Posted by Kay on 14 February 2012
Mobile phone technology is coming in handy these days for everything from communicating with your dentist to purchasing a new DVD, but now it seems that the same type of technology may also assist farmers to maintain the health of their dairy herds. The Technology Strategy Board has established a project scheduled to last for three years that involves placing smart collars onto cows. The collar will monitor the animals’ movements and health markers, and send information out using mobile phone technologies similar to 3G.
The plan includes farmers being able to receive text messages on their mobile phones whenever the collar detects certain key events, like a cow being in some sort of medical distress, going into labour, or even beginning to come into heat. Because the system relies on mobile phone technology, farmers will not necessarily need to be near their herds in order to monitor them – nor even on the same dairy farm. Indeed, farmers could receive alerts even when they are on holiday away from the UK.
According to David Evans, who serves as head of agriculture at Morrisons, "The future of farming is extremely important to us as a business, as is animal welfare. This technology can help secure it by allowing farmers to monitor the health conditions of individual cows far more easily and accurately. Not only can this development help to save the farmer money, it can also help to keep food affordable."
The scheme also highlights the importance of mobile phone technology in today's world, if even cows are using it.