KUCHING: Smart Cow Collar is a solution to increase the self-sufficiency of producers of beef and beef products.
This solution was sought after because the Sarawak government was looking for a way to increase the state’s self-sufficiency in beef and beef products.
“So we hooked up with our partners in China and they introduced this device to us. It is already used successfully in China at their dairy farms,” said administrative cum human resource manager of Positive Mind Sdn Bhd, Noresa Donald Matu.
Speaking recently to the New Sarawak Tribune during the just-concluded International Digital Economy Conference Sarawak (IDECS) 2019 at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK), she said the technology was brought home so that local farmers could use it to increase the population of their cattle even though we don’t actually have a dairy farm in Sarawak.
The Smart Cow Collar is a sensor linked to a mobile monitoring device which can be accessed remotely.
“It is actually a detection system to let farmers know when a cow is in heat and ready for artificial insemination,” said Noresa.
This, she said, is extremely crucial because in order for a cow to continuously produce milk, it needs to be pregnant and calving.
Cattle farms also need this gadget to increase their cattle population for the production of meat.
The device contains a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) Card and currently Positive Mind is using it in conjunction with the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication). In order for it to work, it needs online connection and/or the Internet.
“Therefore, we definitely need support from the government to have the infrastructure fixed, especially in areas where connection has not been improved,” said Noresa.
What she means is the gadget can communicate with the farmer through a mobile app and the farmer does not have to be at his ranch all the time.
The farmer will always have real-time data (RTD) sent to his mobile phone when his cow is either ready for artificial insemination or even when it is not healthy. The device can tell when something is not right with the cow.
Besides that, it also has a GPS (Global Positioning System) tracker so that the farmer can find his cow’s exact location.
This $500 device is only for female cows.
When she was fielded with a question on when Sarawak farmers would use this device, Noresa said that theirs is actually the first in Malaysia, so Positive Mind’s current plan is to introduce it to local farmers in the near future.
“Eventually we would also like to spread to Sabah and Malaya,” she said.
On the much-discussed digital economy to be developed in the state, she thought it is a very good move.
“In the digital economy, a lot of industries will be able to elevate themselves and in doing so help boost Sarawak’s economy, not just in manufacturing but also in agriculture,” she said.
