploring the Hidden Forces Behind Animal Welfare Decisions
In this thought-provoking episode of the LiveStack Podcast, Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds explore the foundational, but often overlooked, forces that shape how we treat animals in agriculture. From the mysteries of consciousness to the evolution of ethical frameworks and the undeniable influence of money, this episode invites listeners to rethink how decisions get made on farms and in science.
Jim reflects on the elusive nature of consciousness, how we still don’t fully understand it, yet it underpins everything we do, from human perception to an...
2025-08-211h 05
The Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/Episode 27: Rethinking Animal Welfare – From Five Freedoms to SentienceIn this episode, Daniel Foy is joined by Dr. Jim Reynolds for a deep dive into the evolving understanding of animal welfare. The conversation starts with Jim’s recent trip to Africa, where he reflects on the profound respect he observed for animals and ecosystems, setting the tone for a discussion about the historical, ethical, and scientific shifts in animal welfare.
The discussion centers around the 1965 Brambell Report, which laid the groundwork for the now-classic Five Freedoms of animal welfare. These freedoms, initially designed to frame the physical and mental needs of animals, are unpacked in the co...
2025-08-0737 min
The Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 26: Precision Behavior Measurement for Welfare and SustainabilityIn the evolving landscape of food animal agriculture, measuring behavior is no longer just about observation, it’s about precision, scale, and measurable impact. In this episode, Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds examine how behavior data has progressed from handwritten field notes to high-frequency, sensor-driven systems powered by machine learning. This transformation has redefined how we understand welfare, manage animals, and measure sustainability on farms.
Jim and Daniel reflect on the early days of behavior measurement, where simple metrics like lying and standing time were manually recorded and used to make management decisions. Today, those same be...
2025-07-2444 min
The Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 25: Food Animal Welfare Data Collection for Audits – Past, Present, and FutureBefore welfare became a scientific field and audit programs became standard, there was a time when farm assessments were built on instinct and good intentions rather than research and rigor. In this episode, Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds return to the early 2000s to unpack the formation of the first on-farm food animal welfare audits in the United States.
They revisit how environmental failures in the swine industry unexpectedly laid the groundwork for audit systems, and how the National Pork Board pioneered one of the first welfare audit frameworks, later known as Validus. Jim reflects on...
2025-07-1053 min
The Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 24: The History of Contemporary Welfare – 30 Years of ChangeEpisode 24: The History of Contemporary Welfare – 30 Years of Change
LiveStack Podcast with Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds
Over the past three decades, food animal welfare has undergone a profound transformation. In this episode, Daniel Foy and Dr. Jim Reynolds trace the arc of this shift, beginning with the industry’s earliest confrontations with welfare, from undercover videos in U.S. slaughterhouses in the late 1980s, to pivotal moments like McDonald's engagement with Temple Grandin, to the global emergence of welfare science as a formal discipline.
Listeners will hear about the pivotal role of earl...
2025-06-1948 min
The Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 23:An Introduction to Food Animal Welfare - A new Podcast FormatIn this new format for the LiveStack Podcast, co-hosts Daniel Foy (Co-Founder & CEO of AgriGates) and Dr. Jim Reynolds (Veterinarian and Professor Emeritus in Livestock Welfare) kick off by introducing themselves and laying the foundation for a thoughtful, ongoing discussion on food animal welfare and the transformative role of technology.
Jim shares his personal journey from practicing dairy and beef medicine in California to becoming a board-certified expert in animal welfare, emphasizing that good veterinary care is inseparable from understanding animals’ physical and mental well-being. Daniel reflects on how early work in food tech and livestock wearables sp...
2025-06-0524 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 22: Finding values with AI technology for welfare and productionIn this episode, Daniel Foy and Jim Reynolds sit down with Matt Dobbs, CEO of AgSense, to explore the intersection of animal welfare, production efficiency, and agricultural technology. Matt, a veterinary surgeon and lawyer by training, shares his journey from clinical practice to leading AgSense, a UK-based AgriTech company focused on enhancing dairy cow welfare and sustainability.
The discussion begins with Matt’s background in veterinary care and his transition from treating individual animals to herd-level welfare strategies. He emphasizes how proactive health planning, rather than reactive treatments, has been a guiding principle in his career. The con...
