How Odoo & IoT Transformed a Livestock Tracking Product Development Project

From smart collars to automated sales, this is how Odoo became the backbone of a game-changing livestock tracking system product development project, saving farmers thousands of pounds by optimizing operations and improving livestock health and farm yield.

 

Introduction: The Goals Behind the Project & the Role of AVICT Consulting

Sheep farming is an industry where operational efficiency, risk management, and cost control are crucial to long-term success. Farmers must track livestock movements, prevent disease outbreaks, and optimize land usage, but traditional methods rely on manual monitoring, which is time-consuming, labour intensive, inconsistent, and expensive.

This project set out to create a livestock tracking system that would help farmers:

• Reduce sheep losses from illness, predation, or theft.
• Gain insights into flock movement and grazing patterns.
• Lower veterinary and operational costs through smarter, data-driven decision-making.

For Spaze, the company taking this product set to market, the goal was to build a business around livestock tracking, offering farmers a practical, scalable, and cost-effective tool. Of course it was important that the business be viable and profitable for them.

 

Understanding the Goals of Both AVICT and Spaze

While AVICT Consulting was responsible for developing the product, Spaze was responsible for running and growing the business. Their goals overlapped in many ways but were not identical.

• AVICT's primary objective was to ensure Spaze had everything they needed to succeed, both technically and operationally.
• Spaze's primary objective was to take ownership of the business and operate it effectively, ensuring long-term success.

 

The key to making this work smoothly was an approach that AVICT applies to all consulting engagements:

• “Needs must—if there’s anything left over, wants can.”
• This means that Spaze received exactly what was required for success first, before any additional refinements were considered.
• This philosophy ensured that when the contract concluded, Spaze had the product, processes, platforms, reporting,  training, and collateral they needed to run their business successfully.

 

This structured handover approach made Spaze’s transition into the market smoother, while allowing AVICT to complete its role and move forward.

 

Why Odoo Was the Backbone of the Business

While the GPS tracking technology itself was crucial, success depended on how well Spaze could manage sales, customer interactions, and product support. Without a structured business platform, even the best tracking system would be difficult to commercialize.

Odoo was chosen as the business operations platform because it could handle:

• Sales and customer management – Allowing farmers to order equipment, modify service contracts, and manage their accounts.
• Automated invoicing and payments – Reducing administrative effort and ensuring smooth renewals.
• Project tracking and inventory management – Helping Spaze oversee hardware distribution, customer support, and software updates.
• Self-provisioning – Spaze was a small business with little resource, handing some capabilities directly over to customers meant both that customers were able to manage their own services, accounts and provision services or buy hardware for themselves

By integrating customer onboarding, support, and training into Odoo, Spaze was set up with the tools needed to manage and scale their business from day one.

 

The Role of Open Source & Cost Optimization

A key benefit of working with AVICT was the use of Free Software and open-source platforms during development. This provided several advantages:

• Lower Development Costs – By leveraging existing software, Spaze avoided unnecessary licensing fees, reducing startup costs.
• Faster Time to Market – Instead of building a system from scratch, Spaze started with a working platform that could be refined over time.
• Flexibility for Future Growth – If Spaze later wanted to rebuild or optimize the system, they could do so with the knowledge gained from using the initial platform.

 

By reducing financial and technical risk, Spaze was able to test the market and refine their offering without overcommitting resources upfront.

 

 

Ensuring a Smooth Transition from Development to Business Operations

AVICT’s approach to product development doesn’t stop at technical delivery, it extends to ensuring the business can operate effectively once the consultant steps away.

To support Spaze’s transition, key elements were built into Odoo:

• A customer training module inside Odoo, ensuring that both farmers and Spaze’s team understood the system.
• Internal documentation covering product features, sales processes, and troubleshooting.
• Automated workflows to streamline customer onboarding, invoicing, and support.
• All Product Systems entities, price books, document templates and formats and the ability to record, store or distribute them.

By embedding business operations directly into Odoo, Spaze had everything they needed to manage, support, and grow the product independently.

