Cows Wearables Are Now a Thing to Help Farmers Detect Illnesses

Dairy farmers across the USA are turning to internet-connected “smart” collars, ear and leg tags to track the specific movements and patterns of their cows. The goal is to better manage individual animals in a herd without needing as much manual labor. That’s especially important as the country’s demand for dairy has increased, but the number of farms has decreased. The tech can also help detect irregular patterns that could indicate disease like the H5N1 avian influenza, which has decimated millions of America’s chickens over the past few years and spread into the nation’s cows. A second strain of bird flu known as D1.1, meanwhile, recently spread from wild birds and poultry to cows in Nevada. “Depending on the type of influenza, the cow may show signs of not eating properly,” said Justin Stewart, an Arizona farmer who uses smart collars to help know when any of his 3,250 cows deviate from their normal behavior. “That triggers a health alert and then notifies us to take a look at her.”