In the Information Age, even cows aren’t safe from data collection.
Researchers at the Southern University Agricultural Research Station monitor calves using a hard plastic pill containing sensors, which sits in the animal’s stomach, tracking heart rate, temperature and the amount of time it takes for the bovine to regurgitate and reswallow its food.
The work is part of the Ag Center’s “smart ranching” approach to raising what it calls Southern University Natural Beef, or SUN Beef. Researchers track the cattle’s health with key data points, paying special attention to nutrition in the first 60 days of life, to produce beef for the Southern campus that they say is free from hormones and growth implants.
“If you want to own cows, you’re not there every day,” Dr. Mallory Tate, a veterinarian with the Ag Center, said about the goal of the project. “You can manage it from your laptop.”…