Step 1: Designing an IoT Network & GPS Tracking System That Works

To make livestock tracking viable at scale, the system had to be:

• Reliable – Farmers wouldn’t tolerate frequent failures or lost data.
• Scalable – It had to work across hundreds or thousands of animals, without excessive infrastructure requirements.
• Low-maintenance – Batteries had to last over a year, and the hardware needed to withstand harsh environmental conditions.
• Cost-effective – The technology needed to be affordable enough for farmers to justify adoption, while still delivering a strong return on investment.

The key to making this possible was a carefully selected technology stack, balancing hardware costs, power efficiency, and software integration.

 

The Technology Stack

A mix of open-source and proprietary technologies was selected to ensure flexibility, cost efficiency, and regulatory compliance.

• Odoo – Centralized ERP for sales, customer management, invoicing, service contracts, and supplier tracking.
• SiteWhere – Open-source IoT platform for device data processing, GPS tracking, and event management.
• LoRaWAN IoT Network – Built using Heltec MT-01 gateways, chosen for low power consumption and reliable coverage in rural areas.
• GPS Tracking Collars – Custom-developed and manufactured, designed for long battery life, durability, and tamper resistance.
• Ofcom-Licensed Frequency – Ensuring legal operation of the LoRaWAN network.

A major part of the design challenge was choosing the right development boards and GPS receivers—balancing size, cost, power consumption, and ease of integration.

 

Why the Heltec CubeCell Development Board Was Chosen

Several hardware platforms were evaluated before selecting the Heltec CubeCell development board. The key alternatives considered were:

Board	Pros	Cons
Heltec CubeCell	Low cost, LoRaWAN built-in, low power	Slightly larger than Onethinx, power efficiency not best-in-class
Onethinx	More power-efficient, very small	Expensive, supplier relationships not yet in place
ESP32/ESP-based boards	Widely available, flexible	High power consumption, No built-in LoRaWAN

Size Considerations

The Onethinx board was the smallest of the options, which would have made it preferable for compact tracking devices. However, cost was a major barrier—Onethinx was significantly more expensive than the Heltec CubeCell, making it difficult to justify at scale.

Power Efficiency Trade-offs

The Onethinx board likely had better power efficiency, but without a direct supplier relationship, it was harder to validate this fully. The Heltec CubeCell offered a good balance of low cost and acceptable power efficiency, making it the best compromise for a scalable product.

Supplier Relationships & Odoo’s Role

Since none of the supplier relationships existed initially, those had to be established from scratch. This is where Odoo’s supplier tracking features became critical:

• Contacts & Supplier Management – Odoo allowed for easy tracking of supplier interactions, helping to negotiate pricing and establish relationships.
• Component Cost Tracking – Ensuring that cost models for different hardware choices were accurately accounted for.
• Order & Inventory Management – Keeping track of development board stock, ensuring smooth prototyping and production.

Ultimately, the Heltec CubeCell was chosen because it provided the right balance of cost, size, power efficiency, and availability, making it the best option for real-world deployment.

GPS Receiver Selection: Finding the Right Balance

Selecting the right GPS receiver was another critical decision, as it directly impacted battery life, accuracy, and signal acquisition speed. Several options were tested:

GPS Receiver	Pros	Cons
Quectel L76-L	Low power, fast signal acquisition, good accuracy	Slightly more expensive than older models
Ublox NEO-6M	Readily available, decent performance	Higher power consumption, older chipset
Ublox NEO-7M	Improved power efficiency over NEO-6M, mid-range cost	Not as efficient as L76-L

The Quectel L76-L was ultimately selected due to its:

• Low power consumption – Helping extend battery life.
• Fast GPS signal acquisition – Allowing location data to be gathered quickly before shutting down the module.
• Better performance in rural environments – Reliable satellite locks even in challenging conditions.

By choosing a power-efficient GPS module, we were able to further optimize the battery life, ensuring that each collar could last over a year on a single charge.

