The idea of an ear-tag that uses GPS to track cattle isn’t a new one, but it hasn’t become a reality—until now. This past week, the Roper team completed the first two-week phase of their ranch pilot project that used the Roper® tag to continuously monitor cattle GPS location and activity. This groundbreaking new technology is the result of Roper's focus on inventing and developing next-generation smart wearables for secure off-grid tracking and communication.
“This is a huge milestone for us,” said CEO Maeve Garigan "and immensely gratifying for me as the inventor and chief engineer. I am incredibly proud of our team and our success shows that building great tech requires having the right people and the right mindset. Many other companies have tried and failed to achieve what we have just done. This isn’t a problem that you can solve by throwing money at it. You need deep technical expertise, intense creativity, and a real appreciation for ranchers’ needs.”
For this initial phase of the study, cattle were outfitted with Roper® ear-tags, and the Roper® network basestation with Internet backhaul was placed at a central location at the ranch, the entire process taking under two hours. The ear-tags collect GPS and activity data every hour and this data is immediately displayed in an app that maps cattle location and shows cattle activity.
“This initial phase proved several very important points for us,” explained Ms. Garigan.
“First, we showed that the ear-tag was comfortable for the cattle and didn’t irritate them. The tag weighs 35 grams, which is just over an ounce. The weight, shape and placement of the tags didn’t bother them at all and no tags were damaged. Cattle are really hard on equipment, so it was a nice surprise to get this right on our first try.”
“Secondly, our tag is self-powered. We use a very thin, lightweight solar panel with a small battery to achieve this. Being self-powered while also communicating sensor data every hour requires ultra-low power operation. You can save power by communicating less frequently, say every 24 hours, but then you wouldn’t have current information on your cattle. A lot can go wrong in 24 hours.”
“Thirdly, we showed that it actually worked. We continuously received cattle GPS location and activity data over our secure network, put that data in cloud database, and displayed the collected information in an app. Generating, collecting, and then successfully communicating this real-time sensor data over across network interfaces was key and much easier said than done.”
Screenshots from the first Roper® app are shown below (GPS information redacted for privacy). The app is still in development and the next version will map all tagged cattle simultaneously and include animal record information.
The next phase of the project will focus on correlating collected data—GPS location, velocity, heading, head movements, location within the herd—to specific behaviors and health outcomes.
“Our ear-tags have the hardware stack to deliver information on estrus, disease and stress. Previous livestock research shows this as, do health ear-tags for dairy cattle, which collect similar activity data but do not have GPS,” continued Ms. Garigan. “Our sensor data is uniquely capable of providing ranchers with critical, time-sensitive information, like notifying them when a cow is calving or someplace where she shouldn't be.”
The Roper team is working on similar projects that complement the cattle tracking capability.
"Our network is similar to a cell network for very small data packets so we can communicate all sorts of data over long ranges,” explained Ms. Garigan. "We are currently developing a gate sensor that detects whether a gate is opened or closed. This sensor also rides on our network and is part of our Roper® Smart Ranch concept that saves ranchers time and money by pinpointing issues before they become problems."
"Our goal is to empower ranchers with critical information they need, and our network is completely secure, so ranchers can keep their information private.”