A Low Cost Automated Livestock Tracking System

Successful farming has always required intense manual labor and acute management skills. The technological advancements of two agricultural revolutions reduced the quantity of manual labor required but human direction is still necessary (Rasmussen, 1962). In the last recent years, the level of automation in farming processes has increased significantly. A main component of these new strategies is livestock monitoring information. Animal tracking provides valuable information including recent location, movement and feeding patterns, and land usage. The collection and storage of this information as well as actions based upon the information are becoming more automated. Technologies such as global positioning system (GPS), radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless networking, and mobile computing systems are being utilized to target specific needs of farmers (Barbari, Conti, & Simonini, 2010). This research will develop and evaluate a prototype data acquisition system for tracking livestock. Open source, freely distributed technologies will be utilized whenever possible in an effort to reduce cost. This study will evaluate the performance and cost of this livestock management system.