Collar Design: Balancing Durability & Practicality

Sheep tracking presents unique design challenges compared to tracking cattle or pets. The collars needed to be:

• Lightweight – So as not to burden the animals.
• Rugged – Able to withstand weather, rough terrain, and animal behavior.
• Tamper-Resistant – To prevent unauthorized removal or deactivation.
• Battery-Efficient – To ensure they could last over a year on a single charge.

The final collar design included:

• Heavy-duty nylon webbing, with an ABS compartment securely stitched inside.
• Torx-style tamper-proof bolts to prevent unauthorized removal.
• Optimized wake-sleep cycles, ensuring power was only used when necessary.

These design choices balanced cost, practicality, and durability, ensuring that farmers could deploy the collars at scale without excessive maintenance overhead.

How These Choices Enabled Faster Market Entry & Lower Risk

The hardware and design decisions made during development significantly reduced Spaze’s risk profile:

• The use of Free Software and pre-existing platforms meant they didn’t need to develop everything from scratch, lowering initial investment costs.
• Odoo’s supplier and inventory management tools helped establish new supplier relationships, track component costs, and streamline procurement.
• Choosing cost-effective hardware allowed Spaze to offer competitive pricing, ensuring a strong market entry with high adoption potential.
• Optimizing for long battery life and durability ensured low maintenance costs, making the product attractive to farmers looking for long-term solutions.

By the time the system was ready for deployment, Spaze was in a position to compete effectively from day one, with a well-structured product and a business model built for scalability.

Next Steps: Power Optimization & LoRaWAN Network Strategy

With the hardware decisions finalized, the next phase focused on:

• Optimizing power usage for even longer battery life.
• Using LoRaWAN to minimize energy consumption during data transmission.
• Reducing reliance on frequent GPS fixes while maintaining tracking accuracy.

These next steps would further refine the system, ensuring that every aspect of power usage was optimized.

This version provides deep technical insights, while also highlighting the role of Odoo in supplier management and cost control.

Would you like me to now move on to the power optimization and LoRaWAN network strategy section?

 

Step 2: Solving the Power Problem – Making GPS Viable for Long-Term Use

One of the biggest technical challenges in developing a GPS-based livestock tracking system is battery life. Traditional GPS trackers are power-hungry, constantly running high-drain components such as:

• GPS receivers, which require significant energy to maintain a satellite lock.
• LoRaWAN transmitters, which use bursts of power to send location data.
• Microcontrollers & sensors, which, if not optimized, consume power even in idle states.

For a system to be financially viable for farmers, it must exceed its cost in value delivered. A tracking collar that requires frequent recharging or replacement wouldn’t be practical—especially for farms managing hundreds or thousands of sheep.

To extend battery life beyond a year, several key power-saving strategies were implemented.

Minimizing Power Consumption: Sleep Cycles & Scheduled Uploads

The Heltec CubeCell development board was chosen because it offered integrated LoRaWAN connectivity and the ability to control power states efficiently. However, battery life was directly influenced by how often the device performed key actions, such as:

Action	Power Usage	Optimization Applied
GPS Fix	High	GPS turned on briefly at scheduled intervals rather than constantly running.
LoRaWAN Transmission	Very High	Data stored and uploaded once per day instead of transmitting every fix.
Microcontroller (MCU) Idle	Low	Deep sleep mode enabled, only waking for scheduled tasks.

By configuring the GPS to wake up at scheduled intervals and transmit data only once per day, power usage was dramatically reduced, allowing collars to last over a year on a single charge.

Configurable Parameters & The Trade-off of Delayed Updates

One of the trade-offs of power-efficient scheduling is that configuration changes don’t take effect immediately.

• Collars only transmit data once per day, meaning any new settings (e.g., GPS frequency, transmission schedule) would take up to 24 hours to apply.
• This isn’t a major drawback in an agricultural environment, but it requires a shift in expectations—updates aren’t instant, but planned changes can be scheduled effectively.
• The advantage of this approach is that farmers don’t need to manually adjust collars—they can set a configuration remotely, and it will be applied automatically the next day.

