The Cowlar Smart Collar is a smart neck collar for dairy cows that monitors
temperature, activity, and behavior round the clock. It flags heat cycles and
early illness, and sends actionable recommendations to an online dashboard, to
your phone by text, or by automated robotic call in the language you want. It
suits dairy farmers who want heat events and sick cows flagged without watching
the herd around the clock. HereBro lists it under AI
Livestock & Yield.
What does the Cowlar Smart Collar do?
You strap the collar around each cow’s neck and it monitors her temperature,
activity, and behavior continuously. Cowlar’s machine-learning models read that
data to detect heat cycles (estrus) and early disease indicators, including
lameness and mastitis signals from behavior and posture changes. It also tracks
rumination and feeding behavior, since drops there are early signs of distress or
illness.
How do you install and run it?
Each collar clips around the cow’s neck and switches on when it is strapped
on. Collars talk to a solar-powered router, a base station that Cowlar says
installs in about 20 minutes with no wiring or technicians and needs no
maintenance. The router feeds collar data to Cowlar’s servers, and you follow
the herd in an online dashboard. One collar charge lasts about 6 months, per
the vendor’s battery specification.
What does the Cowlar Smart Collar measure?
Per the vendor’s spec: ambient plus core body temperature, activity,
rumination, movement patterns, step count, gait, posture, eating behavior, and
comfort indications, read together to flag lameness and illness early. Each
collar is IP68 rated and built to take impact from large animals and full
submersion. One setup scales from 5 to 5,000 cows.
What do alerts look like?
If you skip the dashboard, alerts still reach you: customizable text messages
or robotic calls, in the language you want, for heat events and health alerts.
Email covers a third channel.
What does the Cowlar Smart Collar cost?
The vendor’s FAQ lists $99 per collar retail, with an early-bird price of $69.
A base station, required for every farm, costs $99 and covers up to 100 cows
within a 2.5 mile radius. The store page serves the same prices today, though
its early-bird terms carry a 2018 end date, so confirm the current figure there
before you buy.
How does it compare with other livestock tools?
Where Moocall’s
calving sensor tells you moments before a specific cow is ready to calve,
the Cowlar setup watches general herd health and activity all season. They do
different jobs, and together they cover more of what a dairy operation needs to
watch. On the crop side, Arable’s Mark 3 monitors
what grows in the field rather than the animals.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost?
One Cowlar collar retails at $99 with an early-bird price of $69, per the
vendor’s FAQ. A solar-powered base station costs $99 and covers up to 100 cows
within a 2.5 mile radius. (The vendor’s pages carry wait-list-era pricing, so
current terms may differ.)
What does it track?
Temperature, activity, and behavior around the clock, flagging heat cycles,
early signs of illness, and changes in feeding and rumination.
How do I get alerts?
Alerts come to your phone via customizable text messages or automated
robotic calls, in the language you want; the online dashboard carries the same
alerts.
How do you install it?
The vendor says installation takes minutes: strap each collar on the cow’s
neck and it powers on automatically. The solar-powered router (base station)
installs in about 20 minutes with no wiring, and it comes free with 20-collar
orders.
How long does the battery last?
One recharge runs about 6 months per the vendor’s specification, so a single
charge carries a cow through most of a season.
Is it rugged enough for pasture?
Yes: each collar is IP68 rated, built to take impact from large animals and
full submersion, with a synthetic nylon or leather strap.
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