IoT-Enabled Smart Collar to Improve Cattle Management

The present COVID-19 situation has gripped the crowd-culture and demands for the minimalist culture, which means the least human-interaction, the more safety assurance. Corona-virus has limited the gathering at everyplace, either its an office or a shopping mall. In this situation, it has become a more challenging task for a rancher to keep a track on every cattle with least number of helpers.

Earlier, in the presence of labours, it was not easy to keep a track on a large herd because cattle management includes a lot more than you think. The day usually consists of feeding, cleaning, vaccination, health monitoring and anytime heat stress, anytime artificial insemination requirement and anytime calving. Farmers have to be all-time available to run a successful cattle farm.

Today, the Internet of Things has made many jobs easy in different sections. The need for time and the existing loopholes in cattle management has led to the innovation of IoT-enabled collars. The smart collar is the outcome of the collaboration of advanced technologies.

The IoT-based and cloud-connected collars monitor rumination, movement, activities, body temperature of the cattle. It collects the data and stores it on the cloud for analysis of pattern and behaviour.

How smart collar helps you in managing cattle remotely?

The GPS enabled cattle tracking collar provides the real-time location of your cattle. The collar sends the signal every 15 minutes at your livestock management dashboard. This process allows you to track the movement and location of your cattle at any time from anywhere. The IoT-enabled collar collects and stores the data on the cloud for future purposes. Farmers even install specific geofences and alerts to get the notification if cattle move out of a designated area.

If you own a large farm, then it would have become a more difficult task in this pandemic situation with less number of helper. Maintaining a record of each cattle becomes an arduous task. A bit of careless attitude might end up into a loss of 3,000-3,500 bucks per missed heat per animal. The sensor-enabled smart collar helps you to skip from all the undesired loss.

How IoT-enabled smart collar works?

1. The smart wearable catches the movement and records the data. It predicts the estrus based on the change in behaviour, movement and activity pattern.
2. The IoT-enable collar compares the daily activity of cattle and notifies if any change in pattern appears.
3. The smart collar also compares the movement of each cow with the heard and alerts if any change shows.
4. The IoT-enabled collar detects the patterns which only appears at the time of estrus and inform promptly.

Read More: Why is IoT Impossible Without an Open Ecosystem?

Smart collar curtails the undesired losses:

The reproduction cycle of a cow is very critical. For instance, missing the single heat stress of a cow can disturb a whole reproduction cycle and cause considerable loss. Suppose, if a farmer misses the heat stress many times or faces failure in artificial insemination, then, this situation might turn out to the worst result.

Therefore, this new data storing wearable tag eases the management work by notifying about the peak heat-stress period.

Usually, cattle management solutions include smart collars, receiver unit and antenna.

1. It offers remote tracking of cattle and informs about its current location.
2. It records and stores ambient temperature, rumination profile, cattle movements on the cloud.
3. It alerts for oestrus period and animal health.
4. It sends a timely alert for general health, lameness, oestrus, digestive health etc.

Reasons to have an IoT-enabled cattle management system:

The most straightforward reason is to minimize the loss of cattle, maintain good health and yield benefit. The other reasons are:

• Cattle management solution can monitor ‘n’ number of cows.
• It stores data and allows farmers to access it anytime from anywhere.
• It reduces dependability on labour.
• It provides a highly accurate result.
• It alerts farmers if any cow is ill or lost.

Undeniable Advantages:

The inclusion of a cattle management solution can help farmers in all aspects. It improves farm management, increases the breeder’s efficiency and optimizes the input costs like labour, hormonal treatment, semen etc.

It lowers the dependency on human resources and assures for no human error. Farmers can access the data and can edit it as per the existing situation. The solution also helps the farmer in tracking and recovering stolen cows.

Conclusion:

The introduction of smart cattle management has solved the problem of poor breeding performance. The IoT-based cattle management solution is economical, robust and user-friendly. It has confirmed a positive impact on the growth of yield and health of cattle. It has reduced livestock theft and can count stock within a matter of minutes. The cattle management solution keeps a track on every individual cow and alerts the farmers if any change occurs. The adoption of revolutionary innovation in cattle management can change the outlook of livestock management. It contributes to saving money, efforts and time as well.ive