New Technology Sends Text Message When Your Cow Starts Calving

You can now get a text message sent to your phone about an hour before your cow calves.

A sensor called Moocall was showcased last week at the Lethbridge Ag Expo.

Eric Fazakas with Moocall Canada says, the sensor has been on the Canadian market for three years and is also in 40 countries.

"What you do is you just mount it on the tail of the cow, and then when she starts her contractions, it'll trigger the sensor in there and send you a text message, and it'll always be a half hour to an hour before your cow calves."

He suggests having one sensor for every 50 cows, or one sensor for every 80 cows for dairy operations which calve year round.

The company is based out of Dublin, Ireland and has only been in Canada for three years.

Fazakas says, they just launched a new sensor at the beginning of the month which provides breeding management information.

"It's called Moocall HEAT," Frazakas says. "It's a heat detection device that'll text you when your cow is in standing heat, so you know when to A.I. (artificially inseminate) her. Or you can put it on your clean up bull and it will detect exactly which bull bred which cow."

The bull wears a collar that reads RFID ear tags on the cows. The device will also give producers information such as due dates, in-calf notifications, find cows that are open or have fertility problems, and monitor bull health and fertility.