2025-03-0445 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 21: Exploring Agritech, Data Standards, and Improved Animal WelfareWelcome to Episode 21 of the LiveStack Podcast! In this episode, we dive into insights from three pivotal conferences held in Italy this summer: the Welfare Assessment of Animals at the Farm Level (WAFL), the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), and the EU Precision Livestock Farming (EU-PLF) conference. The discussion centers around advancements in agritech, the development of data standards, and how these innovations are driving improvements in food animal welfare.
Joining Daniel Foy, Co-Founder and CEO of AgriGates, are three incredible guests with diverse backgrounds and expertise in animal welfare and precision livestock farming (PLF):
...
2024-12-1642 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 20: Safeguarding the Farm - Essential Cybersecurity for Agriculture with Dr. Lucas AlcantaraWelcome to Episode 20 of the LiveStack Podcast!
As we wrap up Cybersecurity Month, we’re bringing you key insights and actionable tips to strengthen your digital defenses on the farm. This month, Daniel is joined by Dr. Lucas Alcantara, an expert in agricultural data management and security. Lucas holds a Ph.D. in Animal Breeding and Genetics and serves as Research Centre Data Manager at the University of Guelph's, where he leads data architecture initiatives under the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance. With years of experience in designing secure, data-driven systems, Dr. Alcantara specializes in streamlining research data in...
2024-10-3146 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 19: The Three Seasons of Agriculture Data: Shall We Talk About the Fourth One, The Value of Data?Welcome to Episode 19 of the LiveStack Podcast! In this episode, we dive into the intriguing world of agricultural data with a discussion titled “The Three Seasons of Agriculture Data: Shall We Talk About the Fourth One? The Value of Data.” Joining us are three exceptional doctoral candidates from the EnTrust Doctoral Network, who bring fresh perspectives on the value of data in agriculture. These guests participated in the Innovation Value Institute (IVI) Summit at Maynooth University in June 2024.
Our guests today include:
Erica Tegolo, currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the School of Business, National University of I...
2024-09-2633 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 18: An Introduction to AgNotate by AgriGatesWelcome to Episode 18 of the LiveStack Podcast! In this special episode, we’re thrilled to introduce AgNotate, our cutting-edge machine-learning software designed to revolutionize the way researchers and companies annotate animal behavior, events, and welfare indicators.
AgNotate streamlines the data annotation process, saving valuable time while enhancing the welfare and health of food animals in complex agricultural settings. This innovative tool is a game-changer for the industry, and we're excited to dive into its development and potential impact.
Joining us in this episode are key members of the AgriGates engineering team who were instrumental in brin...
2024-08-2122 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Episode 17: Mapping AgriTech Software and Hardware in Food Animal Agriculture.Welcome to Episode 17 of the LiveStack podcast.
Alana Lee joins Daniel (Co-founder and CEO of AgriGates) in this month's episode. Alana is a student at Texas A&M University, where she is completing her bachelor's degree in animal science. With a background in beef production, Alana discovered her passion for dairy cattle as a freshman at TAMU. During her time as an undergraduate, she has participated in numerous research opportunities, including projects related to Mastitis treatment, nutrition trials, and, of course, her research internship with AgriGates on Mapping AgriTech Software and Hardware in Food Animal Agriculture.
2024-04-2421 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast / Episode 16 - The Kipster Journey: Welfare and AgriTech in Poultry FarmingWelcome to Episode 16 of the Livestock podcast, where in this episode, we explore “The Kipster Journey: Welfare and AgriTech in Poultry Farming."
Our guest joining us for this episode is Ruud Zanders, the founding partner at Kiptster. Kipster is a Revolutionary Vision for Modern Farming. Building the most animal-friendly and environmentally-friendly poultry farm in the world. This is an important issue people face, in how we will feed the growing world’s population in a fair way—without overexploiting nature and excluding people.
He is joined by Dr. Jim Reynolds, an AgriGates team member and Professo...
2024-03-1434 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast / Episode 15: Data awareness in Dairy and at the Farm LevelWelcome to Episode 15 of the Livestock podcast, where we will discuss Data awareness in Dairy and at the Farm Level.
Joining this Episode with Daniel is Dr Liliana Fadul. Dr Fadul is an animal scientist currently working as a Data analyst for Lactanet, Montreal, Canada. Liliana completed her Ph.D. at Université Laval (Quebec, Canada). There, she recognized the potential use of data science techniques to help identify problems and offer solutions in the Animal Science field. Learning and exploring these applied techniques, particularly in dairy farms, became her true passion.
Liliana was part of t...
