Keeping all animals on the farm under the radar can be challenging for ranchers. A state-of-the-art technology that promises not only tracking but maintains location and movement history, can prove to be a blessing.
While it may have existed in the market for years, GPS Cattle Tracking has amazingly evolved and integrated into various forms that have helped the animal industry immensely through the decades.
What is a GPS Cattle Tracking System, and Why is it Important?
The GPS cattle tracking system is a unique technological advancement that has revolutionized cattle farming in ways that were once perceived as impossible. Its features can drastically improve livestock management operations.
With the GPS for cattle tracking, cattle farmers can easily locate their animals within mere minutes. Its fast monitoring abilities help them make better-informed decisions and increase farm efficiency.
9 Benefits of GPS Cattle Tracking
The GPS cattle tracking system has proven to be no less than a blessing for modern-day farmers and ranchers. Among many of its brilliant features are a few striking ones listed below:
1. Real-Time Monitoring
A GPS tracker collar or cattle GPS tracking ear tag is put on the animal, and it allows for keeping an eye on the animal’s movement. The tracker sends an SMS or email notification to your device, letting you know about your animal’s whereabouts and physical condition.
2. Geofencing
This helps to keep your animals safe and to keep them away from areas they should not enter. It also includes monitoring any theft. If one of your animals is moved from your area (a pre-determined space) you will be notified through a system alert, and it will provide you with the animal’s exact location within five minutes.
- Helps to keep your animals safe
- Helps to keep them away from areas they should not enter
- Monitors any theft or intruder activity
- Provides the animal’s exact location within five minutes
- Is cost-effective
- Reduces the risk of theft and ensures safety
3. Prevention of Diseases
Tracking cattle with GPS systems allows farmers to keep a check on the well-being of their animals and send an alert if any animal is sick or hurt. This not only saves expenses spent on working with a veterinarian, but also saves a lot of time.
4. Easy Animal Identification
Keeping records to identify the animals will help you a lot. As it provides the most basic information in no time. It provides you:
- Animal’s information: Birthdate, age, identification, breed, sire, and dam
- Performance: Breeding dates, parturition dates, identification of progeny
- Production records: Milk production, ratios of weight from the dam to calf
- Health records: illness, diseases, vaccinations, deworming, and names of medicines that were given
5. Secure Your Farm
Indeed, remote areas do not have such high security but for a farm to be safe and secure, it is necessary to have a livestock GPS tracker to maintain full security. Your animals graze while you stay at the farm, watching them move through your device or smartphone.
6. Reducing The Need For Manual Labor
When you have everything under control, and you have such a strong cattle GPS tracking system installed, you no longer need to depend on manual labor for keeping an eye on the animals. You get all the required information in real time.
7. Weather Alerts
Of course, weather changes are natural, and you cannot control them, but with a system installed at your farm, you will be notified about the weather changes so that you can secure your animals before it gets too late. Real-time weather alerts are what every farmer needs.
8. Increase Productivity
With heat detection feature, you enjoy maximized rate of cattle production. You know when is the right time for inseminations. This helps you boost the pregnancy rate of your cows and increase your farm’s productivity. This helps minimize the rate of losses by increasing the profitability of your farm.
9. Calving Detection
Detection of calves can help you to enter them into the system and start monitoring live births. It saves you from many complications, and you are able you monitor the cow that is about to give birth more closely and regularly.
Other Key Benefits
- Animal Identification
- Heat detection
- Early mastitis detection
- Monitoring medicine dosage and treatment.
- Rumination tracking
- Stress detection
Types of GPS Cattle Tracking Devices and Their Features
1. LoneStar Tracking GSatSolar
The next generation in the Oyster series, Oyster3 is a tracking device offering 10+ years of.battery life.
Features:
- Global Coverage (100% Satellite Operations)
- Rapid Location Updates
- Includes 3 Years of Service
- Light Weight (only 22 Grams)
- Ear Tag or Collar Capable
- Adaptable to animals of all kinds
2. Oyster Edge
Oyster Edge is a battery-powered, cloud-based location-solving device containing Bluetooth that is used both indoors and outdoors.
Features:
- LTE-M – NB-IoT Connectivity
- Battery life of up to 10 years and more
- GNSS, WiFi AP MAC address scanning
- Cell Tower location management
- Bluetooth® 5.2 Gateway
- Weatherproof and ultra-rugged IP68, IK07 housing
3. Yabby Edge Cellular
A battery-powered, Bluetooth-containing GPS tracking device with cloud-based location solving.
Features:
- Deploy-once battery life with 10+ years
- GNSS (GPS/BeiDou), Wi-Fi AP MAC Address Scanning
- Cell Tower location for indoor/outdoor asset maintenance
- Enters sleep mode when stationary
- Weatherproof and ultra-rugged
- LTE-M / NB-IoT Connectivity
How Cattlytics Tracks Livestock in Real-Time
Cattlytics, a cattle tracking app available on both Android and Apple devices, indeed takes real-time tracking to the next level; ensuring that ranchers make the most of the digital transformation.
Be it one location or multiple, Cattlytics makes livestock management more efficient and reliable.
Features and benefits:
- Event Driven Dashboard
- Individual & Group Livestock Management
- Breeding & Production Management
- Pedigree Management
- Expense Management
Conclusion
All-in-all, the GPS tracker for cows is proving to be a brilliant innovation in the world of agricultural technology; enabling ranchers of all scopes to manage their field operations and also keep their animals under strict check and balance.
Q1: What is GPS cattle tracking, and how does it work?
The GPS cattle tracking system allows farmers to attain the real-time location of their cattle and also assess their physical conditions. It utilizes Bluetooth and cloud-based technology to do so.
Q2: How accurate is GPS cattle tracking?
The accuracy of the GPS tracker for cows depends upon the interval between logged positions of the cows, both inside and outside the farm.
Q3: How can GPS cattle tracking help with herd management?
It can greatly help by providing real-time locations of the animals and also keeping an eye on their movement, allowing farmers to ensure their safety and health.
Q4: How much do GPS cattle tracking cost?
GPS tags that are put on the animals are commercially available for $44 per unit; with a subscription fee of $6 a year.