Track And Monitor Livestock
What You Need To Know About Livestock GPS Tracking Devices
GPS Tracking For Livestock
GPS tracking livestock is not a new science, surfacing more frequently over the last several years. GPS monitoring technology has a lot of potential for farmers, allowing them to monitor the movements of livestock throughout the landscape, plot grazing patterns, and see what areas the livestock have been depleting nutrients in the soil. Farmers who utilize real-time GPS monitoring to keep an eye on livestock have the ability to monitor spacial movements and spacial activities, information that can provide multiple benefits.
One agency doing extensive research on the benefits of real-time tracking of livestock is the Precision Agriculture Research Group, and according to Dr. Mark Trotter, an expert on livestock monitoring, he believes that GPS monitoring will be used substantially by farmers in the next 5-10 years. He stated that the real time GPS data transmitted from livestock will help farmers understand a great deal about how livestock interact with the precious lands, and will also give farmers the ability to discover a farm animal’s precise location.
Other popular technological tools often researched by farmers to monitor livestock include:
- Cattle GPS tracking ear tags
- Cow tracking collar
- Smart ear tags for cattle
- Cattle GPS implants
- Cattle collar
Currently, many farmers use passive tracking units to gather information about livestock. The livestock tracking collars are worn on the animal as a collar, and if or when the farmer wants to collect and review that recorded tracking data all they need to do is manually remove the collar and download the stored data, which will allow them to view in retrospect the movements of the livestock. However, Trotter believes there will be a dynamic shift and movement toward real-time solutions as the technology becomes more tailored to farming applications. As the livestock tracking technology evolves farmers will have the ability to instantly locate cattle or other livestock roaming on farmland. Not to mention, real time updates on grazing patterns, animal behavior, and other information that can be helpful in managing livestock.
Dairy Farming Health Management
Animal tracking tags for cattle are used for health management in new and unique ways among dairy farming businesses. For example, GPS cattle tracking tech can enhance an animal’s health by allowing farmers to virtually fence their property. This farm management technique is used by setting a virtual boundary on the monitoring system online software that will alert smart farm managers if individual animals get lost or leave the property. The tracking devices can be particularly helpful given the thousands of dollars each farm could lose if there are interruptions in the cold chain, or if cattle grazing wanders off.
Cattle Tracking System For Farmers
“We wanted to remotely monitor movements, and patterns, and improve cattle management in a way that made sense for any dairy cow farmer or rural business”, explained an asset monitoring specialist. “We decided to employ the same technology used for protecting farm equipment and use it for cattle management. Whether it is GPS ear tags or a low power GPS locator that utilizes a SIM cards’ cellular technology, each tracking system is changing cattle tracking technology”.
Cattle ear tags have long been used by farmers to identify livestock, but that simple approach is getting a much more high-tech upgrade with the development of cattle GPS tracking ear tags. Essentially, what this form of technology will offer is the ability to instantly locate where all livestock is on a farmer’s property, and even be alerted if cows leave the property! This is done by setting up a virtual boundary on the property, which will trigger the cattle GPS tracking ear tag to send out an email or text message if any livestock leaves the area!

Matthew is a freelance writer who is passionate about technology, music, photography, and decentralized finance.