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”HIGH TECH COWS”
Tracking Cow Movements Using GPS Technology
High-tech equipment, along with old fashioned horse power, helped
Montana researchers track when cows are at CRYSTALYX®
barrels and what path they travel to reach the supplement.
Derek W. Bailey, a beef cattle researcher for the Montana
State University Northern Agricultural Research Center at
Havre, Mont., found that cows spent 40 percent of their time
within 600 yards of the barrels.
“Our horseback observations showed that less than 20
percent of the cows were located within 200 yards of the primary
water source,” Bailey says. Information gathered through
the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology incorporated
in the electronic monitoring collars showed cattle visited
the supplement during all hours of the day.
Other than during bitter cold weather, cows visited the supplement
up to two times per-day and spent 20 to 60 minutes per visit
at the barrel.
Bailey also found cattle took a zig-zag approach to the barrels
during the two hour period before they reached the supplement.
Using GPS tracking, researchers found the cows began their
trek to the supplement an average of 320 yards away from the
barrels, but traveled about 600 yards before they arrived.
Cattle traveled further in the late morning than during the
night or early morning. Numbers were similar for cattle behavior
within two hours after supplement consumption — traveling
about 500 yards to get a total of 260 yards away from the
supplement.
“These patterns suggest that cattle likely grazed en route
to and from the supplement,’ Bailey says. “We also
noticed that cattle remained closer to the barrels at night,
so the barrels may have served as loafing areas between grazing
periods.”
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