Talking to cows, are you serious?

W hen we started looking at the possibilities of yes literally talking to the cows, way back in the late nineties when we night after night, day after day sat on tennis chairs conducting cow behaviour research (very sad I know.. but true), we thought then it would be quite neat, if instead of just sitting here, watching and recording the cows using stacks of VTR (you know...you remember... those machines that you pushed a video tape into and hoped to the heavens that nobody would record over or heaven forbid delete your favourite tv show), that perhaps one day we might be able to identify, locate and monitor the cows in real time. Perhaps one day such a technology would enable us to have a better understanding of the cows, their behaviour and perhaps even alert us to early signs if something is not quite right and just as importantly tell us exactly where they are.....aaaah what dreamers we were back then!!

If you have ever had to go out late at night to search for a cow identified as sick or calving, you’ll know how valuable real time positioning and monitoring can be, how much it means that the cows can actually talk to us and how much knowing and being in total control of your cows really is.

Now with real time identification and positional accuracy of sensors reporting in real time, you can imagine taking that control to a whole new level where the cows can also control all elements on the farm from feeding, robotic milking, manure systems, ventilation and even to the point where the cows can turn the lights off or close the blinds for more shade.

It's a sustainable approach that puts the cow at the centre, improving productivity, efficiency and reducing environmental footprint.