It used to be impossible to track individual cattle 24/7 in a 20,000 head feedlot. The typical large feedlot operation expands hundreds of acres and the sheer volume of cattle is too much to handle. The best you could do is track when they arrive, every time they are processed in the turn, and when they leave the feedlot. Precision Livestock Farming systems, like HerdWhistle, have now made individual traceability at that scale possible.
Precision Livestock Farming is the use of technology to track individual animals as they progress through the supply chain. It automates the traceability process so that ranchers and feedlot operators can scale it to larger operations. Head counts and locating lost or misplaced cattle are simplified via sensors and software.
HerdWhistle is one of the latest innovations under the Precision Livestock Farming umbrella. It gives feedlot operators a precise look into each of their individual cattle, regardless of how many heads are in their operation. RFID sensors are installed along every feed bunk, above every water bowl, and at every shipping ramp. The sensors detect the RFID ear tags attached to every animal to provide traceability throughout their entire time on the lot.
Every day, the system counts the number of cattle in each pen so feedlot operators can reconcile their inventory. If there are any discrepancies, the system digs deeper and analyzes what may be causing the issue. If the number of cattle is less than expected, it could indicate that a few of the animals have become ill and are not eating or drinking, therefore not registering in the system.
HerdWhistle also knows exactly which cattle are in which pen. In the case where the wrong animal gets into the wrong pen, the system alerts feedlot operators so that they can make the appropriate adjustments. Over the course of the animal's lifetime it may be moved from pen to pen. The HerdWhistle system provides complete traceability of which pens they resided in over their life cycle.
Cattle frequently escape their pens and are exposed to greater risk as they roam around. When an animal is lost like this, HerdWhistle can alert feedlot operators to a missing animal so they can react quickly to keep it safe. It can even detect the animal feeding from the wrong feed bunk and send an alert that it is missing and last seen at a particular pen.
The HerdWhistle system creates tremendous visibility across the feedlot so operators can track where their animals are, and if there are any issues that need to be attended to. It collects massive amounts of data for highly detailed record keeping of each individual animal, as well as the herd.
