Watch sensor, production, feed, water and stockperson signals across the herd, rank the animals that need a look and escalate with their history — the veterinarian diagnoses, prescribes and sets any withdrawal period.
Take the signals as they arrive — collar, bolus, parlour, production, feed and water, and the treatment record.
02
Take what the stockperson saw on the walk-through, in the words they wrote, against the animal or pen it names.
Reason
03
Check the sensor itself first — off the animal, flat, unread or re-fitted to another animal is not a health signal.
04
Compare the animal against its own baseline and its pen-mates, so a group-wide shift is not read as one sick animal.
05
Check the day's management events — mixing, transport, a ration change, heat — before a drift is called disease.
Decide
06
Rank who needs a look first, with what moved, how long it has run and what else in the pen is doing the same.
07
Match the pattern against the client's reportable and welfare list and escalate it on the named path, ranking aside.
Out
08
Assemble the history a person needs — age, stage, prior events, treatments given and any withdrawal still running.
09
Retain the raw signals, the sensor's own status, the path taken and what the stockperson or the veterinarian found.
→Product statement
The agent observes, ranks and escalates with the animal's history. Diagnosis, any treatment and any withdrawal period stay with a licensed veterinarian.
Example workflow
One animal, end to end
AgentHuman
1Signals arriveCollar, bolus, parlour, production, feed and water data, and the stockperson's own note
2Sensor and identity checkedWhether the device is reading, on the animal it is recorded against, and current
3Baseline and pen comparedThe animal against its own history and against the pen-mates standing next to it
4History and events assembledAge, stage, prior events, treatments, any running withdrawal and the day's management log
No human action required
Stages 1 to 4 run without a person in the loop — the sensor check, the comparison and the history finish before anyone is asked to walk a pen. A reportable or welfare sign ends that stretch immediately, whatever the ranking says.
5DecisionSplits on reportable and welfare signs first, then on ranking confidence
Nothing reportable, nothing on welfare
Enters the day's list in rank order.
Reportable or welfare sign
Leaves on the named path at once, unranked.
Stockperson, then veterinarian
The stockperson walks the animal and records what they find; the veterinarian diagnoses, prescribes and sets any withdrawal period.
Go and look · Call the vet · Dismiss with a reason
Seen — handed back▼
6Case loggedWritten to the herd record only where write access and policy allow; the diagnosis field stays empty
7Outcome evaluatedDetection recall against confirmed cases, false-alert load, escalation-path correctness and record completeness
Corrections
A case the stockperson dismisses is recorded with the reason and counted in the evaluation.
What should not run autonomously
Human approval stays in control
Outside the boundary — human approval required8 items
Naming a disease or making a diagnosis.
Prescribing, dispensing or directing a treatment.
Setting, shortening or clearing a withdrawal period.
Releasing an animal to slaughter, sale or the bulk tank.
Automation boundaryAgent acts unaided
✓Read sensor, production, feed, water and stockperson signals across the herd.
✓Compare each animal against its own baseline, its pen-mates and the day's events.
✓Assemble the animal's history, prior events, treatments and any running withdrawal.
✓Rank who needs a look and send a reportable or welfare sign out on the named path.
Write actions run only inside the approval boundaries agreed in implementation — never the diagnosis.
Deciding a reportable sign need not be reported.
Closing a welfare case without a person seeing the animal.
Authorising euthanasia or a movement off the unit.
Changing thresholds, escalation paths or the reportable list.
Example output
One animal on the list, annotated
Everything the agent returns is attached to the animal, the sensor it came from and the history around it.
Watch output · single animal, single morningIllustrative example
Signal
Animal
Pen, time
Ranked
Confidence
Diagnosis
Rumination down, third day
Cow 4127, 12 days fresh
Pen 3, today 05:40
First on this morning's list
88%
The vet's, not the agent's
As receivedThe signal as the collar and the parlour recorded it, with the animal it is tied to and the pen she was standing in.
Evidence usedHer own 14-day baselinePen-mates unchangedFresh-cow treatment record
Why she ranked firstThree days below her own baseline while the rest of the pen held steady.
ActionGo and lookCall the vetDismiss with a reason
What the score decidesConfidence sets her place on the list, not whether she is ill. It never holds an escalation.
Value
Where AI adds value
The same four claims, placed at the point in the workflow where each one applies.
Where the value landsValue 01 – 04
Every animal on the unitSensor, parlour, feed, water and the walk-through
03Signals & history
Use the unit's own baselines
Compare against the animal's own history, the pen-mates beside it and the events your team logged that day — not a herd average from somewhere else.
01Approved path
Get the signal to a person the same day
A drift that would have surfaced at the next walk-through is on the morning list instead, with the history a person needs to judge it.
02Human review
Send the serious ones out unranked
A reportable or welfare sign leaves on its named path the moment it is seen — ahead of the list and outside any confidence threshold.
04Build an evidence trail
Retain the raw signal, the sensor's own status, the baselines compared, the events checked, the path taken and what the stockperson or the vet found — on both paths.
Integrations
Typical integrations
Five system groups connect to the same agent. Which of them are in scope is decided in discovery.
Herd & treatment recordsHerd management systems · DairyComp Treatment logs · withdrawal records
A missed-case rate that reads acceptably across the whole unit can sit almost entirely in the animals a sensor fits worst and the groups the model has seen least of. Nestack reports performance by slice, not only in total.