This method ensures that battery efficiency is maintained, while still allowing flexibility in how the system is used.

LoRaWAN Network Constraints: Coordinating Communication

Another challenge in designing the system was LoRaWAN gateway limitations.

• Heltec MT-01 gateways are 8-channel devices, meaning they can only communicate with 8 devices at the same time.
• Given that 650 sheep is the average flock size in Wales, a single gateway could handle all devices if they were properly scheduled.
• Not all devices can transmit at the same time, so coordination was required to distribute device communication across a 24-hour window.

This meant that:

1. Each device had a designated timeslot to transmit data.
2. SiteWhere was used to manage scheduling, ensuring efficient transmission.
3. Collar swap-out services had to be project-managed in Odoo, ensuring that new devices were configured to fit within existing schedules.

This approach ensured that all data was received without overwhelming the network.

Network Management: Licensing, Coverage Planning, and Deployment

Ofcom Licensing & Compliance

Although the LoRaWAN network used unlicensed spectrum, an Ofcom license was still required to operate the system legally.

• Ofcom’s licensing model is structured as a fixed per-installation price, rather than a revenue-based cost.
• This meant predictable expenses for farmers, avoiding variable regulatory costs.
• The licensing ensured regulatory compliance and reduced the risk of interference disputes.

This approach was well-aligned with the goal of keeping costs predictable for end-users.

Coverage Planning & Gateway Deployment

A key part of network optimization was ensuring that each farm’s radio coverage was mapped accurately.

• Coverage simulation tools like VE2DBE were used to calculate link budgets and predict coverage.
• This allowed for custom coverage maps for each farm, ensuring that LoRaWAN gateways were positioned for maximum efficiency.
• Instead of guessing at coverage needs, each installation was designed based on real-world calculations.

Spaze-Managed Networks & Pricing Models

Each installation was a separate network, but part of the Spaze-managed network.

• This structure allowed for centralized management while ensuring that each farm’s setup was optimized for cost efficiency.
• Pricing models were structured based on network needs, ensuring farmers only paid for what they required.

This approach ensured that every farm received a tailored, cost-effective solution, rather than a one-size-fits-all model.

Why Gateway Optimization Was More Cost-Effective Than Increasing Battery Capacity

There are two ways to reduce power drain in a LoRaWAN system:

1. Increase battery size – Using larger batteries (e.g., >3000mAh) would extend device life.
2. Optimize network coverage – Reducing transmission distances lowers power usage without increasing battery cost.

Rather than adding larger batteries, it was far more cost-effective to optimize the placement of LoRaWAN gateways.

• Mast-mounted gateways with non-directional, finely tuned antennas extended coverage to a 15km radius in flat terrain.
• On hilly terrain, line-of-sight was a factor, but elevated placement significantly improved coverage.
• Instead of installing more gateways, the focus was on strategic placement to maximize reach and minimize power consumption.

By using a £500 Altelix enclosure-mounted Heltec MT-01 & Raspberry Pi Zero W-based gateway, costs were kept low while ensuring reliable communication.

This saved far more money than using bigger batteries, especially for farms running thousands of devices.

Storage Limitations: How Long Can Data Be Buffered?

One challenge of reducing transmission frequency was local storage.

• The CubeCell board has limited onboard storage, meaning only small amounts of GPS data can be buffered.
• While data amounts are small, longer periods of storage could have caused issues.
• To balance power efficiency and data integrity, the maximum buffer period was set to 24 hours before an upload was required.

This ensured that all data was retained without overloading device memory.

Giving Farmers More Control: A Competitive Advantage

One of the key differentiators of this system was that it was designed to put control in the hands of the farmers.

• Many competing products forced fixed workflows that dictated how farmers had to operate.
• This system was built to allow customization, ensuring that farmers could define their own tracking schedules, notification settings, and operational priorities.
• Flexibility enables competition—by allowing different farmers to optimize processes in their own way, the system provided a business advantage over rigid alternatives.