2024-02-0728 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast / Episode 14: ICAR and Data Standards in Food Animal Agriculture.Welcome to Episode 14 of the LiveStack podcast, where we discuss the International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) and Data Standards in Food Animal Agriculture.
Joining Daniel in this episode by Marie-Agnes Mourot de Lathyle, who has taken up the role of ICAR Executive Director in the last five months. She has almost 15 years as CFO/COO for a membership global organization of market, social, opinion, data analytics professionals and researchers that was founded in 1947.
This global trade association enabled Marie-Agnès to hone her competencies further whilst working for the general interests of an entire i...
2023-12-1936 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast / Episode 13: Food Animal AgriTech in the Keystone State.Welcome to Episode 13 of the LiveStack podcast, where we dive deep into the world of "Food Animal AgriTech in the Keystone State."
In this engaging conversation, we are thrilled to have Dr. Melissa Cantor, Assistant Professor of Precision Dairy Science at Pennsylvania State University, as our guest. Agriculture in Pennsylvania holds a significant place, contributing substantially to tax receipts. The state boasts a rich diversity of farms, and remarkably, 90% of their income is generated within a mere 20 miles of the farm. This presents a promising opportunity for Pennsylvania's producers in the digital age and in achieving sustainability.
2023-11-2124 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast / Episode 12: Food Animal Welfare Audits and AgriTechWelcome to Episode 12 of the LiveStack podcast, where we will discuss “Food Animal Welfare Audits and AgriTech.” In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by Matt Jones Vice President of Operations for Validus.
In this episode of the LiveStack Podcast, Matt, Jim, and Daniel explore Food Animal welfare audits, and expectations from different parts of the supply chain and consumers, while finally discussing farm-level agritech and data in aiding in improved food animal welfare.
Validus conducts audits for animal welfare, environment, feed mills, food safety, and worker care. Validus is also a certifying body...
2023-10-1734 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast / Episode 11: Precision Livestock Farming and AgriTech at the EAAP 2023 ConferenceWelcome to Episode 11 of the LiveStack podcast, where we discuss all things Precision Livestock Farming and AgriTech research from the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP) 2023 conference in Lyon France. In this episode, Daniel Foy is delighted to be joined by Dr. Michael Odintsov Vaintrub, COO and Co-founder at Regrowth, Italy, and Adrien Lebreton, PLF project manager at the Institut de l'Élevage France.
In this episode of the LiveStack Podcast, collectively, we discuss the presentation and research at this year’s EAAP conference that is based on AgriTech, what we liked and what stood out to us...
2023-09-211h 11The Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast / Episode 10: Dairy Calves and AgriTechWelcome to Episode 10 of the LiveStack podcast, where we delve into ‘Dairy Calves and AgriTech.’ In this episode, we are delighted to be joined by Dr. Melissa Cantor, Assistant Professor of Precision Dairy Science at Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Cantor spearheads an extramurally funded research initiative focused on harnessing data from precision technologies to improve decision-making and enhance the lives of dairy animals. Dr. Cantor engages with Pennsylvania dairy producers through the Penn State Extension Dairy Team, underscoring her commitment to fostering an inclusive program. This program zeroes in on vital topics like dairy calf and heifer mana...
2023-08-1526 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast /Episode 9: Digital, Data, and Durable Skill in Dairy ScienceJoin in and listen to Episode 9 of the LiveStack podcast discussing “Digital, Data, and Durable Skills in Dairy Science.
Joining in on this discussion is Dr. Sushil Paudyal, from the Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University. Dr. Paudyal’s research interest focuses on using herd and animal-level data for decision-making in dairy farms. His research utilizes innovative technologies to optimize the production, health, and well-being of dairy cattle. Learn more about him and his research here - Paudyal, Sushil - Animal Science (tamu.edu)
This episode will cover programs and initiatives to improve stud...
2023-07-2734 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast / Episode 8: ML and AI in Food-Animal Agriculture; What’s Essential to Make it WorkJoin in and listen to Episode 8 of the LiveStack podcast discussing “ML and AI in Food-Animal Agriculture; What’s Essential to Make it Work.”
Back joining in on this discussion is Dr. Micheal Odintsov Vaintrub, Veterinarian and COO of Regrowth, an AgriTech start-up based in Italy.
This podcast discusses and explains AI and what it means in food animal agriculture, exploring the Micro (devices at the farm level) to the Macro (government, coops, clusters of farms) of ML & AI applications.
