With these challenges in mind, New Mexico State University and USDA ARS Jornada Experimental Range decided to create a Smart Ranch System to address the issues. Specifically, they are searching for a complete off-the-shelf solution especially built for ranchers, which includes LoRaWAN-based cattle tracking, water level sensors with automated water stations, temperature sensors, gateways and network management, a dashboard, and beta-test funding. On top of this, they intend to implement data analytics for them to analyze cattle behaviour and ranch space usage. They will also use the data they will gather for their research in understanding animal behaviour and the usage of ranch land.
Case in point, they want to provide ranchers the accessibility to a complete-packaged solution to manage their ranches and reap the benefits.
NMSU and USDA ARS JER primarily piloted a research and development project for cattle monitoring on a ranch that they own. They have been using classic GPS devices to monitor the herd for 15 years for research purposes. The problem that they faced was their inability to see the location of the animals in real-time caused by a lack of cellular range. Nevertheless, these trackers stored movement data which they manually checked after some time.
Since they were not satisfied with this solution, especially with the work-around that they had to do, they experimented with different devices and packages. They needed a tool that exhibited a battery life of at least 6 or 7 months, ideally a year, and offered excellent location precision at 1 to 5 meters. This system that they are trying to put in place now is not just for research but for ranch management purposes as well.