 

 

Step 3: The Unexpected Complexity of Sheep Tracking

While the primary goal of the tracking system was to help farmers monitor livestock and reduce losses, the biggest financial benefit turned out to be disease control—an aspect of the system that was initially underestimated in importance.

Beyond disease tracking, we also had to address real-world durability challenges—ensuring collars remained secure on sheep and were resistant to both accidental removal and tampering.

Understanding the Goals of Stakeholders

For the project to be successful, it had to align with the goals of different stakeholders:

• Farmers – Needed a way to improve livestock health, reduce operational costs, and optimize profitability.
• Spaze – Sought to roll out a new product line, establishing a revenue stream in the precision agriculture market.
• AVICT Consulting – Focused on delivering a well-structured product, ensuring that Spaze could take over successfully, and then moving on to other consulting projects.

Each of these goals aligned, but they also had distinct success criteria.

• Farmers would only adopt the system if the financial benefit exceeded the cost.
• Spaze needed a strong value proposition to sell the service effectively.
• AVICT needed to ensure that the product worked, could scale, and would transition smoothly to Spaze’s management.

As deployment progressed, it became clear that the most compelling financial benefit was not just tracking lost sheep, but preventing disease outbreaks through GPS-driven contact tracing.

 

Using GPS for Disease Management

Sheep farming is highly susceptible to disease outbreaks, with infections spreading quickly through close contact and shared grazing areas.

• Sheep vaccinations cost anywhere from £5 to £54 per dose, making blanket vaccinations across an entire flock financially unsustainable.
• Historically, farmers had little choice but to vaccinate all animals, as there was no precise way to track which sheep had been exposed to infection.
• This resulted in high medical costs and unnecessary treatments for healthy animals.

By leveraging GPS-based movement tracking, farmers could:

✔ Identify exactly which sheep had been in contact with infected animals.

✔ Vaccinate only at-risk sheep, leading to massive cost savings.

✔ Isolate specific grazing areas where infections were likely to spread, further reducing disease transmission.

This targeted approach to disease control made the system exponentially more valuable to farmers than initially expected.

 

Collar Design: Preventing Removal & Tampering

While tracking data was critical for disease management, it was equally important that the collars remained securely fastened to the sheep.

• Sheep have a natural instinct to try to rid themselves of anything unfamiliar or uncomfortable.
• Collars had to withstand scratching, rubbing, and attempts to shake them off.
• Human tampering had to be minimized to ensure the system remained reliable and accurate.

To address these concerns, the collars were designed with:

• Heavy-duty nylon webbing, ensuring durability in all weather conditions.
• Tamper-proof Torx-style bolts, preventing easy removal without the correct tool.
• A contoured ABS compartment, positioned to minimize discomfort while preventing accidental dislodging.
• Reinforced stitching to ensure the collar could not easily be pulled apart.

These features ensured that collars remained on the sheep under normal conditions—helping prevent loss, protect tracking integrity, and ensure data reliability.

 

Security Advantages of Customizable GPS Sampling Frequency

One of the unexpected benefits of the system was how customizable GPS sampling intervals could be used to enhance security.

• If a collar was removed or destroyed, the last known GPS fix remained stored in the system.
• This helped establish the exact location and time of removal, offering insights into potential tampering, accidents, or theft.
• Sampling frequency could be adjusted to increase the chances of capturing useful data in areas of higher risk.

For example:

• A farmer might choose a lower tracking frequency for older, more sedentary sheep, but a higher frequency for young breeding rams that move more frequently.
• If a collar was unexpectedly removed, the system would still capture its last recorded position, helping determine whether the removal was natural or intentional.

This added layer of security and flexibility made the system more useful for farmers concerned about loss prevention—whether due to accidental removal or deliberate interference.

 

Real-World Example: Using GPS Data to Identify a Toxic Grazing Area

One farmer using the system noticed a pattern in the movement data—sheep grazing in a particular field were significantly more likely to fall ill.

