Well Cow at The Royal Highland Show

Well Cow has been demonstrating on the SRUC stand to visitors at the Royal Highland Show its new wireless telemetry bolus system for the long term measurement of rumen pH and temperature in dairy herds.  

   

 The company has developed a new communication system with our partner, Ziconix. This automatically collects pH and temperature data from the bolus sitting in the rumen via a ruggedised reader and transmits it to a smart device such as a smartphone or tablet computer which can be kept away from the animal for security. In turn this connects to a wide area network and onto the cloud so that the data can be analysed remotely by the farmer, vet or nutritionist. This brings the latest in communication and computing technology into the farm.

The Well Cow pH bolus provides data that helps farmers and nutritionists implement feed management that prevents or reduces the incidence of Sub Acute Rumen Acidosis (SARA). By managing diets farmers are able to optimise milk yield and quality.

The bolus is inserted orally into the cow using a bolling gun and resides in its stomach, once inside the rumen it logs pH and temperature every 15 minutes and operates in this very hostile environment for up to 100 days. It avoids the need for invasive rumencentesis – using a needle to draw rumen fluid.