CAAIN
CAAIN
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a “renaissance woman” as “a person who has wide interests and is expert in several areas.” The publishers could just as easily have pointed to a photograph of Dr. Shari Van de Pol, the extraordinary CEO of CATTLEytics Inc. and the project lead of Creation of a Dairy Management, Modelling, and Collaborative Framework System to Facilitate Predictive and Data-Driven Decision-Making in Canada.
But let’s back up a bit and start with Shari’s childhood spent in the outskirts of Hamilton in an agricultural environment. Her earliest memories include being present at a calving and having her hand licked by the happy mama. As a kid she was drawn to building things and flirted with the thought of studying architecture. She also retained a strong interest in animal welfare, working part time at her cousin’s veterinary clinic. Eventually, the technical attraction won out, and she opted to study Computer Engineering at McMaster University—with a minor in Fine Arts, naturally (renaissance, remember?)—a program that allowed her to complete a semester abroad in Leeds, England.
Upon graduation, Shari decided to explore her roots and took a job mining data in Northern Ireland, where she learned the importance of understanding data before using it, a mindset that was to pay dividends in the years to come. Returning to North America, she took a job with IBM, moving up the ranks quickly. Despite her success, she found the work didn’t satisfy her creativity. To scratch that itch, she started spending a day a week with a large-animal vet who, coincidentally, had been her cousin’s student when Shari worked at her clinic.
Going out on calls to treat cattle allowed her to build relationships with regional farmers, which led to her being invited to jam at events—she is, of course, an accomplished Irish fiddler and guitar player. She asked one of her farm connections to see his dairy data so she could play with it in a database. She created equations from some of the variables and noticed patterns from the plotting. She then added external data such as weather and was delighted to see 95% accuracy in her predictive models.
Until, that is, she hit October and discovered an unexplainable significant drop in production. The farmer had no answer, so Shari dug deeper and discovered that in Octobers two years apart, the farm used hay that wasn’t quite ready. In both instances the farmer saved modestly in the short term on feed but lost significantly more revenue in the longer term from decreased milk production. This was her great “Aha” moment. She recognised that connections among various seemingly unrelated factors could explain anomalies and lead to advances in predictive analytics.
Shari left IBM and enrolled in the Ontario Veterinary College, taking a job at the Chalk River nuclear plant managing predictive maintenance to pay for university. Her primary focus was on large animals and figuring out how to improve their health on a system scale.
It was during this time that she met a vet who was launching Feedlot Health Management Services (FHMS), a company determined to reverse the familiar veterinary clinic pattern of a clinic benefiting financially from a farm’s worst days. Seizing this opportunity, Shari launched CATTLEytics in 2014 as the software development arm of FHMS, which was eventually bought out by TELUS Agriculture, providing her the luxury of a major ongoing client. Since its inception, CATTLEytics has not sought outside investors and the team has been free to work on what it wants with no outside interference. The results have been nothing short of spectacular.
However, the success has not been free of heartbreak. When Shari started work on CATTLEytics’ own groundbreaking dairy management platform the company, her only collaborator was a brilliant programmer named John Clark. In September of 2024, John lost a long battle with cancer, leaving behind a wife, four children, and a team of devastated colleagues.
John’s contributions paved the way to what is becoming a world class, fully integrated system that allows farmers to digitally twin and gain control over every aspect of their dairy operation. For example, if a cow is suffering from mastitis or metritis, the system will recommend treatment, including photographs, descriptions and dosage details for a range of appropriate products. It also allows the farm manager to schedule staff, track protocol compliance and task management, and automate a range of other functions using a computer, laptop, tablet or digital whiteboard, ensuring seamless team communications and saving hours of staff time.
Other CATTLEytics advances include a dosing bridge gun designed by her brother—yeah, it’s one of THOSE families. Overall, the company has carved out a highly respected dairy sector niche. One of the most significant benefits Dr. Van de Pol’s technology offers is that it is equipment agnostic–it can ingest and derive insights from data collected by virtually any other dairy-sector technology. Even better is the dashboard’s simplicity and ease of use, including an AI chat feature to allow farmers to access critical business insights through a friendly conversation with an AI that bases its answers on their own farm data and trusted publications. This commitment to making life easier for farmers is one of CATTLEytics’ most important distinctions from competing software.
The $800,000 funding provided by ISED and CAAIN is fast-tracking the integrated software platform’s development. Specifically, they are ahead of schedule in completing the remarkably comprehensive, powerful, interactive dashboard. The support is allowing the team to work faster than it otherwise would, and with no outside investors telling them what to do, the team’s focus doesn’t waiver. They are also able to connect directly with farmers who are using the platform and elicit valuable feedback. In short, CATTLEytics is creating a one-stop solution that will allow even the largest dairy farm to maintain control of its staff and animals.
Still not convinced Shari is a renaissance woman? Consider this: During the pandemic, she designed the family’s gorgeous lakeside cottage that is decorated with her original artwork.
‘Nuff said.
Project Lead
CATTLEytics Inc., Hamilton, ON
Project Partner
Joe Loewith & Sons Dairy Farm, Hamilton, ON
Project Innovation
CAAIN Contribution
$800,000
Total Project Value
$2,439,824
Project Contact
Shari Van de Pol
Founder and CEO
CATTLEytics Incorporated
shari.vandepol@cattleytics.com