• At first, the farmer suspected a water contamination issue but found no problems with water quality.
• By analyzing movement patterns and health records, it became evident that the issue was specific to grazing, not water sources.
• Further physical inspection of the area revealed the presence of toxic ragwort, a plant known to cause severe liver damage in sheep.

This discovery highlighted a major advantage of GPS-based tracking:

• Without GPS data, the toxic field might have gone undetected for years, continuing to cause avoidable livestock losses.
• The farmer was able to immediately restrict access to the area, preventing further illnesses and reducing veterinary expenses.
• This approach provided cost savings that far exceeded the price of the tracking collars, demonstrating an immediate return on investment.

 

GPS Tracking as a Preventative Tool, Not Just a Reactive One

This case study illustrated a fundamental shift in how farmers approached livestock health.

• Traditionally, disease control in sheep farming was reactive—illness was treated after symptoms appeared.
• With GPS tracking, farmers could proactively prevent disease outbreaks before symptoms even developed.
• This not only saved money on treatments, but also improved overall livestock well-being, leading to higher survival rates and stronger wool/meat yields.

 

Why This Made the Product Even More Valuable to Farmers

As the project continued, it became clear that the system’s true value wasn’t just in tracking individual sheep—it was in enabling data-driven livestock management.

• Farmers who initially saw the system as a loss-prevention tool quickly realized it offered far greater benefits in long-term flock health and profitability.
• Spaze was able to market the product not just as a tracking solution, but as an advanced livestock health tool, expanding its appeal beyond just farmers worried about theft or lost sheep.
• For AVICT Consulting, this shift in understanding demonstrated the importance of designing flexible solutions that could evolve beyond their original use case.

By the time the system was fully deployed, disease control had become one of the primary selling points, reinforcing why real-world deployment and feedback are crucial for refining product-market fit.

 

 

Step 5: Transforming GPS Data into Actionable Business Insights

The Challenge: Making Data Usable for Farmers

Tracking sheep was only part of the equation. For the system to be valuable, farmers needed a simple way to access and interpret the data. The real challenge was:

• How to turn GPS data into insights that drive better farm management.
• How to ensure farmers could access this information easily and act on it.
• How to integrate the data into a broader operational framework that supports business decisions.

This is where Odoo became critical—not for handling GPS data directly, but for delivering reports, structuring workflows, and enabling customer access.

How Data Moved from Collars to Odoo

Each system in the technology stack had a specific role:

• Collars collected movement data and stored it locally until their scheduled transmission time.
• LoRaWAN Gateways (Heltec MT-01) transmitted data from the collars to the network backend.
• SiteWhere processed raw GPS data, applying rules and filtering anomalies.
• Mobile Radio (VE2DBE) assisted in planning network coverage, ensuring optimal placement of LoRaWAN gateways.
• Odoo delivered processed insights to farmers, handling reporting, customer management, and automation of key business processes.

Odoo didn’t manage GPS data processing—that was handled by SiteWhere—but it provided the business tools necessary to act on that data.

Delivering Actionable Insights Through Odoo

Once SiteWhere processed and structured the tracking data, the next challenge was delivering insights that farmers could actually use.

Odoo was used to:

✔ Provide daily reports on flock movement and behavior trends.

✔ Enable automated alerts for unusual sheep behavior (e.g., no movement for a prolonged period, which could indicate illness).

✔ Allow farmers to access their livestock data through an easy-to-use customer portal.

✔ Link tracking data to financial records, helping farmers assess the cost-effectiveness of different grazing strategies.

By integrating tracking reports into the Odoo portal, farmers could log in at any time and get an overview of their flock’s health and movement patterns—without needing to interact with raw GPS data.

Automating Alerts & Notifications

One of Odoo’s most valuable features was its ability to automate alerts based on movement patterns.

• If a sheep remained stationary for too long, it could indicate illness or injury.
• If a group of sheep gathered in an unexpected location, it might signal a broken fence or an area of concern.
• If a collar was removed or stopped transmitting, the system could flag the last known location, aiding in loss prevention.