Farmers are conservationists (Husbandry, Land management, data); they aren’t the tech innovators of AgriT...
2023-06-131h 04The Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast / Episode 7: Food Animal AgriTech in Italy: Small, Smart, and SustainableJoin in and listen to episode 7 with Dr. Micheal Odintsov Vaintrub, Veterinarian and AgriTech COO, and Daniel Foy from AgriGates as they talk about “ Food Animal AgriTech in Italy: Small, Smart, and Sustainable.”
Michael grew up in Israel and moved to Italy in 2011 to study veterinary medicine at the University of Teramo (Abruzzo region), which he completed in 2017. He followed the studies with a Ph.D. focused on sustainable animal husbandry and PLF development. His research work predominantly focused on the integration of PLF technologies in outdoor production systems typical to central Italy. This is a fas...
2023-05-3154 minThe Livestack PodcastThe Livestack Podcase / Episode 6: Data & Food Animal Welfare, Part 2Dr. Laura Boyle is a senior research officer with Teagasc – The Irish National Agriculture and Food Development Authority, with over 25 years of research expertise in farm animal behavior and welfare science.
Laura is an associate member of the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavioral Medicine (sub-specialty Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law), President of the Health and Welfare Commission of the European Federation of Animal Science and Editor in Chief of the Animal Behavior and Welfare specialty section in Frontiers in Veterinary Science.
She is Adjunct Professor with the School of Veterinary Medicine, University Co...
2023-04-2756 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Ep 5: Machine Learning (ML) in Food Animal Agriculture: An old tool with new applications on FarmJoin in and listen to this episode's discussion on Machine Learning (ML) in Food Animal Agriculture: An old tool with new applications on Farm, with Marcel Alsdorf, senior cloud solution architect at Microsoft, with Daniel Foy, Co-Founder & CEO of AgriGates.
Marcel Alsdorf is a cloud solution architect with five years of experience at Microsoft consulting various companies on their cloud strategy. In this role, he focuses on supporting companies in their move toward being data-driven by analyzing their requirements and designing their data infrastructure in the areas of IoT and event streaming, data warehousing, and machine learning. ...
2023-03-0646 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast/ Ep 4: Digital Skills Training for Beginners in AgricultureJoining in on Digital Skills Training for Beginners in Agriculture discussion topic in this Episode are Rob Thomas, who is the Vice President of Education at LaunchCode, Erin Davison is the Senior Manager for Community Engagement at LaunchCode and Daniel Foy, Co-Founder & CEO of AgriGates.
Rob is the Vice President of Education at LaunchCode. Rob is passionate about the ways in which technology can enhance education and how technology training can help individuals reach their full potential. In his current role, Rob uses his industry experience to design and deliver training programs to hundreds of learners in S...
2023-02-0639 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack Podcast, Ep 3: Data & Food Animal Welfare.Joining in on the Data & Food animal welfare topic in this Episode are Dr. Jennifer Walker, Director of Milk Quality and cow care champion at Danone NA, Dr. Jim Reynolds, Professor of Large Animal Medicine/Welfare at Western University, College of Veterinary Medicine, and Daniel Foy, Co-Founder & CEO of AgriGates.
Dr. Jen graduated in 2000 from UC Davis and spent 4 years in private practice on California dairies before earning her PhD at Ohio State (2010). Realizing that the greatest opportunity to drive meaningful improvement in animal welfare was through the supply chain, Dr. Jen made the leap from the b...
2023-01-2553 minThe Livestack PodcastThe LiveStack podcast, Ep 2: Training and educating people to handle data from Precision Livestock Technology.Welcome to the second Episode in the series of the liveStack Podcast. Where in each Episode, we speak with leaders and industry experts who are interested and invested in farm-level data and farm data ownership.
Joining this Episode are returning guests Dr. Liliana Fadul, Ph.D., who is a Data Scientist at Lactenet in Canada, Dr. Vivi Thorup, assistant professor at the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Daniel Foy, Co-Founder, and CEO of AgriGates,
The topic for discussion was - Training and educating people to handle data from Precision...
2022-12-1950 minThe Livestack PodcastThe Livestack Podcast / Episode 1: Dairy Data Ownership & Data at the Farm LevelIn this episode, Daniel Foy, the Co-Founder & CEO of AgriGates speaks with Lilian Fadul and Michel Baldin about farm-level data, farm-level data ownership, and what that means today.
2022-07-1449 min