GPS Is the New Electronic Cowboy It Was Just a Matter of Time By Will Verboven | Contributing Editor
breeding purposes. It’s revolutionized milk cow husbandry, particularly for large-scale operations where intense pro- duction management systems make it challenging to mon- itor cows individually. Dairy cattle monitoring technology had one early advantage – it didn’t require satellite GPS as the cows are confined to a much smaller area within range of electronic base stations located in or on buildings. That brings up the cost of GPS cattle-monitoring tech- nology; initially, it’s not cheap. However, because tags can be reused, the price per head will decrease over time. For milk producers with multi-million-dollar operations and an immediate cash flow from milk sales, that’s not a problem. Improvements in milk production due to monitoring show up quickly, but not so much for cow-calf operations. GPS monitoring could reduce lost cattle numbers, locate sick cattle earlier, better manage grazing conditions, etc. The savings, although tangible, are harder to quantify and will cause some buyer apprehension for ranchers. The preliminary cost for a high-tech GPS ear tag is around $100 each, plus service fees. That’s a $50,000 jolt for a medium-sized, 500-cow ranch operation. Unlike dairy operations, it may take a cow-calf rancher 10 years or more to recoup the capital expenditure of the tags, the software and base stations, never mind the annual service fees and operating costs.
SOME YEARS AGO, YOUR inquisitive writer speculated on the possibility of using high-tech ear tags to locate cattle on the range. At the time, electronic ear tags had been developed that could be read by detector
wands and other devices. In Canada, they are used by producers, auction markets, packing plants, etc., to quickly identify individual cattle arriving at handling facilities. My idea was to extend ear tag detection to low-flying drones over a specific area. However even with high-fre- quency tags, overcoming the distance between the drone and the tag was the main problem, but as one might expect, technology has resolved that situation. Some clever Aussies solved the long-distance connection issue by going beyond the drone concept and linking ear tag location directly to GPS – talk about a great leap forward. The solution was a sophisticated ear tag that produced its own solar power, allowing it to communicate directly with a computer or cell phone via GPS. The Smart Paddock Company has developed the technology, and its ear tags will be marketed in Canada and the United States. Location technology lost luggage, cars, etc. However, this new ear tag location technology is a big step forward because it can provide additional data that could have life-saving impacts on a specific animal. Basically, the ear tag shows its location in real time via GPS. If every animal in the herd had such tags, they could be located instantly, including any that might have strayed or escaped through a fence. Even stolen cattle could be located within reason. If, over time, no movement were detected, the rancher would be alerted by his cell phone that some- thing was amiss. itself is not new and has been adapted for several different uses, including Compare that to the traditional monitoring approach of occasionally checking the herd by horseback or quad. By the time a problem is detected, it’s probably too late. I suspect most cattle producers would see the benefit of real-time herd monitoring. With cows and calves being valued in the thousands each nowadays, losing even a few has real finan- cial consequences. Digitized electronic herd monitoring is already well-devel- oped for dairy cow operations. The technology is linked to measuring milk production and cow behavior such as rest times, feed consumption and other production consider- ations. Some systems can detect cow heat conditions for
WITH COWS AND CALVES BEING VALUED IN THE THOUSANDS EACH NOWADAYS, LOSING EVEN A FEW HAS REAL FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES.
If these new GPS tags can reduce labor costs, improve grazing efficiencies, reduce losses, improve cattle health and production, and are reusable, investment is worthy of consid- eration. What is hard to deter-
mine is the value of “peace of mind” for ranchers, knowing where their cattle are at all times and that all is well. One would expect this GPS ear tag technology will get better and less expensive over time. I know government-mandat- ed use of ear tags is a controversial issue with many cattle producers in the United States. In Canada, we have had compulsory livestock ID and ear tag legislation in place for more than 20 years. Back then, it was controversial up here, too – but mainly because of the cost. Perhaps the benefits of GPS ear tags could also address the compulsory ID issue if ranchers could see a cash advantage. I expect innovative feedlot operators are already using a variation of this type of monitoring technology, adapting it from the dairy industry. The benefit for feedlots would be from ear tags that can detect cattle body temperature. That would give operators and pen riders a jump on the early detection of sick cattle. Imagine an LED red light on the tag turning on whenever a high temperature is detected. How easy it would be to locate sick animals and sort them out before they reached more obvious but untreatable symp- toms. It seems the electronic cowboy is here.
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