Beef cattle monitoring is moving from simple tracking of animals to health monitoring using solar-powered eartags.
701x, a smart ear tag company out of Fargo, N.D., expanded its team and market into Canada in February.
To promote the technology and offer producers a chance to see it up close, Bruce Holmquist, the Canadian business developer for 701x, was showcasing the product at Ag in Motion near Langham, Sask., in July.
“This is the first main foray into Canadian trade shows for the company,” Holmquist said at the farm show.
“We’ve been in business for three years, in the U.S. mainly, but have a worldwide marketing approach.”
While the company has had customers seek the product of their own accord in Canada, Australia, Europe and South America, it hasn’t had sales representatives available. While at Ag in Motion, Holmquist said he saw a lot of interest in the product.
“It’s geared for the way ranching has evolved,” he said.
“It’s kind of cool to have a calving camera app on your phone, or a pasture monitor.”
701x is in the game of smart ear tags (xTpro) and button tags (xTlite), which offer GPS tracking via satellite, health alerts, animal movement, calving detection and breeding detection of estrus for cows and mounting for bulls.
“With bulls, it’s probably more important,” Holmquist added. “Because if you’ve got a bull that’s starting to come up lame, you want to know now.”
For cows, the tag notes body temperature and movement, cluing into the fact that as cows come into heat, they’re more active.
The company’s software systems includes a herd management app to monitor the animals as well as breed registration and pedigree tracing. It also integrates into other registry systems, such as those for breed associations.
Ear-mounted solar panels included
The tags are light, with two pins to keep them in the ear, reducing rotation and balancing weight distribution, and a solar panel to keep them operational. They are placed further in cows’ and bulls’ ears so that the curve of the ear pushes the solar panel forward to catch the light.
“Ours are solar-charged, so we’re not changing batteries or anything like that,” Holmquist said.
The smaller button tags are for calves, and they communicate with the cows’ main tag. Through that connection, producers will be able to tell if a calf is missing, its activity levels and if it has or hasn’t sucked. The xTlite tag is also readable with RFID.
The system notifies for low water levels, overfills and temperature changes. It can be run via solar power or direct wiring.
Holmquist calls it “cheap insurance” to track a herd, particularly right now when cattle prices are high and bulls are nearing or exceeding $20,000.
Holmquist uses the technology with a portion of his herd. He’s had his daughter track the animals, establish the perimeter fences, and learn the software.
“You just do it all on your phone with the app,” he said.
The company’s owner has a herd of 300 head in Montana on which it tests the software and tags, meaning they’ve been standardized for the harsh heat and cold that Canadian producers face.
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