Instead of requiring manual monitoring, these alerts were automatically generated and sent to farmers via Odoo.

This reduced the need for farmers to constantly check dashboards—instead, they could rely on automated notifications when something required attention.

Integrating GPS Data with Business Operations

Beyond real-time tracking, Odoo played a crucial role in linking movement data to financial and operational decisions.

✔ Grazing Optimization – Farmers could compare flock movement with pasture health, ensuring optimal land rotation strategies.

✔ Disease Management – GPS-based contact tracing data helped farmers target vaccinations more efficiently, reducing unnecessary medical costs.

✔ Inventory & Asset Tracking – Farmers could track which sheep were in which locations, making it easier to organize shearing and medical treatments.

✔ Insurance & Compliance – Movement history could be used for insurance claims (e.g., proving livestock theft or verifying losses due to environmental hazards).

By tying GPS tracking to real business operations, Odoo helped farmers make data-driven decisions that improved efficiency and profitability.

A Customer Portal That Became More Than Expected

One of the unexpected successes of Odoo was the customer portal.

Initially, it was designed for:

• Viewing account status and service details.
• Tracking equipment inventory and active GPS devices.
• Managing service plans and ordering additional collars.

However, farmers began using it in ways we didn’t anticipate:

✔ Some used movement reports to track shearing schedules, as activity levels changed significantly post-shearing.

✔ Others used GPS data for land management, optimizing which fields were used at different times of the year.

✔ Some farmers even used tracking data to verify when sheep had been moved between locations, assisting with livestock audits.

This adaptability reinforced one of Odoo’s core strengths—it provided the tools for structured business management, but users could extend it in ways that suited their individual needs.

How the Business Model Evolved Based on These Insights

The discovery that disease control, grazing optimization, and financial planning were major use cases changed how the product was marketed and sold.

Instead of positioning the system only as a livestock tracking tool, it was reframed as:

✔ A comprehensive farm management solution, with GPS tracking as one component of a larger value proposition.

✔ A data-driven decision-making tool, enabling better resource allocation and cost savings.

✔ A proactive livestock health monitoring system, preventing issues before they became expensive problems.

These shifts led to changes in pricing models, customer onboarding, and product education, ensuring that farmers understood the full financial benefits of adopting the system.

Final Takeaways: Odoo’s Role in Making the Product a Success

While SiteWhere and LoRaWAN handled the technical side of GPS tracking, Odoo ensured the business could scale by providing:

✔ Sales and customer management tools to support farmer adoption.

✔ Automated reporting and alerts, making tracking data usable.

✔ A customer portal for self-service access to tracking insights.

✔ Financial and business intelligence tools to optimize pricing and inventory management.

Although Spaze may have later migrated to another system, Odoo provided the foundation that allowed them to refine their business model, scale their operations, and validate their product-market fit.

 

 

Step 6: The Customer Portal – A Platform for Innovation

One of the most unexpected outcomes of the project was how farmers adapted the system for uses beyond its original design. While the primary focus was tracking sheep and improving disease control, many farmers found new ways to leverage GPS data that had not been anticipated.

Shearing Records – Turning GPS Data into a Management Tool

Some farmers discovered that movement data could act as an indirect record of shearing.

• After shearing, sheep move differently, often more actively due to the sudden weight reduction and increased comfort.
• By analyzing movement patterns, farmers could estimate when individual sheep had been sheared, without needing separate manual records.
• This reduced administrative overhead, allowing for automatic documentation of shearing cycles.

This was not a feature originally planned, but a practical way for farmers to use the system in a way that fit their needs.

Land Rotation Management – Optimizing Grazing Schedules

Other farmers repurposed GPS data for land management, optimizing grazing schedules and pasture usage.

• By tracking where sheep had spent the most time, they could identify overgrazed areas and adjust land rotation strategies accordingly.
• This helped prevent overgrazing, allowing pastures to recover more effectively, leading to better long-term pasture health and improved wool and meat quality.
• Instead of relying on visual inspections, farmers could use data-driven insights to plan grazing cycles more efficiently.

