Telefónica is connecting cattle across the United States and Latin-America after providing Internet of Things connectivity to livestock management firm Cattle-Watch.
The company will use Telefónica’s Smart M2M solution to gain key information about its cattle holdings. These include getting location updates and statue reports on herds, “reproductive events”, tracking disease, pasture quality and location through geofencing.
Telefónica added the technology would also help prevent theft of cattle by providing early warnings to a rancher’s smartphone, as well as help them operate drones with cameras.
Angel Barrio, CEO Telefónica USA, part of Telefónica Business Solutions stated: “This partnership brings together Cattle-Watch expertise in the cattle industry and Telefónica’s leading connectivity solutions and is in line with our strategy to provide industry sector specialized solutions to our customers.”
Ehud Sasi, Cattle-Watch CBD added: “The purpose of the system is to bring more food to the world and the cooperation with Telefónica will enable Cattle-Watch to boost the deployment of the system for the benefit of Ranchers world-wide.”
The deal is the latest in an increasing number of innovative uses of IoT technology. Earlier this month Vodafone said it was partially funding a “texting toilet” to help improve sanitation in developing countries.
Last year, the operator also partnered with researchers to fit harbour seals with transmitters. The researchers wanted to track migration patterns of the mammal, with Vodafone also measuring how it can send information during very short periods of time.l