Slice performance — reported separately, not only in aggregateIllustrative example
Slice
Failure rate
Lift
Lift vs. threshold
Status
Pre-weaning calves
6.7%
3.9×
Review
Bedded-pack and loose housing
4.8%
2.8×
Review
Sensor gaps and tag loss
3.3%
1.9×
Watch
Mature cows, freestall housing
1.4%
0.8×
Normal
Bar: missed-case rate lift vs. freestall-cow baseline · scale 0–4.0× · tick marks the 2.0× review threshold2 of 4 slices over threshold
Evidence-linked improvement
A missed animal is answered in the pen before it is answered in the model
An animal found late cannot be found early again. The work is the vet call, the treatment record and the withdrawal — the loop decides who gets walked next.
Improvement cycle · five stagesSwitchback — the path turns at Improve and returns at Learn
01Detect
Missed cases, false-alert load and escalation delay split by housing system and age group.
02Diagnose
The device, the animal it was tied to, the baseline window and the event log are checked in turn.
03Improve
The herd veterinarian agrees any change to a threshold, baseline or escalation rule, versioned.
04Verify
Days already worked are scored again to see whether the missed animals now come up.
05Learn
The animal's record becomes a test case, and the sign it showed goes on the standing watch list.
Learn → DetectThe return edge. A change to the reportable or welfare list is a veterinary change — your herd veterinarian signs it before it ships, not after.
Typical build scope
Twelve workstreams across six weeks
The build scope read against the delivery timeline. Week structure follows the six-week plan — discovery, signals, comparison logic, evaluation, integration, then production validation and handover.
WorkstreamWeek 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6
01Workflow discovery and automation-boundary definition.
02Sensor and herd-system API assessment.
03Escalation paths, approved by your vet.
04Animal identity, tag mapping and sensor status.
05Per-animal baselines and pen comparison.
06Management-event log and confounders.
07Treatment, withdrawal and history assembly.
08Ranked walk list and stockperson handoff.
09Detection-recall and alert-load evaluation.
10Escalation-path testing on your own cases.
11Herd-system write-back and integration.
12Observability, deployment and Agent Care handover.
12 workstreams · 6 weeks · bar shows the weeks a workstream is active — several run in parallelFinal scope and sequence confirmed in discovery
Engagement tiers
What each tier includes
Rows are the capabilities named in each tier's scope. Higher tiers include everything below them.
Capability✓ in scope · — not at this tierPilotOne group and signal setProductionProduction herd-system integrationAdvancedMulti-site / multi-species
Introduced at Pilot
Signal watching and per-animal baselines✓✓✓
Group versus individual separation✓✓✓
Reportable and welfare escalation to a person✓✓✓
Diagnosis left with a licensed veterinarian✓✓✓
Baseline evaluation✓✓✓
Introduced at Production
Management-event and confounder checks—✓✓
Treatment and withdrawal history assembly—✓✓
Ranked walk list and stockperson handoff—✓✓
Observability and evaluation—✓✓
Introduced at Advanced
Multi-species and multi-housing coverage——✓
Multi-site and enterprise controls——✓
Build priceFrom $5,000From $8,000Custom quote
Final build priceConfirmed after discovery based on sensor and herd-system integrations, species and housing systems, herd or flock size, escalation paths, approval controls and deployment requirements.
Separate from buildBuild pricing is separate from recurring Agent Care, which covers managed monitoring, evaluations, incidents and verified improvements after launch.
What we need from you
What you bring, and what we build with it
Each input maps to a piece of build scope and a week in the delivery timeline.
You bringWe build with it
01Your sensors, how they are fitted and where they drop out→Sensor and herd-system API assessmentWeek 1
02Your reportable-disease and welfare escalation paths→Escalation paths, approved by your vetWeek 1
03Animal identity, tag numbers and how they get re-used→Animal identity, tag mapping and sensor statusWeek 2
04Your event log — mixing, transport, ration and housing changes→Management-event log and confoundersWeek 3
05Your treatment records and how withdrawal is verified today→Treatment, withdrawal and history assemblyWeek 4
06Animals you found late, including the ones you nearly missed→Evaluation suite, regression cases and failure-mode testingWeek 4
07Named stockpeople and your herd veterinarian to review→Walk-list handoff, then supervised watching and validationWeeks 5–6
Nothing else is requiredDeployment, documentation and Agent Care handover are ours.
Delivery timeline
Four phases across six weeks
Phases are drawn over the weeks they actually occupy. Week 5 carries both the escalation testing and the first supervised watching.
PhaseW1W2W3W4W5W6
DiscoveryW1
BuildW2 – W3
EvaluateW4 – W5
Pilot & LaunchW5 – W6
Week focusW1Workflow discovery, escalation paths and the automation boundaryW2Animal identity, sensor status and the first signal setW3Per-animal baselines, pen comparison and the event logW4Detection-recall, false-alert-load and escalation-path testingW5Herd-system integration, walk-list handoff and supervised watchingW6Stockpeople work from the live list, then Agent Care starts
Reading the bandEscalation-path correctness is tested in week 4, before a case reaches a stockperson in week 5. No case reaches the pen until it has.
At the end of W6The list has run alongside your existing checks and been walked by the stockpeople who work from it, then Agent Care takes over monitoring.
DurationSix-week plan shown · typical delivery 4–6 weeks depending on scope confirmed in discovery.
Next step · Agriculture AI agent
Build a watching agent around your herd health routine.
Show us your sensors, your treatment records and how a sick animal reaches a stockperson and then the vet today. We'll walk the pens with your stockperson and agree what has to reach the vet the same day and what can wait for the next round.
