Spanish firm Digitanimal is using satellite IoT technology from Astrocast to help farmers track livestock remotely.

Both companies are collaborating to commercialise a tracking device that connects to Astrocast’s global satellite network. The collar will let farmers track livestock remotely. This will allow them to adopt Agriculture 4.0 farming practices as they manage their herds. 

“Within remote farming environments there is often little or no terrestrial network connectivity,” said Carlos Callejero, CEO of Digitanimal. “To solve this problem, some farms try and install antennas and base stations to deploy ground networks and access cloud technologies. But it is challenging for many farmers to deploy a reliable and financially viable infrastructure, especially if they do not have a high volume of animals to monitor.”

He said the goal was to change this situation for these remote farmers using Astrocast’s low-power, satellite IoT.

“This technology – and the access to data that it provides – will enable farmers to accurately establish the location of their herds anytime and anywhere, allowing them to better manage livestock,” said Callejero. “For example, they can track movement patterns and create geofences to detect when livestock has drifted into areas they should not be.”

New Zealand, Australia, Kenya and South Africa are potential markets for this tracking technology. Other countries in Africa and Asia also have large, extensive herds in vast regions with no reliable cellular network access. In Europe, it is estimated that there are 87 million cows and half of these animals are located in areas without terrestrial or network coverage.  

“There is a digital divide in many rural and farming areas across the world,” said Fabien Jordan, CEO of Swiss firm Astrocast. “This divide is largely caused by a lack of network connectivity, which prevents many farmers from adopting smart farming practices. While the art and science of farming have been established for centuries, the innovative use of IoT and sensor technology enable farmers across all scenarios to digitise their farming practices, to become more efficient, to save cost and to reduce their carbon footprint. By partnering with Digitanimal, we look forward to facilitating access to new technologies and practices for livestock farmers globally.”

Through this partnership, it should be possible for any farmer across the world in 2023 to connect their animals to the cloud and track them.

Digitanimal is a Spanish SME founded in 2015 that develops smart technology for livestock farming based on IoT devices, AI algorithms and apps. More than 10.000 farmers are monitoring their animals with Digitanimal in 80 countries.