Cow collar lets farmers manage their cows remotely

Photo / Supplied

A select number of Waikato dairy farms are testing cow collars using a "Cowgorithim" to keep an eye on their herds.

Smart-cow startup Halter is a solar-powered, GPS-enabled collar for cows which enables farmers to shift, manage and monitor their herds remotely.

Halter is currently working with Waikato dairy farmers using a patented technology called "Cowgorithim" to guide cows around the farm using sound and vibrations.

Pete Morgan, who runs 630 cows in the Waikato said he couldn't wait to start using it, as it would save him "around three hours of work a day".

"Right now, I'm incredibly challenged to find enough time and labour to manage the farm. The ability to control herd movement and drafting remotely, while using virtual break fences to precisely manage grazing will profoundly reduce my workload."

Halter enables farmers to fence off areas or remotely shift herds with the touch of a button. Photo / Supplied

The collar creates virtual fences, alerts farmers to bovine health needs and now has a new pasture management feature. When coupled with virtual fencing, this will allow for more precise kgDM or pasture allocation per cow.

Growing up on a dairy farm, Halter Founder Craig Piggott learnt first-hand the huge workload farmer's face on a daily basis. Photo / Supplied

Halter founder Craig Piggott said pasture management was a problem he was determined to solve.

"In an ideal world, farmers would have the technology that enables them to allocate the
exact amount of pasture that an individual cow requires, all while showing how these grazing decisions will affect them not only now, but in the future".

"Halter will essentially offer that ideal world. It's not only going to help farmers use the grass on their farms more efficiently, it's also going to massively reduce their workloads".

Halter is working towards rolling out its collars nationally as it begins its deployment in the Waikato this year.