This application highlighted an important unintended benefit of the system—it was flexible enough to be adapted beyond its original purpose.

A System That Evolved Based on Farmer Needs

These unplanned applications demonstrated that:

• Farmers were creative in using available technology to solve real-world problems.
• The system was not just a tracking tool, but a platform for broader farm management insights.
• Future updates could have expanded these use cases, further improving farm efficiency and productivity.

These insights naturally led to discussions about future improvements—how the system could evolve beyond its original design to support even more aspects of livestock management.

 

Step 7: The Future – Smart Automation & Seasonal Adaptation

How the Market Evolved After the Project

Since the completion of this project in 2017, other livestock tracking solutions have entered the market. However, none of them started from as strong a competitive position as Spaze did.

• Many competitors followed the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach, focusing on getting to market quickly with fewer features.
• This reduced the initial development cost, but also limited the viability of each product in real-world farm environments.
• Over time, these products required additional investment to match the capabilities that the Spaze system had from the outset.

Had the Spaze system continued to evolve, it would have remained years ahead of the competition, particularly through features that no other Welsh competitor had at the time.

One of the most promising future developments was smart automation and seasonal adaptation.

Automated Seasonal Adaptation – A Feature That Could Have Redefined Livestock Tracking

While the Spaze system already supported timed configuration updates, the next logical step would have been automating tracking adjustments based on seasonal risk factors.

• During lambing season, the system could have automatically increased GPS tracking frequency to provide more detailed movement data for monitoring ewes and lambs.
• During low-risk periods, tracking frequency could have been reduced to extend battery life, cutting costs while still maintaining essential data.
• Health monitoring could have been dynamically adjusted, ensuring that potential illness indicators were prioritized at key times of the year.

This approach would have:

✔ Improved battery life by optimizing tracking frequency based on real needs.

✔ Reduced operational costs for farmers by focusing GPS tracking where it mattered most.

✔ Enabled smarter farm management, ensuring that farmers received the most relevant insights at the right times.

At the time, no competitor in Wales had this level of IoT integration, and a feature like this would have set the Spaze system far ahead of the market for years to come.

What Else Could Have Been Developed?

Beyond seasonal adaptation, several other innovations could have been introduced had the business continued to grow:

• Automated Grazing Optimization – Using historical movement data to recommend pasture rotation schedules, helping farmers maximize land use efficiency.
• Machine Learning for Health Prediction – Analyzing movement patterns to detect early signs of disease or injury before symptoms were visible.
• Integrated Livestock Behavior Alerts – Predicting issues such as stress, social disruption, or breeding readiness based on changes in movement and grouping behavior.
• Multi-Farm Data Aggregation – Allowing farmers to anonymously share movement trends, providing industry-wide insights on grazing efficiency and disease outbreaks.

While some of these features may have been adopted by later competitors, Spaze had the advantage of already having a strong foundation, meaning it could have developed them sooner and more effectively.

This highlights the long-term value of designing a product with a strong competitive foundation from the beginning, rather than relying on MVP-style rapid launches that require constant reinvestment to remain viable.

Final Thoughts: Why Odoo Was the Perfect Fit

This project was never just about tracking sheep—it was about solving real-world farming problems through IoT-driven automation, cost efficiency, and business intelligence.

While other software handled GPS data processing, Odoo played a crucial role in making the business viable.

Odoo enabled:

• A scalable sales and support system, allowing the business to grow without excessive administrative overhead.
• A self-service platform for farmers, making it easier to manage devices, service contracts, and inventory.
• A data-driven approach to sales, inventory, and customer support, ensuring that financial and operational decisions were based on real insights.

For any business looking to bridge IoT with real-world commercial applications, Odoo’s flexibility and power make it an unbeatable choice.

If you’re interested in discussing IoT, precision agriculture, or ERP-driven automation, get in touch.