Remote Monitoring –Sensor Ear-Tag for Cattle Put to the Test

Monitoring systems for indoor housing and home or alpine pastures are gaining in importance owing to their potential for uninterrupted remote monitoring of livestock and for automating administrative tasks. Identitas AG and Agroscope tested the suitability of a sensor ear-tag for cattle for this purpose.

The agricultural sector is evolving towards larger farms with bigger herds. Staff- and skilled-employee numbers are limited and production costs are key. Technical advances and digitalisation have increased the range of systems available for location- and time-independent remote sensing. Animal husbandry is attracting particular scrutiny. The documentation of animal welfare, animal health, land use and the quality of products of animal origin as well as the safeguarding of provenance and traceability are becoming increasingly important. Monitoring systems promise livestock owners support in the remote monitoring of animals and offer a basis for the automation of mandatory reporting.

What technology is the sensor ear-tag based on?

A sensor ear-tag (SET) possessing three communication channels – satellite communication (SC), Bluetooth (Bluetooth Low Energy, BLE) and Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID)– as well as an accelerometer, a thermometer, a solar panel and a processor for data processing (‘edge computing’) was evaluated. SC, BLE und RFID enable animals to be located. Acceleration measurement allows animal activity to be classified. The ambient temperature provides information on the livestock environment.

How can sensor ear-tags be used in Switzerland?

Data from the SET can be linked with geographical and meteorological information. This allows assessment of the behaviour of animals over time and in space. Are the animals/herds where expected? Do the animals/herds behave normally? Alarms as well as geographical representations, and visualisations in the form of graphics can support animal keepers and enable rapid action when necessary. In addition to the actual animal monitoring, the focus of the study was on the automation of mandatory recording and reporting.

Findings under Swiss conditions

The fastening of the SET to the animal’s ear, and hence the linking of mandatory animal identification and data collection needs further development. The SET was used successfully when fastened to the animal’s collar.

During the winter months or indoors, the charge of the photovoltaic-supplied SET battery was low. The indoor housing of cattle largely rules out data transfer via SC; however, the data stream over BLE was maintained without interruption. RFID proved to be a reliable source of data, although its performance heavily depends on the placement of the antennas. The location of animals within the housing system, outdoor exercise area and on pasture was assigned in a rule-based manner, according to the combination of all data available from the system. The automated documentation largely stood the test, although challenges remained in individual cases.

During summer pasturing, data were collected exclusively via SC, with no need for additional infrastructure. This makes the SET a particularly attractive option for the remote monitoring of livestock in pasture-based production systems.