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The challenge

Livestock monitoring can be time consuming and costly

Australia's $19 billion livestock industry plays a vital role in the national economy, fuelled by the rapid growth of Asia and increasing demand for high quality Australian exports from countries such as China.

For many livestock producers, locating and monitoring the activity of their livestock is a time-consuming and often costly challenge.

Our response

Teaming up to develop a smart ear tag

We have brought together our deep technology expertise and animal science know-how and teamed up with commercial partner, Ceres Tag, to tackle this problem with a smart ear tag.

The smart ear tag builds on years of our research in livestock production and long-term sensing and tracking. It features geo-location for greater traceability and provenance of livestock and will provide a platform for other possible applications in the future.

The Ceres Tag smart ear tag for livestock sends valuable data direct from animal to satellite. Image supplied by Ceres Tag

The results

Improved management of livestock and the paddock

The data collected from the tags can be translated into knowledge to improve management of both livestock and the paddock.

The ear tags will also give producers greater control over grazing management, allow them to locate livestock remotely and alert them to stock theft, illness or if an animal is giving birth. The aim is to reduce operating costs, increase operational efficiency and additional financing opportunities through better management of livestock through data.

Ceres Tag links animals directly to satellites, without going via on-farm towers. The tags last the lifetime of the animal with no battery change and the system is currently aspiring to meet the NLIS (National Livestock Identification System) tag requirements. This work is part of a research and development project co-funded by MLA Donor Company.

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Ceres Tag and CSIRO have collaborated to create a tag that tells farmers their livestock could be sick or roaming too far.

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It’s tougher than the harsh Aussie conditions and is designed to last the life of the animal.

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Ceres Tag will mean farmers can locate and monitor their animals with improved grazing management, efficiency and traceability.

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With Internet of Things (IoT) capability, it can unlock invaluable data for livestock producers and the supply chain.

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Future versions will be smaller and lighter with added features.

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Our expertise in livestock, sensing and data analytics is helping Australian agribusinesses, such as Ceres Tag, grow the future.

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