What is a GPS Tracker?
GPS trackers are a great way to track the location of animals and make sure that they are safe. But what exactly are they, and how do they help farmers to increase productivity & profits?
That’s precisely what we are planning to discuss in today’s blog. So read on to learn more.
GPS Trackers are devices that receive signals from GPS Satellites and use them to accurately pinpoint the location on the surface of the Earth. In simple terms, they measure their apparent location based on the signals received and then transmit that location data to a server from where we can access it using an app or interface. If you want to learn more about the working of a GPS Tracker, we suggest you check out one of our previous articles that explains the same.
How Farmers are Using GPS Technology to Get Ahead
In agriculture and farming, GPS technology and especially GPS Trackers have huge implications. There are several use cases where GPS Trackers help farmers to optimize their farming practices and increase profits.
GPS Trackers save money and increase profit for the farms.
Since this is the most important point in this article, we will talk about this first and you can check out the rest of the points if you feel like it.
Livestock, be it herd of cows or sheep or any other kind of animals, is valuable. Especially if your business revolves around them. So, it’s highly crucial that you never lose track of them since that can cost you money. Diseases also costs a great deal for livestock farmers as they downgrade the quality and can spread to others in the herd or flock that results in loss. But with a Tracker, you can save a ton of money in operations as well as GPS tracking and monitoring your animals.
GPS Trackers allows you to see where your animals are, and how they move about in the given location. So, you can immediately know if any of them jump the fence of is lost to a predator. Location tracking enables you to take quick actions and save your animals before losing them completely.
The tracking also allows you to run the farm with minimal staff members. You don’t need somebody with the animals all the time since you can track them and know their whereabouts without having to be there physically. It cuts costs and minimizes the resources required to run the farm efficiently
More benefits of using GPS trackers for livestock farms are:
- They give peace of mind to the owner that their animals are safe:
GPS Trackers are a great way to keep track of your livestock farm and make sure that they are taken care of. All you need to do is attach the tracker to their collar and it will send you alerts when they enter and leave a designated area. This way, you can always monitor them without having to constantly look at their location data all the time. - They help find lost or stolen animals:
A great threat and concern to livestock farms are when one of the animals gets stolen or lost. It’s hard work tracking them down and retracing their steps to bring them back. However, with a GPS tracker, it’s very easy to find a lost animal on the map and determine its location to retrieve them as quickly as possible with minimal effort. It’s convenient and cost-saving for farm-owners and workers alike. - Understand and gather insights on animal behaviour:
Like any other industry, farming also thrives on data. The better insight you have on the whole operation, the better you can make informed decisions that improve profit margin. With data from GPS Trackers, you can learn invaluable information like how the animals graze, which areas of pastures they prefer, which one tends to group together, and which ones stray far from the heard, etc. All this info can then be used when determining which one to focus more on, which one to sell and which one to retain, which ones are more prone to diseases, etc. - They can be used to monitor health conditions:
If you have land where your animals move around, it is also relevant to know which ones move less and which ones move too much. Both can be signs of diseases or health conditions. As a farmer, knowing about these early on can help you take counteractive measures to ensure they are safe and healthy. GPS Trackers are very effective in knowing their travel history and you can even see the general patterns and routes they used to take for some time.
Start using a GPS Tracker on your livestock farm now & enjoy a new level of profit and efficiency. However, you also want to make sure the tracker you purchase is ideal for the job as some trackers are not built strong enough to be on an animal all the time. So we suggest you take some time to check out the features like water resistance, battery life, after sale customer support, accuracy in tracking, weight and harness, etc. you can also check out PAJ’s GPS Trackers for livestock farms that are built purpose-specific so you don’t have to worry about these things.